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

List of all Grooms in Waiting

Victoria (1837–1901 )

In Ordinary

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

Extra

Edward VII (1901–1910)

In Ordinary

Date
23 July1901Lieutenant Colonel Lord Edward Pelham-ClintonThe Hon. Sidney GrevilleThe Hon. Harry StonorAdmiral Sir John FullertonSir Alexander Condie StephenGeneral Godfrey ClerkCaptain Walter Douglas Somerset Campbell
14 November 1905The Hon. Arthur Walsh
18 July 1907Sir Archibald Edmonstone, Bart.Rear-Admiral Sir Archibald Berkeley Milne, Bart.
4 June 1908Colonel Henry StreatfeildSir John Lister-Kaye, Bart.
9 October 1908Commander The Hon. Charles Cunninghame Graham
30 November 1908Montague Eliot, Esq.

Extra

George V (1910–1936)

In Ordinary

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

Extra

Edward VIII (1936)

In Ordinary

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

Extra

George VI (1936–1952)

In Ordinary

Extra

Elizabeth II (1952–2022 )

In Ordinary

Extra

References

  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.
  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)
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