Clerk of the House of Commons

For the Canadian official, see Clerk of the House of Commons (Canada).

Under Clerk of the Parliaments To wait upon the Commons
Incumbent John Benger since 1 March 2019
Office of the Clerk and Chief Executive
Residence	Outbuilding, Palace of Westminster
Appointer	Elizabeth II
Inaugural holder	Robert de Melton
Formation	1363 first permanent appointment

The Clerk of the House of Commons is the chief executive of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and before 1707 of the House of Commons of England.

The formal name for the position held by the Clerk of the House of Commons is Under Clerk of the Parliaments. The chief clerk of the House of Lords is the Clerk of the Parliaments.

Duties

Sir Courtenay Ilbert

The Clerk of the House is the principal constitutional adviser to the house, and adviser on all its procedure and business, including parliamentary privilege, and frequently appears before select and joint committees examining constitutional and parliamentary matters. As with all the members of the House Service, he is politically entirely impartial and is not a civil servant. Until 1 January 2008, when the reforms to the house's governance proposed by the Tebbit Review of management and services of the house were implemented, the clerk was the head of the Clerk's Department. He sits at the table of the house, in the right-hand chair (the left-hand chair, looking towards the Speaker’s chair) for part of every sitting. The historic role of the clerks at the table is to record the decisions of the house (not what is said, which is recorded by Hansard, and this they (but not the clerk) still do. The clerks at the table used to wear court dress with wing collar and white tie, a bob (barrister’s) wig and a silk gown. However, as of February 2017 the clerks will only have to wear gowns. For the State Opening of Parliament and other state occasions, the Clerk of the House wears full court dress with breeches, and a lace jabot and cuffs.

Incumbent

The office is currently held by John Benger who replaced Sir David Natzler, who retired on 1 March 2019.

List of Clerks of the House of Commons

14th century

• 1363 – Robert de Melton
• 1385 – John de Scardeburgh

15th century

• 1414 – Thomas Haseley
• 1440 – John Dale
• 1461 – Thomas Bayen

16th century

• 1504 – Thomas Hylton
• 1510 – William Underhill
• 1515 – Robert Ormeston
• 1547 – John Seymour
• 1570 – Fulk Onslow

17th century

• 1603 – Ralph Ewens
• 1611 – William Pinches
• 1612 – John Wright
• 1639 – Henry Elsyng the younger
• 1649 – Henry Scobell
• 1658 – John Smythe
• 1659 – John Phelips
• 1659 – Thomas St. Nicholas
• 1660 – William Jessop
• 1661 – William Goldsborough
• 1678 – William Goldsborough the Younger
• 1683 – Paul Jodrell

18th century

• 1727 – Edward Stables
• 1732 – Nicholas Hardinge
• 1748 – Jeremiah Dyson
• 1762 – Thomas Tyrwhitt
• 1768 – John Hatsell

19th century

• 1820 – John Henry Ley
• 1850 – Sir Denis Le Marchant, Bt
• 1871 – Sir Thomas Erskine May
• 1886 – Sir Reginald Palgrave

20th century

• 1900 – Sir Archibald Milman KCB
• 1902 – Sir Courtenay Ilbert KCB KCSI CIE
• 1921 – Sir Thomas Lonsdale Webster KCB
• 1930 – Sir Horace Dawkins KCB MBE
• 1937 – Sir Gilbert Campion GCB
• 1948 – Sir Frederic Metcalfe KCB
• 1954 – Sir Edward Fellowes KCB CMG MC
• 1962 – Sir Barnett Cocks KCB OBE
• 1974 – Sir David Lidderdale KCB
• 1976 – Sir Richard Barlas KCB OBE
• 1979 – Sir Charles Gordon KCB
• 1983 – Sir Kenneth Bradshaw KCB
• 1987 – Sir Clifford Boulton GCB
• 1994 – Sir Donald Limon KCB
• 1998 – Sir William McKay KCB

21st century

• 2003 – Sir Roger Sands KCB
• 2006 – Sir Malcolm Jack KCB
• 2011 – Sir Robert Rogers KCB
• 2015 – Sir David Natzler KCB (acting 2014–2015)
• 2019 – John Benger

External links

• Information sheet – Clerk of the House – UK Parliament website

• Records of the Department of the Clerk of the House – UK Parliamentary Archives website

• Records of the Office of the Clerk of the House - UK Parliamentary Archives website