TRIBUTES BY PARTY LEADERS. (Hansard, 22 April 1915)

§ The PRIME MINISTER (Mr. Asquith)
I beg to move, "That Mr. Speaker be requested to acquaint Sir Henry David Erskine, K.C.V.O., that this House entertains a just sense of the exemplary manner in which he has uniformly discharged the duties of the office of Serjeant-at-Arms, and has devoted himself to the service of the House for a period of upwards of forty years."
In moving the Motion which stands in my name, I may remind the House that the office of Serjeant-at-Arms in attendance upon this House is, in theory and in point of legal status, one, perhaps, of the most anomalous even in our variegated Constitution. The Serjeant-at-Arms is a nominee of the Crown. In his appointment this House has no voice of any sort or kind. He is technically a member of the Royal Household. His primary duties are to attend the Sovereign, and it is only in the concluding words of the patent of his appointment—as, it would seem, a kind of afterthought—that it is suggested he has duties to perform in the House of Commons. By the usage which has now grown up during many centuries, the Serjeant-at-Arms is, in fact, a servant of the House of Commons. We cannot get on with our business unless either he or his Deputy sits in that Chair, and there is no official on our permanent staff who is brought into 431 more constant and intimate relations with Members, or upon whose personal qualities the comfort and the convenience of our daily Parliamentary life are more dependent. When I entered this House, now close upon thirty years ago, Sir Henry David Erskine had already for a considerable time filled that post, and I do not suppose that there are more than one or two Members at the outside in the House—my right hon. Friend opposite may be one—who have ever been under the sway of another Serjeant-at-Arms.

§ Mr. WALTER LONG
Two.

§ The PRIME MINISTER
There are two. I said one or two. During a number of Parliaments, Sir David Erskine has discharged the duties of his office with unfailing efficiency, with untiring assiduity, with unruffled urbanity, and with a courtesy and consideration which have won him, not only the esteem but the affection of successive generations of Members. I am sure I am expressing the universal feeling of the House in all quarters when I say we should not be doing justice to what we think and what we feel, if we did not to-day put on record our regret at his departure, our warm appreciation of his extended and invaluable services, our heartfelt gratitude for the many kindnesses we have, one and all, met with at his hands, and our sincere hope that he may long enjoy the retirement he has so well and worthily earned.

§ Mr. BONAR LAW
It is a pleasure to me to second the Resolution which has just been moved by the Prime Minister in words which command the sympathy and express the feeling of every Member of the House, and leave me nothing to add. Whatever may be the technical position in which the Serjeant-at-Arms stands, there is no one who, during that long period, has been more closely identified with the House of Commons, or is more completely a feature of the life of the House of Commons. What the right hon. Gentleman has said about his own experience suggests to me that the step Sir David Erskine is now taking must arouse a host of memories 432 in his own mind. For forty years he has been a silent, but not an uninterested spectator of the strenuous life which is concentrated within these walls. There are, as we have discovered, only two or three Members who have been present under another Serjeant-at-Arms. During all that time he has been a witness of the struggles and ambitions, of the successes, and, what is perhaps more tragic, of the failures and partial failures which are a feature of the life of the House of Commons.
Such an experience must cut deeply into the nature of any man, and, though we can well understand Sir David now feels it necessary to take his well-earned rest, I am sure it is not without a deep pang that he breaks a connection which must be completely a part of his life. I wish, therefore, to say now—and I am sure that in saying it I speak for the whole House of Commons—that the loss is not on his side alone. His qualities, to which the Prime Minister has referred, his gentle, his modest nature, the constant courtesy, the unfailing kindness which on every occasion he has shown to each of us, whatever our position in the House of Commons, has endeared him to us all, and when he leaves I am sure every one will feel, as I feel, that in seeing him depart from his accustomed post we have all lost a personal friend.

§ Mr. JOHN REDMOND
I wish to associate myself, and to associate Members of the Irish Nationalist party in this House, most heartily with this Motion. Most of us have sat here for many long years with Sir Henry David Erskine, and, for my part, I cannot help recalling the fact that in the past the relations between the Serjeant-at-Arms and the Members of the Irish Nationalist party were, from time to time, exacting and peculiar, and I am afraid it is true that some of the most exciting and troublesome incidents connected with his career in that Chair have been associated with Irish Nationalist politics. But I wish to say on behalf of every Member of the Irish party, and especially let me say on behalf of the older Members of that party, that not one has ever received anything except the 433 greatest kindness, consideration, and courtesy from him. As far as I myself am personally concerned, I am one of those Members of the House who sat under his predecessor, the late Captain Gosset. I have been associated with Sir Henry David Erskine, either as Serjeant-at-Arms or Deputy-Serjeant-at-Arms, for a period of thirty-four years, and I have always received from him the greatest kindness and courtesy, even on the painful occasions when it was his duty politely to facilitate my compulsory removal from this Assembly. We all heartily regret his retirement, and I wish to say that he will carry with him into his retirement the gratitude, the respect, and the most sincere good wishes of every Irish Nationalist Member of the House.

§ Mr. HODGE
I feel somewhat embarrassed after the eloquent speeches which have been made, but my colleagues have expressly desired that I should, on their behalf, associate themselves with the Resolution now before the House. In 1906 the Labour party came into the House as an unknown quantity, and I believe some people were rather afraid of this innovation. During the period we have been here we have found the Serjeant-at-Arms ever courteous to us. He knew no party distinctions, and our heartiest wishes go with him in his retirement. We wish him long life to enjoy his period of leisure, and also good health.

§ Sir W. BYLES
The speeches to which we have listened have been made by leaders of parties. Perhaps, as one of the oldest Members of this House, I may be allowed one word, coming from one who has no connection with either of the Front Benches. I wish to state that the rank and file, the common or garden Members of the House, join most warmly in this tribute to Sir David Erskine, from whom we have received a thousand kindnesses in the course of my connection with the House. I frankly state that I am rather disappointed with the terms of the Resolution which has been proposed, and I would very much like that some of the glowing sentences and eloquent tributes which found a place in the Prime Minister's speech should have been embodied more or less in this Resolution which is to be inscribed on the Journals of the House, 434 and which, I am sure, will be treasured by Sir David Erskine.