The

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

is the oldest secular office under

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differ ...

. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere or are now defunct, so that its functions are now largely ceremonial. Sheriff is a title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the invasion of the

Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. On ...

, which was in existence for around a thousand years. A list of the sheriffs from the

Norman conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conq ...

onwards can be found below. The Shrievalties are the oldest

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

titles under the Crown in England and Wales, their purpose being to represent the monarch at a local level, historically in the

shire Shire is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand. It is generally synonymous with county. It was first used in Wessex from the begin ...

s. The office was a powerful position in earlier times, especially in the case of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, which covers a very large area. The sheriffs were responsible for the maintenance of law and order and various other roles. Some of their powers in Yorkshire were relinquished in 1547 as the Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire was instated to deal with military duties. It was only in 1908 under

Edward VII of the United Kingdom Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

that the Lord Lieutenant became more senior than the Sheriff. Since then the position of Sheriff has become more ceremonial, with many of its previous responsibilities transferred to High Court judges,

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's jur ...

s, local authorities and the

police The police are a Law enforcement organization, constituted body of Law enforcement officer, persons empowered by a State (polity), state, with the aim to law enforcement, enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citize ...

. In 1974, under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, the single Yorkshire shrievalty was abolished, with high sheriffs appointed to each of the new

metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

and

non-metropolitan counties A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a county-level entity in England that is not a metropolitan county. The counties typically have populations of 300,000 to 1.8 million. The term ''shire county'' is, however, an unoff ...

. Today the position is represented at a more local level in the form of four titles; the High Sheriff of the East Riding of Yorkshire, High Sheriff of North Yorkshire, High Sheriff of South Yorkshire and

High Sheriff of West Yorkshire The High Sheriff of West Yorkshire is a current High Sheriff title which has existed since 1974, the holder is changed annually every March. For around 1,000 years the entire area of Yorkshire was covered by a single Sheriff of Yorkshire. After ...

Sheriffs

House of Normandy

House of Plantagenet

House of Lancaster

House of York

House of Tudor

House of Stuart

Commonwealth

House of Stuart, restoration

Queen Anne

House of Hanover

House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

House of Windsor

References

External links