Common Serjeant of London explained

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 King'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 monarch 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]

Judge Richard Marks, KC, was appointed the 81st Common Serjeant 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 (1388–1389)
• John Fray (1421–1422)
• Alexander Anne (1424–?1435)
• John Wilton (1437–?1441)
• Robert Danvers (1441–1442)
• Richard Moyle (1441–?1443)
• Thomas Billing (1443–1449)
• John Nedeham (1448–?1452)
• Thomas Urswick (1452–1455)
• Robert Ingleton (1454–1456)
• Guy Fairfax (1456–?1457)
• Thomas Rigby (1457–?1460)
• Thomas Bryan (1460–1463)
• John Baldwyn (1463–1469)
• Robert Molyneux (1469–)
• John Haugh
• Richard Higham
• Thomas Frowyk (1486–1496)
• Thomas Marowe (1496–)
• John Greene (1495–)
• Henry White

• William Walsingham of Gray's Inn (1526–)
• John Onley (1530–1533)
• Edward Hall (1533–1535)
• Robert Southwell (1535–1536)
• Thomas Atkyns
• Sir Robert Broke (1536–1546)
• John Marshe (1547–1563)
• Bernard Randolph (1563–1583)
• Thomas Kirton (1583–1601)
• Richard Wilbraham (died 1601)
• Richard Wheler of Lincoln's Inn (1601–?1608)
• Daniel Hills of Lincoln's Inn
• Thomas Jones of Gray's Inn (died 1625 - Sergeant for 12 years)
• Ralph Latham (died 1641)
• Henry Proby (1643–) (died 1660)
• Sir Richard Browne, 2nd Baronet (1661–1671)
• George Jeffreys (1671–1678)
• Henry Crispe (1678–1700)
• Duncan Dee (1700–1720)
• John Lingard (1720–1729)
• Thomas Garrard (1729–1758)
• Thomas Nugent (1758–1790)

• John Silvester (1790–1803)
• Newman Knowlys (1803–1811)
• Thomas Denman, 1st Baron Denman (1822–1830)
• Hon. Charles Ewan Law (1830–1833)
• John Mirehouse of Angle, Pembrokeshire (1833–1850)
• Edward Bullock (1850–1855)
• Thomas Chambers (1857–1878)
• 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)^[7]
• Sir Edward Anthony Hawke (1954–1959)^[8]
• Sir Carl Douglas Aarvold (1959–1964)^[9]
• Mervyn Griffith-Jones CBE MC QC (1964–1979)
• Sir John Leonard (1979–1981)^[10]
• Sir David Tudor Price (1981–84)
• Thomas Herbert Pigot QC (1984–90)
• Robert Davison Lymbery QC (1990–1993)
• Neil Denison QC (1993–2001)
• Peter Beaumont QC (2001–2004)
• Brian Barker QC (2005–2013)
• Nicholas Hilliard QC (2013–2015) (80th Serjeant)
• Richard Leon Marks KC (2015–Present)

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

Notes and References

1. http://www.waterconservators.org/uploaded_files/.../ElectionofLordMayor.pdf Order of Ceremonial, 2013
2. http://jac.judiciary.gov.uk/static/documents/Job_Description_00739.DOC 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. https://books.google.com/books?id=pCsmrIHIBSQC&dq=thomas+juvenal&pg=PA251 Cohen, Herman A History Of The English Bar And Attornatus To 1450 The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd, Clark, New Jersey (2005) pg 251
6. http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/strype/TransformServlet?page=book5_162 John Strype's Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster
7. http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/35757/pages/4602 Beazley's appointment as Common Serjeant
8. http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/40034/pages/6593 Hawke's appointment as Common Serjeant
9. http://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_A01.html British Army Officers 1939–1945
10. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1404335/Sir-John-Leonard.html Obituary