Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons

The appointment of one Nicholas Maudit to serve as a Serjeant at Arms for the Commons is recorded in 1415 in the Close Rolls of Henry V: "at the special petition of the Commons [...] the King granted that the said Nicholas Maudit should during his life attend upon all his Parliaments [...] as Serjeant at Arms for the Commons coming thereto".^[3] The sergeants-at-arms were a body of men, armed with maces, who served as the king's bodyguard; Maudit was one of their number. Their function was both practical and ceremonial. The king's serjeants-at-arms had significant powers of arrest (requiring no writ, the mace alone serving as their warrant); these powers continued to be used by the Serjeant appointed to the Commons (later a 'Speaker's warrant' was employed, to enable the mace to remain in the chamber when the House was sitting).^[3]

In the 20th century, the post was usually filled by a retired military officer, but in 2008 a civil servant, Jill Pay, was selected as the first woman to hold the appointment.^[4] At the same time the job was split, with many of its duties transferred to a new 'Department of Facilities'.^[3]

Traditionally, the Serjeant at Arms ranked second in precedence (after the Clerk of the House of Commons) amongst the permanent offices of the House.^[5] A further restructuring, however, led to the appointment in 2015 of a 'Director General of the House of Commons'; the Clerk and the (renamed) 'Director General (Operations)' now function as the principal permanent staff,^[6] whereas the Serjeant at Arms is part of the 'Chamber and Participation Team', headed by the Clerk Assistant.^[7]

The House of Lords also had a Serjeant-at-Arms^[a] (technically he was Serjeant-at-Arms to the Lord Chancellor). This office also dated from the 15th century; his duties were merged in 1971 with those of Black Rod.^[8]

The duties of the Serjeant at Arms are partly ceremonial. The Serjeant at Arms carries the mace during the opening of Parliament and is also responsible for maintaining order during debates in the House of Commons, escorting members out of the chamber if ordered to do so by the Speaker.^[3]

In rare cases, the Serjeant at Arms may be called upon to enforce the warrants of the Speaker in summoning a witness to testify before a select committee of the house. While serving the warrant and encouraging a witness to attend parliament "the Serjeant or his appointee may call on the full assistance of the civil authorities, including the police."^[9] In January 1992, the Serjeant at Arms was employed to summon Ian and Kevin Maxwell, the sons of the disgraced business tycoon Robert Maxwell, to attend an inquiry held by the Social Security Select Committee into the operation of the Mirror Group Pension fund.^[9] In November 2018, the Serjeant at Arms was called upon to escort an American businessman, who was staying in London, to the Houses of Parliament because he had documents pertaining to the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal. After being told he could face arrest, fines and imprisonment for failing to comply with a parliamentary order to hand over the documents, the man eventually complied with the request.^[10]

The Serjeant at Arms wears traditional court dress and carries a sword,^[11] and is traditionally the only person allowed to be armed (with sword or mace) inside the chamber of the House of Commons.^[12]

• Serjeant-at-Arms