Common Serjeant of London

Sir Henry Dickens, KC, Common Serjeant of London 1917 – 1932

The Common Serjeant of London (full title The Serjeant-at-Law in the Common Hall) is an ancient British legal office, first recorded in 1291, and is the second most senior permanent judge of the Central Criminal Court after the Recorder of London, acting as deputy to that office, and sitting as a judge in the trial of criminal offences.

He is also one of the High Officers of the City of London Corporation, and must undertake certain civic obligations alongside his judicial duties: each Midsummer he presides at the election of Sheriffs in the Guildhall, and each Michaelmas he plays a key role in the ceremonial election of the Lord Mayor.^[1] He presents the Sheriffs to the Queen's Remembrancer at the annual Quit Rents ceremony, and is in attendance on most other major ceremonial occasions.^[2]

The Common Serjeant is appointed by the Crown on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor.

Formerly, the Common Serjeant of London was a legal officer of the City Corporation of London. The Common Serjeant of London attended on the Lord Mayor of London and the Court of Aldermen on court days, and acted with them in council. He also attended the Court of Aldermen and Common Council, and had charge of the Orphans' Estates^[3]

The 81st incumbent is His Honour Judge Richard Marks, QC, who was appointed on 3 March 2015.

Incomplete List of Common Serjeants

Thomas Juvenal (1291–1309)[4][5] Thomas de Kent (1309-c.1318) Gregory de Norton (c.1318–1329) William de Ford (1333–1353)[6] John Wentbrigg (c.1353–1362) Ralph Strode (c.1375–1385) John Tremayne (c.1389) John Wilton Robert Danvers Richard Moyle Thomas Bylling John Nedeham Thomas Urswyck Robert Ingelton Guy Fairfax Thomas Rigby Thomas Bryan (1460–1463) John Baldwyn Robert Molyneux, Gent. John Haugh, Gent. Richard Higham Thomas Frowyk (1486–1496) Thomas Marowe John Greene Henry White

William Walsingham John Onely Edward Hall Robert Southwell Robert Brooke Thomas Atkyns John Marshe (born 1547- died 1563) Bernard Randolph Thomas Kirton (born 1537 – died 1601) Richard Wilbraham Richard Wheeler of Lincoln's Inn, Esq Daniel Hills, of Lincoln's Inn, Esq Thomas Jones of Grey's Inn Ralph Latham Sir Robert Broke (1536–1545) Henry Proby (died 1660) Sir Richard Browne George Jeffreys (1671–1678) Henry Crispe (c.1678) Duncan Dee (c.1700) John Lingard (c.1720) Thomas Garrard (c.1729) Thomas Nugent (c.1758)

John Silvester (1790–1803) Newman Knowlys (1803) Thomas Denman, 1st Baron Denman (1822–1830) Hon. Charles Ewan Law (c.1833) John Mirehouse (1833–1850)[7] Thomas Chambers (1857-1878)[8] Sir William Thomas Charley (1878–1892) Sir Forrest Fulton (1892–1900) Sir Frederick Albert Bosanquet, MA, KC, JP (1900–1917) Sir Henry Fielding Dickens KC (1917–1932) Henry Holman Gregory KC (1932–1934) Cecil Whiteley (1934–1942) Sir Hugh Loveday Beazley (1942–1953)[9] Sir Edward Anthony Hawke (1954–1959)[10] Sir Carl Douglas Aarvold (1959–1964)[11] Mervyn Griffith-Jones CBE MC QC (1964–1979) Sir John Leonard (1979–1981)[12] Thomas Herbert Pigot QC (1984–90) Neil Denison QC (1993–2001) Peter Beaumont QC (2001–2004) Brian Barker QC (2005–2013) Nicholas Hilliard QC (2013–2015) Richard Marks QC (2015 - Present)

Gallery

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  Sir Robert Broke, Common Serjeant of London in 1536

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  Judge George Jeffreys, Common Serjeant of London in 1671

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  Sir John Silvester, Common Serjeant 1790-1803

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  Lord Denman, Common Serjeant of London 1822 - 1830

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  William Thomas Charley, Common Serjeant of London in 1878

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  Sir Forrest Fulton by 'Spy' in Vanity Fair (1903)

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  Sir Frederick Bosanquet as Common Serjeant of London. Caricature by 'Spy' from Vanity Fair (1901)

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  Judge Brian Barker QC, Common Serjeant of London 2005 to 2013

References

1. Order of Ceremonial, 2013
2. Job description
3. The Book of Dignities: Containing Rolls of the Official Personages of the British Empire ... from the Earliest Periods to the Present Time ... Together with the Sovereigns of Europe, from the Foundation of Their Respective States; the Peerage of England and Great Britain ... by Joseph Haydn and Joseph Timothy Haydn Published by Longmans, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1851
4. Dickens, Henry Fielding The Recollections of Sir Henry Dickens, KC William Heinemann Ltd, London (1934) pg 277
5. Cohen, Herman A History Of The English Bar And Attornatus To 1450 The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd, Clark, New Jersey (2005) pg 251 Google Books
6. John Strype's Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster
7. "Mirehouse, John [Cambell] (MRHS806JC)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
8. Thomas Chambers (MP)
9. Beazley's appointment as Common Serjeant London Gazette 23 October 1942
10. Hawke's appointment as Common Serjeant London Gazette 4 December 1953
11. British Army Officers 1939–1945
12. Obituary in The Telegraph

External links

• Appointment of Common Serjeant of London
• Common Serjeant of London on the Ministry of Justice website
• Common Serjeant of London on the Probert Encyclopaedia