Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard

The Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard is a UK Government post usually held by the Government Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords.^[1] The present Captain is The 9th Earl of Courtown, who was appointed to the position in the May ministry in July 2016.

Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard & Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Lords
Incumbent The Earl of Courtown since 13 July 2016
Style	The Right Honourable
Appointer	Prime Minister
Formation	1485
First holder	John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford

1485–present

15th century

• 1485: John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford
• 1486–1509: Sir Charles Somerset (created Baron Herbert 26 November 1506)

16th century

• 1509: Sir Thomas Darcy
• 1509: Sir Henry Marney
• 1512: Sir Henry Guildford
• 1513: Sir John Gage
• 1516: Sir Henry Marney
• 1530: Sir William Kingston
• 1539: Sir Anthony Wingfield
• 1550: Sir Thomas Darcy (created Baron Darcy of Chiche 5 April 1551)
• 1551: Sir John Gates
• 1553: Sir Henry Jerningham
• 1557: Sir Henry Bedingfield
• 1558: Sir Edward Rogers
• 1558: Sir William St Loe
• 1566: Sir Francis Knowlys
• 1572: Sir Christopher Hatton
• 1586: Sir Henry Goodier
• 1586: Sir Walter Raleigh
• 1592: John Best (During Raleigh's imprisonment in the Tower)
• 1597–1603: Sir Walter Raleigh

17th century

• 1603: Sir Thomas Erskine (created Lord Dirletoun 8 June 1604 and Viscount Fentoun 18 March 1606)
• 1617: Henry Rich (created Baron Kensington 5 March 1623 and Earl of Holland 24 September 1624)
• 1632: George Hay
• 1635: The Earl of Morton
• 1644: The Earl of Norwich
• 1649: Interregnum
• 1660: The Earl of Norwich
• 1662: The Viscount Grandison
• 1689–1702: Viscount Mandeville (succeeded as 4th Earl of Manchester 16 March 1683)

18th century

 

The 4th Earl of Chesterfield, who served as Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard from 1723 to 1725.

• 1702: Marquess of Hartington
• 1707: The Viscount Townshend
• 1711: The Lord Paget (created Earl of Uxbridge 19 October 1714)
• 1715: The Earl of Derby
• 1723: Lord Stanhope
• 1725: The Earl of Leicester
• 1731: The Earl of Ashburnham
• 1733: The Earl of Tankerville
• 1737: The Duke of Manchester
• 1739: The Earl of Essex
• 1743: The Lord Berkeley of Stratton
• 1746: The Viscount Torrington
• 1747: The Viscount Falmouth
• 1782: The Duke of Dorset
• April 1783: The Earl of Cholmondeley
• 16 December 1783: The Earl of Aylesford

19th century

• 1804: Hon. Thomas Pelham (styled Lord Pelham from January 1805)
• 1804: The Earl of Macclesfield
• 1 December 1830: The Marquess of Clanricarde
• 16 July 1834: The Earl of Gosford
• 29 December 1834: The Earl of Courtown
• 23 April 1835: The Earl of Gosford
• 5 August 1835: The Earl of Ilchester
• 6 July 1841: The Earl of Surrey
• 8 September 1841: The Marquess of Lothian
• 15 January 1842: The Earl of Beverley
• 24 July 1846: The Viscount Falkland
• 11 February 1848: The Marquess of Donegall
• 27 February 1852: The Lord de Ros
• 30 December 1852: The Viscount Sydney
• 17 March 1858: The Lord de Ros
• 28 June 1859: The Earl of Ducie
• 10 July 1866: The Earl Cadogan
• 22 December 1868: The Duke of St Albans
• 2 March 1874: The Lord Skelmersdale
• 3 May 1880: The Lord Monson
• 27 June 1885: The Viscount Barrington
• 10 February 1886: The Lord Monson
• 5 August 1886: The Earl of Kintore
• 29 January 1889: The Earl of Limerick
• 25 August 1892: The Lord Kensington
• 16 July 1895: The Earl of Limerick
• 26 August 1896: The Earl Waldegrave

20th century

• 8 December 1905: The Duke of Manchester
• 12 April 1908: The Lord Allendale
• 2 October 1911: The Earl of Craven
• 9 June 1915: The Lord Suffield
• 21 May 1918: The Lord Hylton
• 22 January 1924: The Lord Loch
• 1 December 1924: The Lord Desborough
• 4 June 1929: The Lord Loch

Name (Birth–Death)		Term of office		Party	Ministry	Ref.
	Donald Howard The Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal	November 1931	January 1934	Conservative	National Government II (Con.–Lib–Nat Lab–Nat Lib)
	Arthur Chichester The Lord Templemore	January 1934	August 1945
					National Government III (Con.–Nat Lab–Nat Lib)
					National Government IV (Con.–Nat Lab–Nat Lib)
					Chamberlain (War Ministry) (Con.–Nat Lab–Nat Lib)
					Churchill (War Ministry) (Con.–Lib–Lab-Nat Lab–Nat Lib)
					Churchill (Caretaker) (Con.–Nat Lib-Ind)
	Alexander Walkden The Lord Walkden	August 1945	July 1949	Labour	Attlee I
	George Shepherd The Lord Shepherd	July 1949	October 1949
	George Lucas The Lord Lucas of Chilworth	October 1949	March 1950
	George Bingham The Earl of Lucan	March 1950	June 1951		Attlee II
	George Archibald The Lord Archibald	June 1951	November 1951
	William Onslow The Earl of Onslow	November 1951	October 1960	Conservative	Churchill III
					Eden
					Macmillan I
					Macmillan II
	Peter Legh The Lord Legh	October 1960	September 1962		Macmillan II
	John Goschen The Viscount Goschen	September 1962	December 1964		Macmillan II
					Douglas-Home
	Frank Bowles The Lord Bowles	December 1964	June 1970	Labour	Wilson II
	John Goschen The Viscount Goschen	June 1970	November 1971	Conservative	Heath
	Bertram Bowyer The Lord Denham	November 1971	March 1974
	David Kenworthy The Lord Strabolgi	March 1974	May 1979	Labour	Wilson III
					Wilson IV
					Callaghan
	Andrew Hill The Lord Sandys	May 1979	October 1982	Conservative	Thatcher I
	David Cunliffe-Lister The Earl of Swinton	October 1982	September 1986
					Thatcher II
					Thatcher III
	Andrew Davidson The Viscount Davidson	September 1986	December 1991			^[2]
					Major I
	Michael Bowes-Lyon The Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne	December 1991	July 1994			^[3]
					Major II
	Arthur Gore The Earl of Arran	July 1994	January 1995			^[4]
	Richard Fletcher-Vane The Lord Inglewood	January 1995	July 1995			^[5]
	Nicholas Cavendish The Lord Chesham	July 1995	May 1997			^[6]
	Andrew McIntosh The Lord McIntosh of Haringey	May 1997	June 2003	Labour	Blair I	^[7]

21st century

Portrait		Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		Party	Ministry	Ref.
		Bryan Davies The Lord Davies of Oldham	June 2003	May 2010	Labour	Blair II	^[8]
						Blair III
						Brown
		David Shutt The Lord Shutt of Greetland	May 2010	May 2012	Liberal Democrat	Cameron–Clegg (Con.–L.D.)	^[9]
		Richard Newby The Lord Newby	May 2012	May 2015			^[10]
		John Gardiner The Lord Gardiner of Kimble	May 2015	July 2016	Conservative	Cameron II	^[11]
		Patrick Stopford The Earl of Courtown	July 2016	Incumbent		May I	^[12]
						May II
						Johnson I
						Johnson II
						Truss
						Sunak

References

• J. Haydn, The Book of Dignities
• C. Cook and B. Keith, British Historical Facts 1830–1900
• D. Butler and G. Butler, Twentieth Century British Political Facts 1900–2000

1. . Archived from the original on 2019-06-11. Retrieved 2010-01-20.
2. Roth, Andrew (2012-08-27). "Viscount Davidson obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
3. "Parliamentary career for Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne – MPs and Lords – UK Parliament". members.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
4. "Contact information for The Earl of Arran – MPs and Lords – UK Parliament". members.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
5. "Contact information for Lord Inglewood – MPs and Lords – UK Parliament". members.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
6. "Parliamentary career for Lord Chesham – MPs and Lords – UK Parliament". members.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
7. "Parliamentary career for The Lord McIntosh of Haringey – MPs and Lords – UK Parliament". members.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
8. "Lord Davies of Oldham". UK Parliament. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
9. "Lord Shutt of Greetland". UK Parliament. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
10. "Lord Newby". UK Parliament. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
11. "Lord Gardiner of Kimble". UK Parliament. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
12. "The Earl of Courtown". UK Parliament. Retrieved 2 June 2018.