The Under Clerk of the Parliaments, known informally as 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 in the House of Commons of England. The Clerk of the Parliaments is the counterpart in the House of Lords.
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Appointment
The Clerk of the House is appointed by the sovereign by Letters Patent, in which they are styled "Under Clerk of the Parliaments [...] to attend upon the Commons". Before 1748, the Clerkship of the House of Commons could be purchased until Jeremiah Dyson (then Clerk of the House) ended the practice of purchase when he left the Clerkship.
Duties
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). 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
As of October 2023, the office is currently held by Thomas Goldsmith, previously the Principal Clerk of the Table Office, who replaced Sir John Benger when he retired on 1 October 2023.
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
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 (1733–1820)
1797 – Hatsell retired, and John Ley (1733–1814), Deputy Clerk, took over his duties
1814 – Jeremiah Dyson the younger, Deputy Clerk
19th century
1820 – John Henry Ley (on the death of Hatsell)
1850 – Sir Denis Le Marchant, 1st Baronet
1871 – Sir Thomas Erskine May
1886 – Sir Reginald Palgrave
20th century
1900 – Sir Archibald Milman
1902 – Sir Courtenay Ilbert
1921 – Sir Thomas Lonsdale Webster
1930 – Sir Horace Dawkins
1937 – Sir Gilbert Campion
1948 – Sir Frederic Metcalfe
1954 – Sir Edward Fellowes
1962 – Sir Barnett Cocks
1974 – Sir David Lidderdale
1976 – Sir Richard Barlas
1979 – Sir Charles Gordon
1983 – Sir Kenneth Bradshaw
1987 – Sir Clifford Boulton
1994 – Sir Donald Limon
1998 – Sir William McKay
21st century
2003 – Sir Roger Sands
2006 – Sir Malcolm Jack
2011 – Sir Robert Rogers
2015 – Sir David Natzler (acting 2014–2015)
2019 – Sir John Benger
2023 – Tom Goldsmith
2026 – Eve Samson