Major HERBERTasked the Financial Secretary to the War Office what are the regulations governing the appointment of deputy-lieutenants; whether there is a minimum number of such appointments which must be made in each county; if there are any counties in which the full number has not been appointed; and, if so, which are the counties concerned?
§ Mr. HACKINGThe appointment of deputy-lieutenants is governed by Section XXX of the Militia Act, 1882, as modified and extended by the Deputy-Lieutenants Act, 1918. Briefly, the conditions are that a person appointed to be a deputy-lieutenant must possess the following qualifications:
- (a) He must have a place of residence in the county or within seven miles thereof:
- (b) He must be shown to the satisfaction of a Secretary of State to have rendered worthy service as a member of, or in a civil capacity in connection with, His Majesty's Naval, Military or Air Forces.
The Act of 1882 declares that in every county 20 persons at least, or if so many persons cannot be found duly qualified, then all the duly qualified persons living within the county, shall be appointed deputy-lieutenants. As regards existing vacancies, these vary from week to week; but at the moment there are about 50 counties in which there are less than 20 deputy-lieutenants.