Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
Each county has a Lord Lieutenant as the royal representative. He is concerned with the auxiliary and cadet forces. On his recommendation new justices of the peace are appointed. The counties also have their sheriffs appointed by the monarch to see to the assembling of juries and the carrying out of the judgements of the courts. Commissions of the peace are issued, county justices are appointed, and courts of quarter sessions are regularly held for the trial of cases.
When the County of London was formed in 1888 it was given its own Lord Lieutenant and sheriff, commission of the peace and quarter sessions. The Act of Parliament stated that "all enactments, laws and usages with respect to counties in England and Wales, and to sheriffs, justices and quarter sessions shall so far as circumstances admit, apply to the County of London". The exception was the City of London which already had its own sheriffs, commission of the peace and quarter sessions, while the functions of the Lord Lieutenant were carried out by a group of commissioners presided over by the Lord Mayor.
The Lords Lieutenant of the County of London, appointed by the Sovereign under the provisions of the Militia Act, 1882, were as follows:
1889-1899 Hugh Lupus, 1st Duke of Westminster
1900-1912 Alexander William George, 1st Duke of Fife
1912-1944 Robert Offley Ashburton, 1st Marquess of Crewe
1944-1949 Gerald, 7th Duke of Wellington
1949-1950 Archibald Percival, 1st Earl Wavell
1950-1957 Alan Francis, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke
1957-1965 Harold Rupert Leofric George, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis (who also continued as Lord Lieutenant of Greater London until 1966).
Shortly after the appointment of Lord Crewe, the Clerk of the London County Council, Sir Laurence Gomme, was approached to accept additionally the post of Clerk to the Lieutenancy and to act also as Clerk to the London Justices Advisory Committee, the body responsible for advising the Lord Lieutenant of the names of persons suitable to be recommended by him to the Lord Chancellor for appointment as Justices of the Peace for the County of London. The London County Council concurred in the proposed arrangement (Council Minutes, 11 February 1913, at pages 247-248). It became the practice for each successive Clerk of the Council to be appointed to these positions.