SIR THOMAS ERSKINE MAY, K. C. B., CLERK OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

HC Deb 15 April 1886 vol 304 cc1631-4

MR. SPEAKER acquainted the House that he had received a Letter from the Right honourable Sir Thomas Erskine May, K. C. B., the Clerk of this House, which Mr. Speaker read to the House, as followeth:—

15th April 1886.

Sir,

I have the honour to acquaint you that I find myself compelled, by failing health, to tender my resignation of the office of Clerk of the Souse of Commons, which I hold, by Patent, from Her Majesty.

I have been in the service of the House, for upwards of Fifty-four years, of which the last Thirty have been passed at the Table. It is with painful reluctance and regret that I have resolved to withdraw from this honourable service, and from the performance of duties in which I take peculiar interest; but I feel that my strength is no longer equal to the continued strain of a laborious Session.

In closing my long connection with the House of Commons, I trust I may be permitted to express my grateful sense of the consideration and kindness which have been uniformly extended to me, by yourself and your predecessors in the Chair, and by honourable Members of the House, in many Parliaments.

I have the honour to be,

Sir,

Your obedient humble Servant,

T. Erskine May.

The Right Hon.

The Speaker of

The House of Commons,

&c., &c., &c.

MR. SPEAKER

thereupon addressed the House as followeth:—

I hope I may be permitted by the House to say a few words in reference to the Letter which I have just read.

I hope I may be permitted to express the regret which I feel, that it has fallen to my lot to communicate to the House the resignation of the Right Honourable Gentleman. But I am sure that it would not be expected that a service of Fifty-four years in this House—Thirty of which have been passed in attendance at that Table, Fifteen years as Clerk Assistant, and another Fifteen years as Clerk of the House of Commons—I am sure, I say, that it would not be expected that such a service should terminate without a few words from the Chair.

The reputation of Sir Thomas Erskine May extends beyond the limits of this House, I may truly say that it extends beyond the limits of this Country. The work which he published in the year 1844, on the privileges, the customs, and usages of Parliament, is not only a household word in this House, but it has been the model for many other Legislatures. It has been held in high value in the United States of America, and it has been the mould on which have been formed the practice and proceedings of all our Colonial Legislatures.

Everybody will have recognized the great constitutional learning, the store of precedents, the equitable application of those precedents, the sound and mature judgment which the Right Honourable Gentleman has brought to bear upon the practice of Parliament, and the service of the House. No one, however, can tell, except those who have been brought into direct connection with him, the readiness with which he placed those stores of learning, and that unexampled experience, at the service of everyone who consulted him. My predecessors in the Chair—successive Speakers—have on repeated occasions acknowledged the value of the services of the Right Honourable Gentleman, and I regret that it should fall to me to be the last Speaker who will profit by his experience and judgment. They have testified their admiration of the qualities which distinguished Sir Thomas Erskine May; and, following their example, I wish respectfully to say that no one of my predecessors had a more hearty appreciation than I entertain of the value of those services; no one has more profited by them; and no one can be more desirous of expressing, not a mere formal, but a heartfelt appreciation of his services, and a regret at losing the connection which has been so long established between the Right Honourable Gentleman and this House.

I do not presume to anticipate any Resolution that may be come to by the House on the subject of the Letter which I have read, but I feel sure that the House will agree with me, that I could hardly have passed over the occasion of reading that Letter without making these few remarks.

THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. W. E. GLADSTONE) (Edinburgh, Mid Lothian)

Without saying a word at present, I wish to give Notice, with respect to the right hon. Gentleman (Sir Thomas Erskine May), that I will to-morrow move a Vote of Thanks to the right hon. Gentleman upon his resignation of the office of Clerk of the House.