List of Speakers of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
The speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives holds the oldest statewide elected office in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Since its first session under the Frame of Government in 1682, presided over by William Penn, over 130 House members have been elevated to the speaker's chair. The house cannot hold an official session in the absence of the speaker or his designated speaker pro tempore.
Speaker K. Leroy Irvis was the first African-American elected speaker of any state legislature in the United States since the Reconstruction era. Pennsylvania has never had a female speaker.Speakers of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly and the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Name | Date elected |
unknown | 1682 |
Thomas Wynne | 1682/1683 |
Nicholas More | 1684 |
John White | 1685 |
Arthur Cook | 1689 |
Joseph Growdon | 1690 |
unknown | 1691 |
William Clark | 1692 |
Joseph Growdon | 1693 |
David Lloyd | 1694 |
Edward Shippen | 1695 |
John Simcock | 1696 |
John Blunston | 1697 |
Phineas Pemberton | 1698 |
John Blunston | 1699 |
Joseph Growdon | 1700 |
David Lloyd | 1703 |
Joseph Growden | 1705 |
David Lloyd | 1706 |
Richard Hill | 1710 |
Isaac Norris | 1712 |
Joseph Growdon | 1713 |
David Lloyd | 1714 |
Joseph Growdon | 1715 |
Richard Hill | 1716 |
William Trent | 1717 |
Jonathan Dickinson | 1718 |
William Trent | 1719 |
Isaac Norris | 1720 |
Jeremiah Langhorne | 1721 |
Joseph Growdon | 1722 |
David Lloyd | 1723 |
William Biles, Jr. | 1724 |
David Lloyd | 1725 |
Andrew Hamilton | 1729 |
Jeremiah Langhorne | 1733 |
Andrew Hamilton | 1734 |
John Kinsey | 1739 |
John Wright | 1745 |
John Kinsey | 1745/1746 |
Isaac Norris | 1750 |
Thomas Leech | 1758 |
Isaac Norris | 1758 |
Thomas Leech | 1759 |
Isaac Norris | 1759 |
Benjamin Franklin | 1764 |
Isaac Norris | 1764 |
Joseph Fox | 1764 |
Joseph Galloway | 1766 |
Joseph Fox | 1769 |
Joseph Galloway | 1769 |
Edward Biddle | 1774 |
John Morton | 1775 |
John Jacobs | 1776 |
John Bayard | 1777 |
Frederick Muhlenberg | 1780 |
George Gray | 1783 |
John Bayard | 1784 |
Thomas Mifflin | 1785 |
Gerardus Wynkoop II | 1786 |
Richard Peters | 1788 |
William Bingham | 1790 |