Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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The Privy Seal of England can be traced back to the reign of King John. It has been suggested that it was originally the seal that accompanied the person of the Sovereign, while the Great Seal was required to remain in the Chancery.
Prior to its adoption as the Privy Seal of the United Kingdom after the Act of Union 1707, its most notable appearance in Scottish history was its capture by the Scots in the aftermath of the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.
The Great Seal Act 1884 effectively ended the use of the Privy Seal by providing that it was no longer necessary for any instrument to be passed under the Privy Seal.
The Privy Seal of England was originally kept by the Controller of the Wardrobe, but by 1323 the distinct office of Keeper of the Privy Seal had emerged. The present-day title of this office, Lord Privy Seal, is recorded in 1539.
There was also a separate Privy Seal of Scotland, which existed from at least the reign of Alexander III.
Article XXIV of the Treaty of Union provided that-
The Seal was last used in 1898 to execute the commission appointing the Rev. James Cooper to a Regius Chair at the University of Glasgow, but has never been abolished. The office of Keeper of the Privy Seal has not been filled since the death of the Marquess of Breadalbane in 1922.
From http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/
PRIVY SEAL, a seal of the United Kingdom, next in importance to the great seal, and occupying an intermediate position between it and the signet. The authority of the privy seal was principally of a two-fold nature. It was a warrant to the lord chancellor to affix the
men in charge :
Baron, Hartgill 1660-1673
Castle, John 1638-[1646]; 1660-1664
Montagu, Edward (created Earl of Sandwich 12 July 1660) 1660-1672
Watkins, William 1643-[1646]; 1660-1662
http://www.history.ac.uk/office/privyseal.htmlClerks of the Privy Seal c. 1537-1851
“The four Clerks of the Privy Seal were appointed by the crown by letters patent under the great seal from 1537. the Tenure was for life until 1814 ….”
According to an L&M footnote
It appears the Actual Signet Ring is held by the Lord Chancellor: see Hyde for reference:
The “clerks” heading up Privy Seal Office
Hartgill Baron
http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/1113.php
Dr. John Castle
http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/1124.php
Edward Mountagu, Pepys’s patron
http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/112.php
William Watkins
http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/901.php
Some others at the Privy Seal Office, 1660
______ Jennings
http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/1109.php
Samuel Pepys,
Mountagu’s deputy as clerk,
Henry Moore
Pepys’s assistant
http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/340.php
The 4 Royal Seals
“The *signet* was the smallest of the four royal seals, and being smallest, was used for the most routine business. The *Great Seal* would be used for charters, treaties, grants of land, commissions to high officers of the Crown and other major state documents; the *privy or secret seal* was originally used for royal orders or brieves, but later came to be used for such things as grants of moveable property and grants of minor officer the *quarter seal* was used for more routine administrative documents and warrants for the use of the Great Seal, in fact for much the same purposes as the privy seal had been originally used, and the *signet* was used simply for the private letters and order by the king to his “sheriffs in that pairt” ordering them to carry out a specific function; it was thus used to authenticate orders by the king’s court to its functionaries for the administration of the law, in summoning people to court or in carrying out one of the legal diligences against them. Such letters were prepared by writers to the signet.”
From:
http://www.scan.org.uk/researchrtools/glossary_s.htm
Hartgill Baron
http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/1113.php
good :)
I have a privy seal and can’t seem to find out information as to it’s age or value. I can supply a picture if anyone is interested in this item.
More on gov jobs here on [of interest be? Latin and French] : http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=16620&strquery=council%20state%201661#s45