Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 2.djvu/619

 6o3 APPENDIX D THE GREAT OFFICES OF STATE This Appendix comprises a short account of the hereditary Great Offices of State, for which the Editor is indebted to J. H. Round, and Usts of the holders of one of these offices — the Marshals of England and Earls Marshal — and of several of the non-hereditary offices. The latter, with one exception, have been restricted to those holders of the respective offices who were or became peers, and of whom, consequently, notices are given in the text of the work. In the case of the Secretaries of State, who include a large proportion of persons who died commoners, having regard to the unsatisfactory character of such lists as are at present in existence, the Editor has decided to relax his restriction by including a more complete list than can be found in collected form elsewhere, a special feature of which is the discrimination between the Secretaries for the Northern and Southern provinces from an earlier date than has hitherto been attempted. A list of the Earls Marshal was given by the former editor in the article entitled " Marshal," which is replaced by the list given here. While it is not claimed that this list is perfect, the Editor believes it to be as complete and accurate as it can be made in the light of our present knowledge. He desires to thank Sir Henry Maxwell Lyte and J. H. Round for valuable suggestions, but must not allow them to be held responsible for any imper- fections it may contain. It has not been thought necessary' to attempt lists of holders of the other four hereditary offices because their purely nominal functions are, and have been for centuries, only exercised on ceremonial occasions. All the lists in this Appendix owe a great deal to the ungrudging and tireless industry of the Rev. A. B. Beaven, and the last of them — that of the Secretaries of State — is entirely his work.