Until March 26, Julie Kenny CBE DL, pictured, Chairman and CEO of Yorkshire-based alarm manufacturer Pyronix is High Sheriff of South Yorkshire. Here is more about the office.
There have been High Sheriffs for at least a thousand years. The office precedes that of the Chancellor and is the oldest secular office under the Crown.
The original “Shire Reeves” were Royal officials appointed to enforce the King’s interest in the County, in particular the collection of revenues and the enforcement of law and order.
High Sheriffs had extensive powers. They judged cases in monthly courts and acted as law enforcement officers. They could raise the ‘hue and cry’ after criminals in the County and could summon and command the ‘posse comitatus’, the full military force of the County. Sheriffs are mentioned throughout Magna Carta and were clearly fundamental to the running of the Shires. By 1254 the High Sheriff supervised the election to Parliament of two Knights from each Shire.
From about 1300 their powers began to wane as more and more functions were centralised. The Exchequer was established to administer tax collection and to audit the Sheriffs’ accounts. A system of itinerant Justices and Assizes was set up. Sheriffs, however, maintained responsibility for issuing Writs, having ready the Court, prisoners and juries, and executing sentences once they were pronounced. It was also the Sheriff’s responsibility to ensure the safety and comfort of the Judges and is the origin of the modern day duty of care for the well-being of High Court judges. Further changes came with the creation of Coroners and Justices of the Peace and, in 1547, the establishment of Lord-Lieutenants as the personal representatives of the Sovereign.
The office of High Sheriff remained first in precedence n the Counties until 1908, when Edward VII, by Order in Council, gave the Lord Lieutenant the prime office as the Sovereign’s personal representative. But the High Sheriff remains the Sovereign’s representative in the County for all matters relating to the Judiciary and the maintenance of Law & Order.
Tradition says that Queen Elizabeth I originated the practice of appointing High Sheriffs by pricking their names with a silver bodkin, when the Roll was brought to her while she was engaged in embroidery. Sadly, this is a myth since there is a Sheriffs’ Roll from the reign of her grandfather where the names are pricked through vellum. This is in fact an early form of document security, the pricked hole being more difficult to erase than ink.
Sheriffs had to collect unpopular taxes, and could be personally liable for any shortfall. There was therefore an incentive to avoid appointment; but no matter how high the bribe, however, no official could disguise a hole pierced through the vellum against the appointee’s name. The practice of the Monarch pricking the names of High Sheriffs survives to this day.
In the 19th century Sheriffs’ responsibilities for police, prisons and Crown property were transferred to statutory bodies. Their surviving powers were codified in the Sheriffs Act of 1887. This Act, with subsequent amendments, remains in force to this day. Among other things it confirms the historic process of nomination by the Sovereign.
Nominations for High Sheriff
Only a High Sheriff may nominate a person to the Lord Chancellor and the Privy Council for consideration by the Sovereign to serve as High Sheriff. The annual nominations of three prospective High Sheriffs for each County are made in a meeting of the Lords of Council in the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice, which is presided over by the Lord Chief Justice and held each year on November 12.
Current role
The Office of High Sheriff is an independent non-political Royal appointment for a single year. Today, there are 55 High Sheriffs serving the Counties of England and Wales.
Modern precedence is defined by a Royal Warrant of 1904, as amplified by Home Office Memorandum of 1928, whereby the High Sheriff takes precedence in the County immediately after the Lord Lieutenant except when precedence is deferred to a Lord Mayor, Mayor or Chairman of the Local Authority when they are undertaking municipal business in their own district.
Other responsibilities of the High Sheriffs in the Counties of England and Wales, conferred by the Crown through Warrant from the Privy Council, include attendance at royal visits in the County and support of Her Majesty’s High Court Judges when on Circuit. Supporting the Crown and the judiciary remains a central element of the role. They give active support and encouragement to the police and to the emergency services, to the probation and prison services and to other agencies involved with crime prevention, particularly amongst young people.
High Sheriffs play an increasingly active role in promoting the voluntary sector within their communities. The High Sheriff of South Yorkshire 2012/13 will give her own High Sheriff Awards to individuals, often unsung heroes within small voluntary groups, who have made an outstanding contribution in some way. As the Office of High Sheriff is independent and non-political, they are therefore very well placed to bring together a wide range of people within the community they serve.
High Sheriffs receive no remuneration and no part of the expenses incurred by the High Sheriff falls on the public purse. Their role can be summarised as follows:
•to uphold and enhance the ancient Office of High Sheriff and to make a meaningful contribution to the High Sheriff’s county during the year of office
•to lend active support to the principal organs of the Constitution within their county – the Royal Family, the Judiciary, the Police and other law-enforcement agencies, the emergency services, local authorities, and all recognised church and faith groups.
•to assure the welfare of visiting High Court Judges; to attend on them at Court and to offer them hospitality
•to support the Lord-Lieutenant on royal visits and on other occasions as appropriate
•to take an active part in supporting and promoting the voluntary sector and giving all possible encouragement to the voluntary organisations within a county.
