Lord Steward

Lord Steward or Lord Steward of the Household, in England, an important official of the monarch's household. He is always a member of the government, a peer and a Privy Councillor.

Until 1782, the office was one of considerable political importance and carried cabinet rank. The Lord Steward receives his appointment from the Sovereign in person, and bears a white staff as the emblem and warrant of his authority. He is the first dignitary of the court. In an act of Henry VIII. (1539) for placing of the lords, he is described as the grand master or lord steward of the king's most honourable household. He presides at the Board of Green Cloth. In his department are the Treasurer and Comptroller of the Household, who rank next to him. These officials are usually peers or the sons of peers and Privy Councillors. They sit at the Board of Green Cloth, carry white staves, and belong to the ministry. But the duties which in theory belong to the Lord Steward, Treasurer and Comptroller of the Household are in practice performed by the Master of the Household, who is a permanent officer and resides in the palace.

He is a white-staff officer and a member of the Board of Green Cloth but not of the ministry, and among other things he presides at the daily dinners of the suite in waiting on the sovereign. He is not named in the Black Book of Edward IV or in the Statutes of Henry VIII, and is entered as master of the household and clerk of the green cloth in the Household Book of Queen Elizabeth. But he has superseded the lord steward of the household, as the lord steward of the household at one time superseded the Lord High Steward of England.

In the Lord Steward's department are the officials of the Board of Green Cloth, the Coroner ("coroner of the verge"),and Paymaster of the Household, and the officers of the almonry. Other offices in the department were those of the cofferer of the household, the treasurer of the chamber, and the paymaster of pensions, but these, with six clerks of the Board of Green Cloth, were abolished in 1782. The Lord Steward had formerly three courts besides the Board of Green Cloth under him. First, the Lord Steward's Court, superseded in 1541 by - second - the Marshalsea Court, a court of record having jurisdiction, both civil and criminal within the verge (the area within 1 radius of 12 m. from where the sovereign is resident), and originally held for the purpose of administering justice between the domestic servants of the sovereign, "that they might not be drawn into other courts and their service lost." Its criminal jurisdiction had long fallen into disuse and its civil jurisdiction was abolished in 1849. Third, the Palace Court, created by letters patent in 1612 and renewed in 1665 with jurisdiction over all personal matters arising between parties within 12 miles of Whitehall (the jurisdiction of the Marshalsea court, the City of London, and Westminster Hall being excepted). It differed from the Marshalsea court in that it had no jurisdiction over the sovereign's household nor were its suitors necessarily of the household. The privilege of practising before the palace court was limited to four counsel. It was abolished in 1849. The Lord Steward or his deputies formerly administered the oaths to the members of the House of Commons. In certain cases (messages from the sovereign under the sign-manual) the lords with white staves are the proper persons to bear communications between the Sovereign and the Houses of Parliament.

The Lord Steward is distinct from the (now obsolete) Lord High Steward, one of the Great Officers of State.

Lord Stewards, 1502-present

• Sir Gilbert Talbot 1502-1509
• George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury 1509-1538
• Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk 1541-1544
• William Paulet, 1st Lord St John 1544-1551
• John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland 1551-1553
• Henry Fitzalan, 18th Earl of Arundel 1553-1568
• William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke 1568-1570
• Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester 1570-1588
• William Paulet, Lord St John of Basing 1588-1603
• Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham 1603-1618
• Ludovic Stuart, 1st Duke of Richmond 1618-1623
• James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Hamilton 1623-1625
• William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke 1625-1630
• none 1630-1640
• Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel and Surrey 1640-1644
• James Stuart, 1st Duke of Richmond 1644-1655
• none 1655-1660
• James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde 1660-1688
• William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire 1689-1707
• William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire 1707-1710
• John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby 1710-1711
• John Poulett, 1st Earl Poulett 1711-1714
• William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire 1714-1716
• Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent 1716-1718
• John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll 1718-1725
• Lionel Cranfield Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset 1725-1730
• Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield 1730-1733
• William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire 1733-1737
• Lionel Cranfield Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset 1737-1744
• William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire 1744-1749
• Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough 1749-1755
• John Manners, 3rd Duke of Rutland 1755-1761
• William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot 1761-1782
• Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle 1782-1783
• Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland 1783
• William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth 1783
• James Brydges, 3rd Duke of Chandos 1783-1789
• John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset 1789-1799
• George, Earl of Leicester 1799-1802
• George Legge, 3rd Earl of Dartmouth 1802-1804
• Heneage Finch, 4th Earl of Aylesford 1804-1812
• George James Cholmondeley, 1st Marquess of Cholmondeley 1812-1821
• Henry Conyngham, 1st Marquess Conyngham 1821-1830
• Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos 1830
• Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley 1830-1833
• George William Campbell, 6th Duke of Argyll 1833-1834
• Thomas Egerton, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire 1835
• George William Campbell, 6th Duke of Argyll 1835-1839
• William George Hay, 18th Earl of Erroll 1839-1841
• Charles Cecil Cope Jenkinson, 3rd Earl of Liverpool 1841-1846
• Hugh Fortescue, 2nd Earl Fortescue 1846-1850
• Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster 1850-1852
• James Graham, 4th Duke of Montrose 1852-1853
• Henry Charles Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk 1853-1854
• Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer 1854-1857
• Edward Granville Eliot, 3rd Earl of St Germans 1857-1858
• Brownlow Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Exeter 1858-1859
• Edward Granville Eliot, 3rd Earl of St Germans 1859-1866
• John George Brabazon Ponsonby, 5th Earl of Bessborough 1866
• John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough 1866-1867
• Charles Augustus Bennet, 6th Earl of Tankerville 1867-1868
• John George Brabazon Ponsonby, 5th Earl of Bessborough 1868-1874
• Frederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp 1874-1880
• John Robert Townshend, 1st Earl Sydney 1880-1885
• William Henry Edgcumbe, 4th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe 1885-1886
• John Robert Townshend, 1st Earl Sydney 1886
• William Henry Edgcumbe, 4th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe 1886-1892
• Gavin Campbell, 1st Marquess of Breadalbane 1892-1895
• Sidney Herbert, 14th Earl of Pembroke 1895-1905
• Cecil Foljambe, 1st Earl of Liverpool 1905-1907
• William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp 1907-1910
• Edwyn Scudamore-Stanhope, 10th Earl of Chesterfield 1910-1915
• Horace Brand Farquhar, 1st Viscount Farquhar 1915-1922
• Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury 1922-1936
• George Sutherland-Leveson-Gore, 5th Duke of Sutherland 1936-1937
• Walter John Montagu-Douglas-Scott, 8th Duke of Buccleuch 1937-1940
• Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton 1940-1964
• Gerald Hugh Grosvenor, 4th Duke of Westminster 1964-1967
• Charles John Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham 1967-1972
• Hugh Algernon Percy, 10th Duke of Northumberland 1973-1988
• Matthew White Ridley, 4th Viscount Ridley 1989-2001
• James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn 2001-

First paragraph reuses old wordage from Britannica; the Lord Steward ceased to be a member of the Government in 1924.