Groom in Waiting

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The office of Groom in Waiting (sometimes hyphenated as Groom-in-Waiting) was a post in the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, which in earlier times was usually held by more than one person at a time – in the late Middle Ages there might be dozens of persons with the rank, though the Esquires and Knights of the Body were more an important and select group. Grooms-in-Waiting to other members of the Royal Family and Extra Grooms in Waiting were also sometimes appointed. For the general history of court valets or grooms see Valet de chambre.

From the time of the Restoration (1660), the king was attended by Grooms of the Bedchamber, whose functions as attendants on the monarch's person were performed in the reign of Queen Anne by Women of the Bedchamber. By the time of Queen Victoria, however, the majority of political offices no longer involving regular attendance on the sovereign, there were appointed, in addition to the Queen's Women of the Bedchamber, eight Grooms in Waiting who would discharge those political and social functions of the Grooms of the Bedchamber which could not be undertaken by the Queen's attendants of the female sex. After Queen Victoria's reign, the nomenclature of "Grooms in Waiting" was retained in preference to "Grooms of the Bedchamber".

One of the holders of the office was designated the Parliamentary Groom in Waiting from about 1859, when it became customary to appoint a Member of Parliament who was a supporter of the government of the day. In addition to his political functions, the Parliamentary Groom in Waiting was in attendance on the Queen with the other grooms. The office became vacant in 1891, when Lord Burghley was promoted to the similar political office of Vice-Chamberlain of the Household. The political office fell into disuse in 1892, since which time it has not been revived, although this did not affect the non-political, court position of Groom in Waiting.

List of Parliamentary Grooms in Waiting

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List of all Grooms in Waiting

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Victoria (1837–1901 )

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In Ordinary

Date
17 July 1837 General The Hon. Sir William Lumley Admiral Sir Robert Otway, Bart. Colonel Thomas Armstrong The Hon. Charles Augustus Murray The Hon. William Cowper MP Henry Rich, Esq. MP Sir Henry Seton, Bart.
27 July 1837 Colonel Sir Frederick Stovin
12 June 1838 The Hon. George Keppel
7 September 1841 Captain Henry Meynell
14 September 1841 John Ormsby-Gore, Esq.
21 September 1841 Captain The Hon. Alexander Nelson Hood
24 September 1841 The Hon. Arthur Duncombe MP
7 November 1842 Lieutenant-General Berkeley Drummond
3 March 1846 Major-General Sir Edward Bowater[1][2]
4 August 1846 Admiral Sir Edward Codrington
5 October 1846 Lieutenant Colonel The Hon. Robert Edward Boyle MP
11 July 1848 Captain The Hon. Joseph Denman
23 March 1852 The Hon. William Stuart Knox MP
13 July 1852 The Hon. Mortimer Sackville-West
3 March 1853 Lieutenant Colonel The Hon. Robert Edward Boyle MP
23 January 1854 Lieutenant Colonel William Cavendish
21 January 1858 Colonel The Hon. George Liddell
25 June 1859 Colonel Sir Robert Kingscote MP
24 September 1859 Rear-Admiral Sir Henry Keppel
18 November 1859 General Sir Henry Bentinck[3]
17 April 1860 Rear-Admiral Sir William Hoste, Bart.
26 December 1861 Colonel Lord James Murray[4][5]
1 August 1866 Lieutenant Colonel The Hon. Charles Hugh Lindsay MP
1 June 1867 Major-General Francis Seymour[6]
18 January 1868 Rear-Admiral Lord Frederick Kerr
21 July 1868
22 December 1868 Captain The Hon. Algernon Greville-Nugent MP
1 January 1869 Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Augustus Murray MacGregor
8 March 1869 Colonel Henry Lyndenoch Gardiner
1 October 1872 Lieutenant Colonel The Hon. Henry Byng
4 November 1873 The Rt Hon. The Lord Kensington MP
13 February 1874 John Francis Campbell of Islay, Esq.
6 March 1874 Donald Cameron of Lochiel, Esq. MP
26 May 1874 Captain John Edmund Commerell[7]
24 February 1876 Lieutenant Colonel The Hon. Charles Hugh Lindsay
1 October 1876 Captain Charles Edmund Phipps
21 December 1877 Major Arthur Frederick Pickard
9 December 1879 Major-General Sir Michael Biddulph
1 January 1880 Lieutenant Arthur Bigge
22 March 1880 Captain Fleetwood Edwards
20 May 1880 Lieutenant Colonel The Hon. William Carington MP
24 July 1880 Captain Walter Douglas Somerset Campbell
9 May 1881 Lieutenant Colonel Lord Edward Pelham-Clinton
29 December 1882 Colonel Henry Ewart
3 March 1883 Colonel Gerard Smith MP
30 June 1884 The Hon. Alexander Grantham Yorke
8 July 1885 Sir Henry Fletcher, Bart.
10 February 1886 The Hon. Charles Robert Spencer MP
13 August 1886 Lord Burghley MP
8 April 1889 Major The Hon. Henry Legge
24 November 1891
31 December 1891 Admiral Sir John Edmund Commerell
21 May 1892 Colonel Lord William Cecil
1 October 1893 Captain Malcolm Drummond
1 February 1895 Captain The Hon. Charles Harbord
6 June 1895 Colonel Henry Donald Browne
16 December 1895 Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Davidson
30 June 1896 General Henry Lyndenoch Gardiner
25 December 1897 Lieutenant-General Godfrey Clerk

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Edward VII (1901–1910)

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In Ordinary

Date
23 July 1901 Lieutenant Colonel Lord Edward Pelham-Clinton The Hon. Sidney Greville The Hon. Harry Stonor Admiral Sir John Fullerton Sir Alexander Condie Stephen General Godfrey Clerk Captain Walter Douglas Somerset Campbell
14 November 1905 The Hon. Arthur Walsh
18 July 1907 Sir Archibald Edmonstone, Bart. Rear-Admiral Sir Archibald Berkeley Milne, Bart.
4 June 1908 Colonel Henry Streatfeild Sir John Lister-Kaye, Bart.
9 October 1908 Commander The Hon. Charles Cunninghame Graham
30 November 1908 Montague Eliot, Esq.

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George V (1910–1936)

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In Ordinary

Date
10 June 1910 Captain The Hon. Seymour Fortescue[8] The Hon. Sidney Greville[9] The Hon. Harry Stonor Commander The Hon. Charles Cunninghame Graham Colonel The Hon. William Lambton Edward William Wallington, Esq. Captain Walter Douglas Somerset Campbell
2 January 1911 Harry Lloyd Verney, Esq.[10] Captain Philip Hunloke[11]
14 April 1916 Colonel The Hon. Claude Willoughby
6 July 1917 Rear-Admiral Henry Hervey Campbell
21 March 1919 The Hon. Richard Molyneux
3 December 1920 The Hon. Sidney Greville
12 June 1927
9 June 1931 The Hon. Sir Gerald Chichester
6 May 1932 Colonel Sir Victor Mackenzie, Bart.
11 October 1932 Admiral Sir Henry Buller
26 May 1933 Brigadier-General George Paynter

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Edward VIII (1936)

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In Ordinary

No ordinary grooms-in-waiting were appointed to attend Edward VIII during his reign as King-Emperor.

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George VI (1936–1952)

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In Ordinary

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Elizabeth II (1952–2022 )

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In Ordinary

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References

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  1. ^ "No. 20580". The London Gazette. 3 March 1846. p. 822.
  2. ^ "No. 22583". The London Gazette. 27 December 1861. p. 5578.
  3. ^ "No. 22328". The London Gazette. 22 November 1859. p. 4191.
  4. ^ "No. 22583". The London Gazette. 27 December 1861. p. 5578.
  5. ^ "No. 24098". The London Gazette. 26 May 1874. p. 2779.
  6. ^ "No. 23259". The London Gazette. 4 June 1867. p. 3161.
  7. ^ "No. 24098". The London Gazette. 26 May 1874. p. 2779.
  8. ^ "No. 12317". The Edinburgh Gazette. 3 January 1911. p. 1.
  9. ^ "No. 12317". The Edinburgh Gazette. 3 January 1911. p. 1.
  10. ^ "No. 12317". The Edinburgh Gazette. 3 January 1911. p. 1.
  11. ^ "No. 12317". The Edinburgh Gazette. 3 January 1911. p. 1.
  12. ^ London Gazette, 15 June 1937, page 3854.
  13. ^ London Gazette, 3 August 1937, page 4950.
  14. ^ London Gazette, 3 August 1937, page 4950.
  15. ^ Headlam, Sir Cuthbert Morley (1999). Bell, Stuart (ed.). "Northern Area Chairman". Camden. Fifth Series. 14: 98. doi:10.1017/S0960116300002232. ISBN 9780521661430. S2CID 251232023.
  16. ^ London Gazette, 1 August 1952, page 4198.
  • Database of Court Officers
  • The Constitutional Year Book 1900 (William Blackstone & Sons 1900)
  • Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832–1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)