Clerk of the Signet


The Clerks of the Signet were English officials who played an intermediate role in the passage of letters patent through the seals. For most of the history of the position, four clerks were in office simultaneously.
Letters patent prepared by the Clerk of the Patents were engrossed at the Patent Office and then sent by the Secretary of State to receive the royal sign-manual. The duty of the Clerks of the Signet was to compare the signed bills with a transcript prepared by the Clerk of the Patents, and then to rewrite the transcript as a bill of privy signet, which was returned to the Secretary of State to be signed with that instrument.
By the end of the seventeenth centuries, many of the Clerks of the Signet performed their work through deputies, with the office itself becoming a sinecure. The Treasury was given the authority to reduce the number of clerkships in 1832, abolishing one in 1833 and another in 1846. The two remaining posts were done away with in 1851.

List of Clerks of the Signet

The history of these earlier Signets in the medieval period is not recorded by the table below.
DateOneTwoThreeFour
1509Brian Tuke---
1523Thomas DerbeyUnknownUnknownUnknown
1530Thomas DerbeyThomas WriothesleyUnknownUnknown
1532Thomas DerbeyThomas WriothesleyWilliam PagetUnknown
bef. 1537Thomas DerbeyThomas WriothesleyWilliam PagetJohn Godsalve
2 October 1539John HuttoftThomas WriothesleyWilliam PagetJohn Godsalve
14 April 1540John HuttoftThomas KnightWilliam PagetJohn Godsalve
1541Richard TavernerThomas KnightWilliam PagetJohn Godsalve
bef. 1544Richard TavernerThomas KnightWilliam HoningJohn Godsalve
bef. 1545Richard TavernerWilliam RailtonWilliam HoningJohn Godsalve
1547/55Nicasius YetsweirtWilliam RailtonWilliam HoningJohn Cliffe
30 October 1561Nicasius YetsweirtJohn SomerWilliam HoningJohn Cliffe
December 1569Nicasius YetsweirtJohn SomerSir Thomas WindebankJohn Cliffe
1578/89Sir John WoodCharles YetsweirtSir Thomas WindebankJohn Cliffe
9 March 1589Sir John WoodCharles YetsweirtSir Thomas WindebankSir Thomas Lake
23 December 1595Sir John WoodNicholas FauntSir Thomas WindebankSir Thomas Lake
24 October 1607Sir John WoodNicholas FauntLevinus MunckSir Thomas Lake
1608Sir John WoodFrancis GallLevinus MunckSir Thomas Lake
5 September 1610Francis WindebankFrancis GallLevinus MunckSir Thomas Lake
13 January 1616Francis WindebankFrancis GallLevinus MunckRobert Kirkham
27 May 1623Francis WindebankFrancis GallSir Humphrey MayRobert Kirkham
9 June 1630Francis WindebankFrancis GallJohn MoreRobert Kirkham
15 June 1632Sir Abraham WilliamsFrancis GallJohn MoreRobert Kirkham
1638Sir Abraham WilliamsFrancis GallEdward NorgatePhilip Warwick
1641/5Sir Abraham WilliamsSir Thomas Windebanke, 1st BaronetEdward NorgatePhilip Warwick

Appointments were not made under the Commonwealth of England until 1655 as the republic did not recognise hereditary house of Lords, so peerages were not created.
Appointments resumed upon the Restoration in 1660, including two of the former officeholders, Warwick and Windebanke.