| At the club meeting on Monday 15th April members were treated to an illustrated talk about the role of the High Sheriff in Berkshire from Graham Barker, who intrigued our members by telling us the history and the background to the role. The office of High Sheriff is the oldest secular office in the United Kingdom after the Crown and dates from Saxon times. The exact date of origin is unknown but the office has certainly existed for over 1,000 years since the Shires were formed. The first recorded High Sheriff of Berkshire was a nobleman called Godric, who was killed at the Battle of Hastings in AD1066. The term Sheriff was borrowed by Alexander Hamilton, one of the three men who created the American Constitution (the other two being James Madison and John Jay) when they were writing the US Constitution. The Constitution used the terms sheriff, and 'posse commitatus', medieval Latin words, meaning 'the power to be accompanied' as terms to describe early legal procedures. Posse and Sheriff were the names given to the those early law enforcement officers in the USA, terms which are still in use today. Graham was sworn in at a ceremony at Reading Crown Court on the 27th of March 2018 by a High | Court Judge in the presence of his wife, the chief of police, the Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire and the vicar of Bray (see photo). He introduced us to several notable High Sheriffs of Berkshire, including Colonel Ricardo, who was based in Cookham, and was High Sheriff in 1913. Colonel Ricardo famously rode around the village in a yellow Rolls-Royce and was believed to be the inspiration behind Mr Toad in 'The Wind in the Willows', using his manual car horn and its 'Parp Parp' sound to announce his presence. He was a community-spirited character, and resided in the Manor of Cookham until his death in 1924. Graham explained that today the office of High Sheriff is a purely honorary position, although in the past the High Sheriff would be responsible for collection of local taxes, and was the senior law figure in a particular county. One of the many current roles that the modern day Sheriff carries out includes the citizenship ceremony and he spoke about how honoured he was to be able to greet those members of the public who wanted to become citizens of Great Britain. Members found the presentation entertaining and interesting and were fascinated by the detail which Graham was able to bring to the subject. |
