The following text and images have been taken from the Leicestershire Lieutenancy exhibition

The Office of Lord-Lieutenant dates back to the middle ages. For many years the office of Sheriff had been in decline, becoming an annual appointment and shedding many of its powers to the Justices of the Peace. The need to have a permanent local representative of the Crown, who could command the armed forces of each county, gave rise to the new office of H.M. Lieutenant.

In addition to his military rôle, the Lieutenant also served as the leader of the county justices and keeper of their records – or custos rotulorum. Aided by a group of Deputy Lieutenants, the Lieutenant of each county became a key link in the chain of government between the Sovereign and people. As the principal Justice of the Peace and the controller of the militia, at a period when there was no police force, the Lieutenant was central to the maintenance of order – especially at times of war or civil unrest.

The military rôle of the Lord-Lieutenant and his Deputies has declined since the army reforms of the 1870s and ’80s. Now the Lord-Lieutenant’s duties are largely symbolic, representing the Crown at ceremonial occasions, though they still preside over the Reserve Forces and Cadet Association of the county. The Lord-Lieutenant is still custos rotulorum and chairs the committee that recommends new candidates for the magistracy. The Lord-Lieutenant also acts as host and escort to the Sovereign and other members of the Royal Family on formal visits to the county. As the permanent representative of the Crown, the Lord-Lieutenant takes precedence locally over the High Sheriff, council chairmen and mayors.

It was the duty of the Lieutenant and his deputies to see that the Militia and Yeomanry, the armed forces of the county, were ready for action at any time. Though a largely ceremonial duty by 1869, the readiness or otherwise of local forces could be a matter of grave importance in times of unrest or war.

Instructions from the Secretary of State, Sir Leoline Jenkins, to the Lieutenant of Leicestershire, the 9th Earl of Rutland, in the wake of the Rye House Plot, 1683:

‘There having been discovered a horid design against his Majestie and his Highness life which should have beene Executed in his Majesties retourne from Newmarket…I am commanded to give [you] notice of yt …you are desired to take speciall care that the officers of the Militia be in areadiness…’

With a Jacobite Rising in Scotland against the new government of George I, the Deputy Lieutenants of Leicestershire met at Loughborough to ensure the preparedness of the Militia.

As the ‘Lieutenancy Book’ records:

‘in case the Militia be called out before arms can be provided according to the Statut. Then for that occasion only, such Armes shall be accepted as they have at present being in good order.  And that in the meane time Captain Tate is desired to send to London to know the prices of Musketts with Bayonetts…’

An order from the Deputy Lieutenants, acting on information received, to the ‘militia troopes of Capt. George Fawnt’:

‘Whereas…there are great numbers of persons Commonly called Quakers that assemble and meete together under the pretence of joyninge in a religious worship at Smeeton in the parrish of Kibworth and divers other places…wee doe therefore hereby order authorize and require you to be aydinge and assistinge with so many of your troopes as you shall thinke fitt Mr Oliver one of the Cheife Constables of the said Hundred for the Suppressinge of the said Conventicles.’

The 8th Duke of Rutland, as Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire, performing his ceremonial rôle as a leading military figure of the county.

One of the duties retained by the Lord-Lieutenant is that  of escort to visiting royalty.

Unless informed that the visit is an informal affair, the Lord-Lieutenant is required to attend the sovereign – or immediate relatives – whenever they visit Leicestershire. The situation was no different in 1929, when Lord Hazlerigg (Lieutenant, 1925 to 1949) acted as guide to the Prince of Wales, on his visit to Leicester’s agricultural show.

Although Chatterton found the powers of the Lieutenant as Custos Rotulorum ‘extremely hard to define’ he was nonetheless Lieutenant of the County, 1949 to 1965 eager to seek approval for his arrangements in respect of the county’s archives. The exchange of letters that resulted, part of the correspondence of The Lord Cromwell, who served as Lieutenant of the County, 1949 to 1965 now survives amongst the ‘Lieutenancy and Militia’ collection at the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland.

The 8th Duke of Rutland served a quarter of a century as Leicestershire’s Lord-Lieutenant. His period of office, from 1900 to 1925, included the Great War.

Here is the Duke, with his Duchess and officers of the 1st Battalion, The Leicestershire Regiment, on the occasion of the presentation of new colours to the battalion, at Shorncliffe, in 1908.

The Deputy Lieutenants have always carried out their share of ceremonial duties. In 1920, it fell to Sir Samuel Faire, a manufacturer of boot laces and other shoe mercery, to attend the Assize Service at the Cathedral in Leicester. He leads the procession in this photograph, wearing the Deputy Lieutenant’s uniform.

For the first two hundred years or so of the Lieutenancy, the loyalty of the incumbent was a vital consideration. It was the Lieutenant who would muster the militia in time of danger and the Lieutenant who put names forward for the magistracy who ran and policed the county. Now appointed by the Crown on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, in 1799 the 5th Duke of Rutland received his appointment from the King. The records of the Lieutenancy still include this certificate that the Duke had taken his oaths of office at St James’s Palace, on 10 July 1799.

In turn, the Lord Lieutenant was responsible for appointments to the Bench
of Justices of the Peace, putting suitable names forward to the Lord Chancellor,
and the armed forces of the shire. This meant that commissions to the Militia, Volunteers and Yeomanry all bore the signature of the Lord-Lieutenant – until military reform in the 1870s and 1880s returned that power to the Crown.

This commission of 1860, signed by the 6th Duke of Rutland, appoints the Marquis of Hastings as Cornet in the Leicestershire Volunteer Cavalry – the  Yeomanry.

The response, by the Secretary for War, Henry
Campbell-Bannerman, to Earl Howe’s recommendation that C T Scott be appointed Deputy Lieutenant, contains the characteristically quaint phrase: ‘the Queen does not disapprove of the appointment’.

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