Sir Robert Leslie Overbury, KCB (26 July 1887 – 11 January 1955) was a British public servant and Clerk of the Parliaments from 1949 to 1955."Overbury, Sir Robert (Leslie)"
''Who Was Who'' (online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007). Retrieved 2 January 2019. Privately educated, Overbury began his career as a third-class clerk in the Royal Courts of Justice. In 1915, he was appointed to represent the lower-grade clerks' grievances about their working practices to the

Lord Chancellor's Department The Lord Chancellor's Department was a United Kingdom government department answerable to the Lord Chancellor with jurisdiction over England and Wales. Created in 1885 as the Lord Chancellor's Office with a small staff to assist the Lord Chancell ...

; he impressed the Permanent Secretary, Sir

Claud Schuster Claud Schuster, 1st Baron Schuster, (22 August 1869 – 28 June 1956) was a British barrister and civil servant noted for his long tenure as Permanent Secretary to the Lord Chancellor's Office. Born to a Mancunian business family, Schuster wa ...

, who had him transferred to the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

."Sir Robert Overbury", ''The Times'' (London), 13 January 1955, p. 11. He was appointed to the Lord Chancellor's Department in 1923 as Secretary of Commissions, and in 1930 became Chief Clerk and Establishments Officer. In 1934, he was appointed Second Clerk at the Table, Reading Clerk and Clerk of Outdoor Committees at the House of Lords. Promotion followed in 1937, when he became Clerk Assistant to the Parliaments and then, on Sir Henry Badeley's retirement in 1949, he was appointed Clerk of the Parliaments. He retired, aged 66, in 1953."Resignation of Sir Robert Overbury", ''The Times'' (London), 27 October 1953, p. 8. Overbury had been appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

in 1941, and promoted to Knight Commander in 1950. He died on 11 January 1955.

References

1887 births 1955 deaths Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Clerks of the Parliaments Civil servants in the Lord Chancellor's Department {{UK-gov-bio-stub