Complex sentence: The situation became somewhat farcical when the office of Second Serjeant was given to William Beckett: b oth Lyndon and Sir Richard Ryves, the Recorder of Dublin, claimed that it had been promised to them.
Split into simpler sentences: The situation became somewhat farcical when the office of Second Serjeant was given to William Beckett. Both Lyndon and Sir Richard Ryves claimed that it had been promised to them.