Lord Chancellor

[ADRIANC...@aol.com]

The Office of Lord Chancellor (head of the English judicial system) was first
created by Edward the Confessor.

It may interest readers to know that today Tony Blair abolished this post.

Adrian

[Rosie Bevan]

How disappointing that such a tradition has come to an end.

Listers may find the following list handy. It is useful for dating pleas in
Chancery.

1206 Walter de Grey, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, bishop of Worcester
after 1214, archbishop of York after 1216
1214 Richard de Marisco, bishop of Durham after 1217
1227 Ralph de Neville, bishop of Chichester
1240 Simon the Norman
1242 Ralph de Neville, bishop of Chichester
1244 Silvester de Everden
1246 John Maunsel, "provost of Beverly and treasurer of York"
1249 John de Lexington, knight, chief-justice
1253 Queen Eleanour
1254 William de Kilkenny, bishop of Ely
1255 Henry de Wangham
1260 Nicholas de Ely, (later bishop of Worcester after 1266, bishop of
Winchester after 1268)
1261 Walter de Merton, prebendary of St. Paul's, (later bishop of Rochester
after1274)
1263 Nicholas de Ely, (later bishop of Worcester after 1266, bishop of
Winchester after 1268)
1265 Thomas de Cantilupe, chancellor of Oxford (later bishop of Hereford
after 1275, canonized 1320)
1265 Walter Giffard, bishop of Bath and Wells
1266 Godfrey Giffard, archdeacon of Wells, bishop of Worcester after 1268
1268 John de Chishull (bishop of London after 1274)
1269 Richard de Middleton
1272 Walter de Merton, prebendary of Exeter, canon of Wells (later bishop of
Rochester after1274)
1274 Robert Burnell, bishop of Bath and Wells
1292 John de Langton, clerk
1302 William de Greenfield, Dean of Chichester, Rector of
Stratford-upon-Avon and temporal Chancellor of Durham, archbishop of York
after 1304
1304 William de Hamilton
1307 Ralph de Baldock, bishop of London
1307 John de Langton, bishop of Chichester
1310 Walter Reynolds, bishop of Worcester, archbishop of Canterbury
after1313
1314 John de Sandale, bishop of Winchester after 1316
1318 John de Hottram
1320 John de Salmon
1323 Robert de Baldock, prebendary of Aylesbury
1327 John de Hottram
1327 Henry de Bungash
1330 John de Stratford, bishop of Winchester, archbishop of Canterbury
after1333
1334 Richard de Bury, bishop of Durham
1337 Robert de Stratford, bishop of Chichester
1338 Richard de Bynkworth
1340 John de Stratford, archbishop of Canterbury
1340 Robert de Stratford, bishop of Chichester
1340 Sir Robert Bourchier
1341 Sir Robert Parnage
1343 Robert de Sandyngton
1345 John de Offord, archbishop of Canterbury after 1348
1349 John de Thoresby, bishop of Worcester, archbishop of York after 1352
1356 William de Edington, bishop of Winchester
1363 Simon de Langham, bishop of Ely
1367 William de Wykeham, bishop of Winchester
1371 Sir Robert Thorpe
1372 Sir John Knynet
1377 Adam de Haughton
1378 Richard le Scrope, Lord Le Scrope
1380 Simon de Sudbury, archbishop of Canterbury
1381 William Courtenay, archbishop of Canterbury
? Richard le Scrope, Lord le Scrope
1382 Robert de Braybrooke, bishop of London
? Sir Michael de la Pole
1383 Thomas de Arundel, bishop of Ely
1389 William de Wickham, bishop of Winchester
1391 Thomas de Arundel, bishop of Ely
1396 Edmund Stafford, bishop of Exeter
1399 Thomas de Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, Sir John Scarle
1401 Edmund Stafford, bishop of Exeter
1403 Henry Beaufort, bishop of Lincoln
1405 Thomas Langley, Archbishop of York (excom.), bishop of Durham after1406
1407 Thomas de Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury
1410 Sir Thomas Beaufort, Earl of Dorset and Duke of Exeter
1412 Thomas de Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury
1413 Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester
1417 Thomas Langley, bishop of Durham
1424 Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester
1426 John Kempe, archbishop of York
1432 John Stafford, bishop of Bath and Wells, archbishop of Canterbury after
1443
1450 John Kempe, archbishop of York
1454 Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury
1455 Thomas Bourchier, archbishop of Canterbury
1456 William Waynflete, bishop of Winchester
1460 George Neville, bishop of Exeter, Sir George Fortescue
1461 George Neville, bishop of Exeter, archbishop of York after 1464
1467 Robert Stillington, bishop of Bath and Wells
1473 Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex, Lawrence Booth, bishop of Durham
1475 Thomas Rotheram, bishop of Lincoln, archbishop of York after 1480
1483 John Russell, bishop of Lincoln
1485 John Alcock, bishop of Worcester, bishop of Ely after 1486
1487 John Morton, archbishop of Canterbury
1500 Henry Deane, bishop of Salisbury, archbishop of Canterbury after 1502
1502 William Worham, bishop of London, archbishop of Canterbury after 1503
1515 Thomas Wolsey, cardinal archbishop of York
1529 Sir Thomas More
1533 Sir Thomas Audley, created 1st lord Audley, 1538
1544 Thomas Wriothesley, 1st lord Wriothesley, created 1st Earl of
Southampton in 1547
1547 William Paulet, 1st lord St John
1547 Richard Rich, 1st lord Rich
1552 Thomas Goodrich, bishop of Ely
1555 Nicholas Heath 1555-1560

Cheers

Rosie

[Rosie Bevan]

I should add that the list was compiled by an anonymous Canadian student. My
contribution was the last name!

[Chris Phillips]

Rosie Bevan wrote:
> Listers may find the following list handy. It is useful for dating pleas
in
> Chancery.

This list, from the website of the Lord Chancellor's Department, contains
some earlier names but is not as useful for dating purposes as the one
posted by Rosie as it omits the other offices (eg bishoprics) held by
chancellors.

The first name on the list is dated 605, which may be the BBC's source for
saying the office dated back 1400 years. (This initially had me asking
"Whatever next?", only to hear a BBC TV presenter this morning solemnly
informing the audience that George IV died in 1952.)

I don't know what the authority for these very early names is. Presumably
they were chancellors (or equivalent) to one or more of the Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms.

(Incidentally, I think what happened yesterday was not that the office was
abolished, which even these days can't be done by an announcement to the
press from 10 Downing Street, but that the government announced its
intention to abolish the office, and the incumbent resigned. Apparently,
until proper reforms have been sorted out, the office will be nominally held
by Lord Falconer, not a person who would traditionally have been seen as
qualified for it.)

Chris Phillips

[Chris Phillips]

Sorry - I forgot to include the URL of the list on the website of the Lord
Chancellor's Department (though as the Department is being abolished it may
not be there much longer. Lord Falconer is not on the list!!)

http://www.lcd.gov.uk/lc.htm

Chris Phillips

[ADRIANC...@aol.com]

Chris Phillips wrote

<snip>

> The first name on the list is dated 605, which may be the BBC's source for
> saying the office dated back 1400 years. (This initially had me asking
> "Whatever next?", only to hear a BBC TV presenter this morning solemnly
> informing the audience that George IV died in 1952.)
>
> I don't know what the authority for these very early names is. Presumably
> they were chancellors (or equivalent) to one or more of the Anglo-Saxon
> kingdoms.
>

_The Oxford Companion to British History_ stated the first to hold this
office was created by Edward the Confessor, however today's Daily Telegraph states
that the first documentary evidence of an official with the title was in the
reign of Canute (probably based on Diana Woodhouse's book _The Office of the
Lord Chancellor_) and that the first to occupy the seat was Angmendus in 605. I
suppose this is from oral tradition, but not specified.

> (Incidentally, I think what happened yesterday was not that the office was
> abolished, which even these days can't be done by an announcement to the
> press from 10 Downing Street, but that the government announced its
> intention to abolish the office, and the incumbent resigned. Apparently,
> until proper reforms have been sorted out, the office will be nominally held
> by Lord Falconer, not a person who would traditionally have been seen as
> qualified for it.)
>
> Chris Phillips
>
>

Yes, that is correct — yesterdays headlines stated that Blair had abolished
the post, but it would be more accurate to state his plans to abolish the post,
setting up a Supreme Court in place of the Appellate Committee of the House
of Lords. I suppose this will mean no more _last appeals_ to the House of
Lords? Don't know what will happen to the Privy Council which is still the last
court of appeal for one or two Commonwealth countries. (Last February I met an
Antiguan who had just won a Privy Council appeal re employment law). There
are a number of rules which, up until recently, were thought to be set in stone,
but the current administration have, or are attempting to, change. It is now
possible (in extreme cases) for the prosecution to appeal against a sentence
which they regard as too lenient. There are also moves to abolish jury trials
in complex fraud cases and to permit a second trial of someone found innocent
in cases where significant new evidence is discovered.

Adrian