The Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms is a post in the Government of the United Kingdom which has been held by the Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords since 1945. Prior to 17 March 1834, the Gentlemen-at-Arms were known as the Honourable Band of Gentlemen Pensioners.
List of Captains of the Gentlemen-at-Arms Date of appointment Holder 1509 Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex 1539 Sir Anthony Browne 1549 John Braye, 2nd Baron Braye 1550 William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton 1553 Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex 1558 Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon 1596 George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon May 1603 Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland 1615 Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk 1616 Theophilus Howard, Baron Howard de Walden (succeeded as Earl of Suffolk 1626) May 1635 William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury 1643 Francis Leigh, 1st Baron Dunsmore (created Earl of Chichester 1644) temp Charles II William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury 20 July 1660 Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Cleveland 29 March 1667 John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse 10 March 1672 Thomas Belasyse, 2nd Viscount Fauconberg 9 May 1676 Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon 24 April 1677 Robert Leke, 3rd Earl of Scarsdale 26 June 1682 Theophilus Hastings, 7th Earl of Huntingdon 28 February 1689 John Lovelace, 3rd Baron Lovelace 29 November 1693 Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans 13 January 1712 Henry Somerset, 2nd Duke of Beaufort 22 September 1714 Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans 21 May 1726 William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington (succeeded as Duke of Devonshire 1729) 11 June 1731 Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington 11 June 1734 John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu 8 May 1740 Charles Powlett, 3rd Duke of Bolton 12 July 1742 Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst 24 December 1744 John Hobart, 1st Baron Hobart (created Earl of Buckinghamshire 1746) 16 November 1756 John Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley of Stratton 12 July 1762 George Henry Lee, 3rd Earl of Lichfield 28 December 1772 George Edgcumbe, 3rd Baron Edgcumbe (created Viscount Mount Edgcumbe and Valletort 1781) 29 March 1782 George Townshend, 17th Baron Ferrers of Chartley 17 May 1783 George Villiers, 4th Earl of Jersey 31 December 1783 George Townshend, 17th Baron Ferrers of Chartley (created Earl of Leicester 1784) 5 March 1790 George Boscawen, 3rd Viscount Falmouth 19 February 1806 St Andrew St John, 14th Baron St John of Bletso 2 March 1808 Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe 26 March 1812 James Stopford, 3rd Earl of Courtown 1 September 1827 Henry Devereux, 14th Viscount Hereford 9 December 1830 Thomas Foley, 3rd Baron Foley 16 August 1833 Thomas Foley, 4th Baron Foley 29 December 1834 Henry Devereux, 14th Viscount Hereford 6 May 1835 Thomas Foley, 4th Baron Foley 8 September 1841 John Weld-Forester, 2nd Baron Forester 24 July 1846 Thomas Foley, 4th Baron Fole 27 February 1852 John Montagu, 7th Earl of Sandwich 30 December 1852 Thomas Foley, 4th Baron Foley 26 February 1858 Henry Chetwynd-Talbot, 18th Earl of Shrewsbury 28 June 1859 Thomas Foley, 4th Baron Foley 10 July 1866 Charles Bennet, 6th Earl of Tankerville 20 March 1867 William Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Exeter 12 December 1868 Thomas Foley, 4th Baron Foley 27 December 1869 George Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby 20 April 1871 Francis Cowper, 7th Earl Cowper 1 January 1874 Henry Fox-Strangways, 5th Earl of Ilchester 2 March 1874 William Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Exeter 4 February 1875 Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 19th Earl of Shrewsbury 28 May 1877 George Coventry, 9th Earl of Coventry 3 May 1880 Alexander Duff, 6th Earl Fife 21 January 1881 Charles Gordon, 11th Marquess of Huntly 27 June 1881 Charles Wynn-Carington, 3rd Baron Carrington 6 July 1885 George Coventry, 9th Earl of Coventry 10 February 1886 Charles Hanbury-Tracy, 4th Baron Sudeley 5 August 1886 George Barrington, 7th Viscount Barrington 24 November 1886 Robert St Clair-Erskine, 4th Earl of Rosslyn 11 August 1890 Charles Pelham, 4th Earl of Yarborough 25 August 1892 George Venables-Vernon, 7th Baron Vernon 13 March 1894 Edwyn Scudamore-Stanhope, 10th Earl of Chesterfield 16 July 1895 Henry Strutt, 2nd Baron Belper 18 December 1905 William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp 31 July 1907 Thomas Denman, 3rd Baron Denman 26 June 1911 Edward Colebrooke, 1st Baron Colebrooke 20 November 1922 George Villiers, 6th Earl of Clarendon 22 January 1924 Alexander Murray, 8th Earl of Dunmore 1 December 1924 George Villiers, 6th Earl of Clarendon 26 June 1925 Ivor Windsor-Clive, 2nd Earl of Plymouth 1 January 1929 George Bingham, 5th Earl of Lucan 5 June 1929 Rudolph Lambart, 10th Earl of Cavan 12 November 1931 George Bingham, 5th Earl of Lucan 31 May 1940 Henry Snell, 1st Baron Snell 21 April 1944 Vacant 22 March 1945 Hugh Fortescue, 5th Earl Fortescue 4 August 1945 Charles Ammon, 1st Baron Ammon 18 October 1949 George Shepherd, 1st Baron Shepherd 5 November 1951 Hugh Fortescue, 5th Earl Fortescue 27 June 1957 Michael Hicks Beach, 2nd Earl St Aldwyn 21 October 1964 Malcolm Shepherd, 2nd Baron Shepherd 29 July 1967 Frank Beswick, Baron Beswick 24 June 1970 Michael Hicks Beach, 2nd Earl St Aldwynn 11 March 1974 Annie Llewelyn-Davies, Baroness Llewelyn-Davies of Hastoe 6 May 1979 Bertram Bowyer, 2nd Baron Denham 22 May 1991 Alexander Fermor-Hesketh, 3rd Baron Hesketh 16 September 1993 Nicholas Lowther, 2nd Viscount Ullswater 20 July 1994 Thomas Galbraith, 2nd Baron Strathclyde 6 May 1997 Denis Carter, Baron Carter 1 May 2002 Bruce Grocott, Baron Grocott 24 January 2008 Janet Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon 5 October 2008 Steve Bassam, Baron Bassam of Brighton 13 May 2010 Joyce Anelay, Baroness Anelay of St John's 6 August 2014 John Taylor, Baron Taylor of Holbeach 26 July 2019 Henry Ashton, 4th Baron Ashton of Hyde 7 September 2022 Susan Williams, Baroness Williams of Trafford 9 July 2024 Roy Kennedy, Baron Kennedy of Southwark
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