List of Speakers of the British House of Commons

This is a list of Speakers of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801.

For the 'prolocutors' and speakers of the House of Commons of England, see List of Speakers of the House of Commons of England.

Numbering of Speakers

The succession numbers, used in the body of the tables in this article, are split between different eras. In each table the numbers are based upon the number of individuals to hold the office of Speaker in the era covered. Individuals with split terms retain the same succession number throughout a table.

An alternative approach is to give a different succession number for each split term and to number continuously through the English, British and UK Parliaments. Based on that alternative approach, Mr Speaker Bercow is enumerated as the 157th Speaker.

List of Speakers

Speakers of the House of Commons of Great Britain 1707–1800

The Kingdom of Great Britain was created by the Acts of Union 1707. At the beginning of 1801, Great Britain was combined with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a single House of Commons serving the whole kingdom.

No.[A 1] Term of office Speaker Portrait Constituency[A 2] Peerage
1 1707 1708 Sir John Smith Andover ...
2 1708 1710 Sir Richard Onslow[A 3] Surrey 1st Baron Onslow
3 1710 1713 William Bromley[A 4] Oxford University ...
4 1714 1715 Sir Thomas Hanmer, Bt[A 5] Suffolk ...
5 1715 1727 Sir Spencer Compton[A 6] Sussex 1st Earl of Wilmington
6 1728 1761 Sir Arthur Onslow Surrey ...[A 7]
7 1761 1770 Sir John Cust, Bt Grantham ...[A 8]
8 1770 1780 Sir Fletcher Norton[A 9] Guildford 1st Baron Grantley
9 1780 1789 Sir Charles Wolfran Cornwall Winchelsea[A 10] ...[A 11]
10 1789 William Wyndham Grenville[A 12] Buckinghamshire 1st Baron Grenville
11 1789 1800 Henry Addington Devizes 1st Viscount Sidmouth
Notes
  1. ↑ Numbering is from 1707. It is more usual to number Speakers to include those from the English predecessor body. On that basis Smith is the 125th and Addington is the 135th Speaker.
  2. ↑ Constituency at the time of first election as Speaker.
  3. ↑ Onslow was the last Speaker to be defeated in his constituency in a general election.
  4. ↑ Bromley resigned from the chair to become Secretary of State for the Northern Department. He continued to serve in the House of Commons until his death on 13 February 1732.
  5. ↑ Hanmer vacated the chair but continued to serve in the House of Commons until 1727.
  6. ↑ Compton vacated the chair but continued to serve in the House of Commons until 1728.
  7. ↑ Onslow, the longest-serving Speaker, retired from the chair and the House of Commons. He seems to have been the last Speaker who survived his term by a significant period without being offered a peerage.
  8. ↑ Cust died shortly after he ceased to occupy the chair.
  9. ↑ Norton was not re-elected as Speaker in 1780, but retained his seat as an MP until 1782.
  10. ↑ Cornwall was subsequently MP for Rye 1784–1789.
  11. ↑ Cornwall died in office.
  12. ↑ Grenville resigned from the chair to become Home Secretary. He continued to serve in the House of Commons until 1790.

Speakers of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801. In 1922 the Irish Free State ceased to be part of the UK. The official name of the United Kingdom was changed to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in 1927.

No.[B 1] Term of office Speaker Portrait Parliaments Party[B 2] Constituency[B 3] Peerage
1 1801 Henry Addington[B 4] 1st Tory Devizes 1st Viscount Sidmouth
2 1801 1802 Sir John Mitford 1st Tory East Looe 1st Baron Redesdale
3 1802 1817 Charles Abbot 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Tory Helston[B 5] 1st Baron Colchester
4 1817 1835 Charles Manners-Sutton 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th Tory Scarborough[B 6] 1st Viscount Canterbury
5 1835 1839 James Abercromby[2] 12th, 13thWhig Edinburgh 1st Baron Dunfermline
6 1839 1857 Charles Shaw-Lefevre 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th Whig North Hampshire 1st Viscount Eversley
7 1857 1872 John Evelyn Denison 17th, 18th, 19th, 20thLiberal North Nottinghamshire 1st Viscount Ossington
8 1872 1884 Henry Brand 20th, 21st, 22nd Liberal Cambridgeshire 1st Viscount Hampden
9 1884 1895 Arthur Wellesley Peel 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th Liberal Warwick[B 7] 1st Viscount Peel
10 1895 1905 William Court Gully 26th, 27th Liberal Carlisle 1st Viscount Selby
11 1905 1921 James Lowther 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st Conservative Penrith[B 8] 1st Viscount Ullswater
12 1921 1928 John Henry Whitley 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 34th Coalition Liberal Halifax ...[B 9]
13 1928 1943 Edward FitzRoy 34th, 35th, 36th, 37th Conservative Daventry ...[B 10]
14 1943 1951 Douglas Clifton Brown 37th, 38th, 39th Conservative Hexham 1st Viscount Ruffside
15 1951 1959 William Morrison 40th, 41st Conservative Cirencester and Tewkesbury 1st Viscount Dunrossil
16 1959 1965 Sir Harry Hylton-Foster 42nd, 43rd Conservative Cities of London and Westminster ...[B 11]
17 1965 1971 Dr Horace King 43rd, 44th, 45th Labour Southampton Itchen The Baron Maybray-King
18 1971 1976 Selwyn Lloyd 45th, 46th, 47th Conservative Wirral The Baron Selwyn-Lloyd
19 1976 1983 George Thomas 47th, 48th Labour Cardiff West 1st Viscount Tonypandy
20 1983 1992 Bernard Weatherill 49th, 50th Conservative Croydon North East The Baron Weatherill
21 1992 2000 Betty Boothroyd 51st, 52nd Labour West Bromwich West The Baroness Boothroyd
22 2000 2009 Michael Martin 52nd, 53rd, 54th Labour Glasgow Springburn[B 12] The Baron Martin of Springburn
23 2009 John Bercow 54th, 55th, 56th Conservative Buckingham
Notes
  1. ↑ Numbering is from 1801. It is more usual to number Speakers to include those from the English and British predecessor bodies. On that basis Addington is the 135th Speaker and Bercow the 157th.
  2. ↑ Party allegiance at the time of first election as Speaker. The modern convention is for the Speaker to sever connections with his or her former party. From 1935, the Speaker has sought re-election as such, not using a party label.[1] The general convention is that the Speaker is not opposed by major party candidates at general elections.
  3. ↑ Constituency at the time of first election as Speaker.
  4. ↑ Addington resigned from the chair to become Prime Minister. He continued to serve in the House of Commons until 1805.
  5. ↑ Abbot was subsequently MP for Heytesbury 1802, Woodstock 1802–1806 and Oxford University 1806–1817.
  6. ↑ Manners-Sutton was subsequently MP for Cambridge University 1832–1835. In 1835 he was defeated for re-election as Speaker, but retained his seat as an MP for a few weeks until he was created a peer. No subsequent Speaker has been defeated or remained in the House of Commons, for more than a few days after leaving the chair.
  7. ↑ Peel was subsequently MP for Warwick and Leamington 1885–1895.
  8. ↑ Lowther was subsequently MP for Penrith and Cockermouth 1918–1921.
  9. ↑ Whitley declined the customary peerage upon his retirement from the chair and the House of Commons.
  10. ↑ Fitzroy died in office. His widow was created 1st Viscountess Daventry.
  11. ↑ Hylton-Foster died in office. His widow was created The Baroness Hylton-Foster.
  12. ↑ Martin was subsequently MP for Glasgow North East from 2005. He resigned the Speakership in 2009. He was the first Speaker to be forced to leave the chair by public pressure since Sir John Trevor was expelled from the House and the chair in 1695.

References

  1. ↑ Craig, F.W.S. (1989). British Electoral Facts 1832–1987. Politico's Publishing. ISBN 978-0-900178-30-6.
  2. ↑ Anderson, John (1856). A History of Edinburgh from the Earliest Period to the Completion of the Half Century 1850: With Brief Notices of Eminent Or Remarkable Individuals. A. Fullarton & co. p. 444. ISBN 978-1-85285-581-9. Retrieved 2008-10-21.
  • Laundy, Philip (1964). The Office of Speaker. Cassell & Company. 
  • Marsden, Philip (1979). The Officers of the Commons 1363–1978. Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 
  • Butler, David; Butler, Gareth (2000). Twentieth Century Political Facts 1900–2000 (Hardcover ed.). Macmillan Press. ISBN 0-333-77221-0. 
  • Cook, Chris; Keith, Brendan (1975). British Historical Facts 1830–1900. Macmillan Press. 
  • Cook, Chris; Stevenson, John (1980). British Historical Facts 1760–1830. Macmillan Press. ISBN 0-333-21512-5. 
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