Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue
  • Reference
    HS
  • Title
    High Sheriffs
  • Admin/biog history
    The Saxon office of Sheriff (or Shire Reeve) is the oldest secular office in the country. The Sheriff is appointed by the monarch to serve in office for one year. The post is independent and receives no funding from the public purse. In 2008 the Privy Council issued instructions regarding the make up of nomination panels. These panels put forward three nominations for each shire each year and these nominations go to the Privy Council and then the monarch picks out the name of the person to be appointed from the list with a bodkin. Then within a certain time the new Sheriff has to be installed (this usually takes place in April). At the installation the Sheriff has to appoint an under sheriff and a chaplain. Sheriffs were originally in charge of law and order and tax collection within the shire. As law enforcement officers, they were responsible for the courts, the prisons and everything to do with law and order. The system of Assizes with juries, presided over by some 18 judges travelling round to bring national, or common, law enforcement to each part of the country was created by Henry II in 1166 to administer justice and keep the King's Peace. The judges' decisions were overseen in part by the sheriffs. Crown Courts took over from the Assizes in 1971 and one of the duties of the Sheriff was to welcome and entertain visiting High Court Judges. The sheriff may also be the returning officer in parliamentary elections. The post carried a range of legal requirements but these changed over time and in 2004 the last of the legal requirements was removed and the position is now purely ceremonial. This includes: presenting Crown Court Awards, giving their own awards to members of the community, raising money for charity in particular 'Crime Beat' and generally looking out for projects and undertakings within the county that deserve to be given a higher profile. Apart from the installation the sheriff in Bedfordshire usually arranges a judges' church service and a less formal fund raising event the nature of which depends on the sheriff's own interests.
  • Scope and Content
    Note: Other relevant sources include TW 8/2/6 and P31/8 (Undersheriffs); QSC passim (Calendars of prisoners); CRT 120/18/1 (brief history of the Office of Sheriff and list of Office holders); HF 148 et seq (various records, late 19th - early 20th centuries); and HN Box 137 (financial records, 1841-1879).
  • Level of description
    fonds
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