The Clerk of the Privy Council is a civil servant in the government of the United Kingdom. He or she is the most senior civil servant in the Privy Council Office

Privy Council Office (United Kingdom)

The Privy Council Office provides secretarial and administrative support to the Lord President of the Council in his or her capacity of president of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council. The head of the Office is the Clerk of the Privy Council...

.

The office is less powerful than its Canadian equivalent

Clerk of the Privy Council (Canada)

The Clerk of the Privy Council is the senior civil servant in the Canadian government. The Title and Office is in fact "Clerk of the Privy Council and the Secretary to the Cabinet"...

; unlike the Canadian Clerk of the Privy Council, the British Clerk is not the ex officio head of the Civil Service

Civil service

The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....

 (these functions are performed by a separate Cabinet Secretary

Cabinet Secretary

A Cabinet Secretary is almost always a senior official who provides services and advice to a Cabinet of Ministers. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powers, including general responsibility for the entire civil service...

).

Clerks in Ordinary 1540–present

Date	One	Two	Three	Four
10 August 1540	William Paget William Paget, 1st Baron Paget William Paget, 1st Baron Paget of Beaudesert , was an English statesman and accountant who held prominent positions in the service of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I.-Early life:...
23 April 1543	John Mason	William Honnyng William Honnyng William Honnyng was an English Member of Parliament and Tudor Court official who served as Clerk of the Signet and Clerk of the Privy Council under Henry VIII and Edward VI.-Early life:...
17 November 1545	William Honnyng William Honnyng William Honnyng was an English Member of Parliament and Tudor Court official who served as Clerk of the Signet and Clerk of the Privy Council under Henry VIII and Edward VI.-Early life:...	vacant
18 December 1545		Sir Thomas Chaloner Thomas Chaloner (statesman) Sir Thomas Chaloner was an English statesman and poet.-Life:He was the son of Roger Chaloner, mercer of London, a descendant of the Denbighshire Chaloners...
March 1547			Thomas Smith Thomas Smith (diplomat) Sir Thomas Smith was an English scholar and diplomat.He was born at Saffron Walden in Essex. He was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he became a fellow in 1530, and in 1533 was appointed a public reader or professor. He lectured in the schools on natural philosophy, and on Greek in...
10 May 1548			Armagil Wade
20 May 1550	Armagil Wade		William Thomas William Thomas (scholar) William Thomas , probably a Welshman, was an Italian scholar and clerk of the council to Edward VI, who was executed for treason after the death of Edward.-Early years:...
24 September 1551				Bernard Hampton
12 May 1552		William Thomas William Thomas (scholar) William Thomas , probably a Welshman, was an Italian scholar and clerk of the council to Edward VI, who was executed for treason after the death of Edward.-Early years:...	Bernard Hampton
19 July 1553	vacant	vacant
30 July 1553	Francis Allen	William Smith
1567		vacant
29 April 1571	Edmund Tremayne
6 July 1572			Robert Beale Robert Beale (diplomat) Robert Beale was an English diplomat, administrator, and antiquary in the reign of Elizabeth I. As Clerk of the Privy Council, Beale wrote the official record of the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, to which he was an eyewitness.-Early life:...
12 October 1576		Sir Thomas Wilkes
7 October 1584	Sir William Wade
2 January 1594				Sir Anthony Ashley Anthony Ashley, 1st Baronet of Wimborne St Giles Anthony Ashley, 1st Baronet, PC was Clerk of the Privy Council , which was the most senior civil servant in the Privy Council Office. Ashley accompanied the fleet to Cádiz as a representative of the Queen...
21 April 1598		Sir Thomas Smith
18 June 1601			Sir Thomas Edmondes Thomas Edmondes Sir Thomas Edmonds was a diplomat and politician.Edmonds was the fifth son of another Thomas Edmonds, who was the Customer of the ports of Plymouth and Fowey, and of Joan daughter of Anthony Delbere of Sherborne in Dorset...
25 May 1608					Sir Ralph Winwood Ralph Winwood Sir Ralph Winwood was an English diplomat and politician.-Life:He was born at Aynhoe in Northamptonshire and educated at St John's College, Oxford....	John Corbett
7 September 1609					Sir Clement Edmondes Clement Edmondes Sir Clement Edmondes was an English government official and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1609 and 1622.-Background and education:...
27 November 1609		vacant
22 July 1610				Sir George Calvert George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore Sir George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, 8th Proprietary Governor of Newfoundland was an English politician and colonizer. He achieved domestic political success as a Member of Parliament and later Secretary of State under King James I...
7 December 1611
24 September 1613	Francis Cottington
24 February 1614			William Trumbull William Trumbull (diplomat) William Trumbull was an English diplomat, administrator and politician.-Life:He was son of John Trumbull of Craven, Yorkshire, and his wife, Elizabeth Brogden or Briggden. He seems to have been introduced at court by Sir Thomas Edmondes...
February 1619				Albertus Morton Albertus Morton Sir Albertus Morton was an English diplomat and Secretary of State.-Life:Born about 1584, he was youngest of the three sons of George Morton of Eshere in Chilham, Kent, by Mary, daughter of Robert Honywood of Charing in the same county...
7 November 1622					John Dickenson
11 December 1622	Sir Thomas Meautys
24 January 1623			Sir William Beecher
9 October 1635				Edward Nicholas Edward Nicholas Sir Edward Nicholas was an English statesman.-Life:He was the eldest son of John Nicholas, a member of an old Wiltshire family.He was educated at Salisbury grammar school, Winchester College and Queen's College, Oxford...
26 May 1636					Sir Dudley Carleton Dudley Carleton (diplomat) Sir Dudley Carleton was a minor diplomat and Clerk of the Council. He was the younger son of George and Catharine Carleton née Harrison of Huntercombe Oxfordshire and lived at Clerkenwell and Holcombe, Oxfordshire.-Career:...
27 January 1641			Richard Browne

Date	One	Two	Three	Four
14 May 1649	Sir Edward Walker Edward Walker (officer of arms) Sir Edward Walker was an officer of arms and antiquarian who served as Garter King of Arms.-Early life:Walker was born in 1611 at Roobers in Nether Stowey, Somerset, and entered the household of the great Earl Marshal Thomas Howard in 1633.-Charles I:Walker was in almost constant attendance on...	vacant	vacant	vacant
18 November 1656		Sir George Lane George Lane, 1st Viscount Lanesborough George Lane, 1st Viscount Lanesborough was an Irish politician.He was the son of Sir Richard Lane, 1st Baronet, of Tulsk, by his wife Mabel Fitzgerald....
27 October 1658			Sir John Nicholas
22 June 1660				Sir Richard Browne
23 September 1664		Sir Robert Southwell Robert Southwell (diplomat) Sir Robert Southwell was an English diplomat. He was Secretary of State for Ireland and President of the Royal Society from 1690.-Background and education:...
24 January 1672				Sir Joseph Williamson Joseph Williamson (politician) Sir Joseph Williamson, FRS was an English civil servant, diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons of England variously between 1665 and 1701 and in the Irish House of Commons between 1692 and 1699....
16 September 1674				Sir Philip Lloyd
21 February 1677	Sir Thomas Doleman
5 December 1679		Francis Gwyn Francis Gwyn Francis Gwyn PC , was a Welsh politician and official.-Background:Gwyn was the son and heir of Edward Gwyn of Llansannor, Glamorganshire, who married Eleanor, youngest daughter of Sir Francis Popham of Littlecott, Wiltshire; he was born at Combe Florey in Somerset about 1648...
16 January 1685	William Bridgeman William Bridgeman (MP for Bramber) William Bridgeman FRS was a senior English civil servant and MP.He was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, the son of Richard Bridgeman, a merchant for the East India Company and was the cousin of Sir Orlando Bridgeman, 1st Baronet, of Ridley. He entered Queen's College, Oxford, matriculating in 1662...	Philip Musgrave Philip Musgrave Philip Musgrave may refer to:*Sir Philip Musgrave, 2nd Baronet *Sir Philip Musgrave, 6th Baronet *Sir Philip Musgrave, 8th Baronet , MP for Carlisle and Petersfield...
6 February 1685	vacant
22 October 1686	William Bridgeman			William Blathwayt William Blathwayt William Blathwayt was a civil servant and politician who established the War Office as a department of the British Government and played an important part in administering the Thirteen Colonies of North America....
11 December 1688	vacant	vacant
21 February 1689	Charles Montagu Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, KG, PC, FRS was an English poet and statesman.-Early life:Charles Montagu was born in Horton, Northamptonshire, the son of George Montagu, fifth son of 1st Earl of Manchester...	Richard Coling
24 March 1692	John Dyves
12 January 1693	William Bridgeman
27 July 1697		John Povey
18 May 1699	Edward Southwell
11 January 1705			Christopher Musgrave
2 November 1710			Sir Christopher Musgrave
12 May 1715		James Vernon James Vernon the younger James Vernon the younger was a British diplomat and civil servant, briefly a Member of ParliamentHe was the son of James Vernon, who was Secretary of State under William III....
26 March 1716			Robert Hales
23 October 1717				Abraham Stanyan Abraham Stanyan Abraham Stanyan was an English politician and diplomat.After becoming a student in the Middle Temple, he served as secretary to Sir William Trumbull as Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, and later to the Earl of Manchester as Ambassador to the Venice in 1697–1698 and then in France in 1699–1700. ...
3 February 1720				Temple Stanyan
22 May 1729			Walter Carey
11 February 1731	William Sharpe
21 April 1752				Gilbert West Gilbert West Gilbert West was a minor English poet, translator and Christian apologist in the early and middle eighteenth century. Samuel Johnson included him in his Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets.-Biography:...
14 April 1756				Henry Fane
6 May 1756		William Blair
19 May 1757			Francis Vernon
22 April 1762			Philip Sharpe
23 June 1764				Hon. Robert Walpole Robert Walpole (ambassador) Robert Walpole , from 1756 styled The Hon. Robert Walpole, was the 4th son of the 1st Baron Walpole, the younger brother of Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister. He served as an extra clerk of the Privy Council from 1749 until 1764, when he replaced Henry Fane as one of the Clerks in Ordinary...
11 September 1767	Sir Stephen Cotterell
4 December 1772			Sir George Chetwynd
1 January 1779		William Fawkener William Augustus Fawkener -Background:William Fawkener was one of the sons of Sir Everard Fawkener, a merchant and then British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, who did not marry until he was aged 53, and thus died in 1758 while William was still young. His mother was Harriet daughter of General Charles Churchill...
25 August 1786					Grey Elliott
June 1787
19 April 1810				abolished
8 August 1810	The Viscount Chetwynd
19 August 1811		James Buller
20 March 1821	Charles Greville
24 March 1824			abolished
15 December 1830		Hon. William Bathurst
May 1859	abolished

• June 1860: Sir Arthur Helps
  Arthur Helps
  Sir Arthur Helps, KCB, DCL , English writer and dean of the Privy Council, youngest son of Thomas Helps, a London merchant, was born in Streatham in South London....
  
  
• 17 March 1875: Charles Lennox Peel
• 9 August 1898: Sir Almeric FitzRoy
• 31 May 1923: Sir Maurice Hankey
  Maurice Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey
  Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, PC was a British civil servant who gained prominence as the first Cabinet Secretary and who later made the rare transition from the civil service to ministerial office.-Life and career:The third son of R. A...
  
  
• 1 August 1938: Sir Rupert Howorth
• 1942: Sir Eric Leadbitter
• 30 June 1951: Francis Ford Fernau
• 1953: Sir Godfrey Agnew
• 1974: Sir Neville Leigh
• c.1984: Sir Geoffrey de Deney
• 1992: Sir Nigel Nicholls
• 1996: Robert Bulling (acting)
• 1998: Alex Galloway
• 2006–present: Judith Simpson