# 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

* John Depeden c.1420
* Thomas Andrew c.1422
* William Crosby 1437–1459
* George Ashby c.1440
* Robert Osbern c.1440
* Nicholas Harpesfield c.1445
* Edmund Blake c.1450
* John Bowden 1452–1459
* Richard Bell 1463–1474
* William Robyns c.1470–c.1482
* Oliver King c.1473
* John Wylde c.1475–c.1488
* Edmund Gregory c.1479–c.1483
The history of these earlier Signets in the medieval period is not recorded by the table below.
Early Modern to Later Modern Clerks of the Signet :
| Date | One | Two | Three | Four |
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.
* 1655–1705:John Nicholas
* 16 June 1655: James Nutley
* 20 March 1656: Samuel Morland
Appointments resumed upon the Restoration in 1660, including two of the former officeholders, Warwick and Windebanke.
| Date | One | Two | Three | Four |
| 1660 | Sir Philip Warwick | Sir Thomas Windebanke, 1st Baronet | William Trumbull | Sir John Nicholas |
| bet. 1674–1678 | Sir Philip Warwick | Sidney Bere | William Trumbull | Sir John Nicholas |
| 1678 | Sir Philip Warwick | Sidney Bere | Nicholas Morice | Sir John Nicholas |
| 15 January 1683 | Sir William Trumbull | Sidney Bere | Nicholas Morice | Sir John Nicholas |
| 1684 | Sir William Trumbull | John Gauntlett | Nicholas Morice | Sir John Nicholas |
| 9 February 1705 | Sir William Trumbull | John Gauntlett | Nicholas Morice | William Cooke |
| 25 August 1708 | Sir William Trumbull | John Gauntlett | Joseph Moyle | William Cooke |
| 18 February 1716 | Hon. Peter Alexander | John Gauntlett | Joseph Moyle | William Cooke |
| 2 October 1716 | Hon. Peter Alexander | Gauntlet Fry | Joseph Moyle | William Cooke |
| 28 May 1728 | Hon. Peter Alexander | Gauntlet Fry | Joseph Moyle | Charles Delafaye Thomas Delafaye |
| 13 November 1729 | Edward Weston | Gauntlet Fry | Joseph Moyle | Charles Delafaye Thomas Delafaye |
| 7 May 1736 | Edward Weston | Gauntlet Fry | Sir Joseph Copley, 1st Baronet | Charles Delafaye Thomas Delafaye |
| 22 May 1746 | Edward Weston | William Blair | Sir Joseph Copley, 1st Baronet | Charles Delafaye Thomas Delafaye |
| 1747 | Edward Weston | William Blair | Sir Joseph Copley, 1st Baronet | Charles Delafaye |
| 22 December 1762 | Edward Weston | William Blair | Sir Joseph Copley, 1st Baronet | James Rivers |
| 15 July 1770 | Montagu Wilkinson | William Blair | Sir Joseph Copley, 1st Baronet | James Rivers |
| 16 April 1781 | Montagu Wilkinson | William Blair | John Tirel Morin | James Rivers |
| 4 March 1782 | Montagu Wilkinson | William Fraser | John Tirel Morin | James Rivers |
| June 1797 | Eardley Wilmot | William Fraser | John Tirel Morin | James Rivers |
| 24 January 1801 | Sir Brook Taylor | William Fraser | John Tirel Morin | James Rivers |
| 11 December 1802 | Sir Brook Taylor | William Harry Edward Bentinck | John Tirel Morin | James Rivers |
| 19 March 1807 | Sir Brook Taylor | William Harry Edward Bentinck | John Gage | James Rivers |
| 30 October 1807 | Sir Brook Taylor | William Harry Edward Bentinck | John Gage | Thomas Norton Powlett |
| 26 February 1825 | Sir Brook Taylor | William Harry Edward Bentinck | John Gage | Alexander Cockburn |
| 8 May 1826 | Sir Brook Taylor | William Harry Edward Bentinck | John Gage | Augustus Granville Stapleton |
| 1831 | Sir Brook Taylor | William Harry Edward Bentinck | John Gage | abolished |
| 15 October 1846 | abolished | William Harry Edward Bentinck | John Gage | abolished |
| 26 January 1847 | abolished | William Harry Edward Bentinck | Charles Samuel Grey | abolished |
| 7 August 1851 | abolished | Office abolished | Office abolished | | abolished |