The Remembrancer was originally a subordinate officer of the English Exchequer. The office is of great antiquity, the holder having been termed remembrancer, memorator, rememorator, registrar, keeper of the register, despatcher of business.[1] The Remembrancer compiled memorandum rolls and thus “reminded” the barons of the Exchequer of business pending.
There were at one time three clerks of the remembrance, the King's Remembrancer, Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer and Remembrancer of First-Fruits and Tenths (see Court of First Fruits and Tenths). In England, the latter two offices have become extinct, the Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer being merged in the office of King's Remembrancer in 1833, and the remembrancer of first-fruits by the diversion of the fund (Queen Anne's Bounty Act 1838). By the Queen's Remembrancer Act 1859 that office ceased to exist separately, and the monarch's remembrancer was required to be a master of the court of exchequer. The Judicature Act 1873 attached the office to the Supreme Court of Judicature (today called the Senior Courts), and the Supreme Court of Judicature (Officers) Act 1879 transferred it to the central office of the Supreme Court. By section 8 of that Act, the monarch's remembrancer is a master of the Supreme Court, usually filled by the senior master. The monarch's remembrancer department of the central office is now amalgamated with the judgments and married women acknowledgements department. The monarch's remembrancer still assists at ceremonial functions, relics of the former importance of the office, such as the nomination of sheriffs, the swearing-in of the Lord Mayor of the City of London, the Trial of the Pyx and the acknowledgements of homage for crown lands.[1]
- ^ a b This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Remembrancer". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 81.
