MARSHAL. MARSHAL. [Bumarlv.— The office of " Martha! of Em/lawl "(*) (8th in rank of the great offices( b ) of State) is not, of itself, ft peerage dignity. tho' it might (not improperly) be held to have been so in, and after, 1397, when it was conferred as " Earl Marshal." A brief notice of some of its earlier holders is here subjoined. This high office is, apparently, quite distinct from the office of " Marshal pf the King's Housc!wld,"( c ) which, temp. lieu. [., was held (apparently with the name of Hempsted Marshall, () Berks), by Gilbert Marshall, (') and transmitted by him to his son, John Mar- (a) See " The Book- of the Court " by William J. Thorns, F.S.A., for a good account of the office of " The Earl Marshal of England." ( b ) The great officers of state are as under, nr. (1) the Lonn HIGH Steward (Magnus Angluc Scncschallus) a hereditary office, long enjoyed by the Earls of Leicester but which merged in the Crown at the accession (1399) of Henry IV. and has never since been regranted save pro hue rice (2) the Loud High Chancellor, or Keeper of the Great Seal, of which the first lay holder was Sir Thomas More, temp. Hen. VIII. (S) the Lord Hum TREASURER, of which the first lay holder was Richard, Lord Scrope de Bolton, in 1371. This great office has for more than 200 years been in commission, being executed by five persons of whom the chief, who is styled First Lord of the Treasury, is usually the Prime Minister (4) the Loud President OF THE Council, an office held (by statute 21 Hen. VIII.) durante bene placito (5) the Lord Privy Seal, of whom the first lay holder was Henry, Lord Marny, temp. Hen. VIII. (G) the Lord Great Cham her lain of England, a hereditary office long enjoyed by the family of De Vere, Earls of Oxford, from whom it passed to the- family of Bertie, Lords Willoughby de Eresby, Earls of Lindsey, and Dukes of Ancaster. See vol. i, p. 207, note "d," sub " Aveland," for some account thereof (7) the Loan High Con- stable, a hereditary office formerly held by the family of Bohun, Earls of Hereford, and that of Staford, Dukes of Buckingham, but which since the attainder of Duke Edward, in 1521, has never been granted save pro hue rice (8) the Earl Marshal of England, as in the text (9) the Lokd High Admiral, which office (save when from 2 May 1827 to 12 Aug. 182S it was held by H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence afterwards King William IV.) has been in commission since 1709 (10) the Lord Steward of the Household {ScnaehalUu Bcupitii) and (1 1 1 the Lord Chamherlain of the Household {Camcrarius Hospitii) the appointment to both of which offices has for some time been in the hands of the Prime Minister for the time being. Of these eleven offices the rank of all but that of the first ( the High Stewardship) which had previously (1399) lapsed to the Crown, was settled (in the above order among themselves) by statute 31 Hen. VIII. under which the High Chancellor, the High Treasurer,* the President of the Privy Council, and the Privy Seal, take rank (if Barons) above all Dukes, save those of the blood Royal, while the Great Chamberlain, the High Constable,* the Earl Marshal, the High Admiral.* the Steward of the Household, and the Chamber- lain of the Household, if of Ducal raid-, next follow, but, if of a lower grade, take pre- cedence above all Peers of their own degree. See Sir C. G. Young's " Order of Precedence," and see also note " a " next above. ( c ) So also the office of "Steward of the Household" is totally distinct from that of the " High (steward of England," as also is the ottice of " Chamberlain of the Household " from that of the "Great Chamberlain of England." C) Which manor, the "old records state, the Marshals held in marcscagia el per rirgam Marcschilliir," whereas the office of Marshal of England was never " holden by tenure or serjeantry, as the offices of Lord High Steward and High Constable were." See note "a" next above. Hempsted (or Hampsted) Marshall appears to have passed to the Crown in 1306 and was, in 1333, given by Thomas (Plantagenet), Earl of Norfolk, to his da., Alice, wife of Edward (de Montacute), Lord Moutacute, after which it was held by the family of Ilankford and {temp. Eliz.) by that of Parry, till in 1620 it was purchased by the Craven family, who still hold it. (•) Gilbert Mareschal and John, his son, were temp. Hen. I. impleaded but without success (by Robert de Venois and William de Hastings) for the office of Mareschall to the King," which John was "the King's Marshal " in 1163-64 upon the difference of King Henry II. with Archbishop a Becket. " According to Camden, this office of
- The three offices so marked (viz., the High Treasurer, the High Constable, and
High Admiral), do not at present exist.
