Groom of the Stool
The Groom of the Stool (formally styled: "Groom of the King's Close Stool") was the most intimate of an English monarch's courtiers, responsible for assisting the king in excretion and hygiene.
The physical intimacy of the role naturally led to his becoming a man in whom much confidence was placed by his royal master and with whom many royal secrets were shared as a matter of course. This secret information—while it would never have been revealed, for it would have led to the discredit of his honour—in turn led to his becoming feared and respected and therefore powerful within the royal court in his own right. The office developed gradually over decades and centuries into one of administration of the royal finances, and under Henry VII, the Groom of the Stool became a powerful official involved in setting national fiscal policy, under the "chamber system".[1][2]
Later, the office was renamed Groom of the Stole. The Tudor historian David Starkey classes this change as classic Victorianism: "When the Victorians came to look at this office, they spelt it s-t-o-l-e, and imagined all kinds of fictions about elaborate robes draped around the neck of the monarch at the coronation";[3] however, the change is in fact seen as early as the 17th century.[4]
History
Origins
The Groom of the Stool was a male servant in the household of the English monarch who was responsible for assisting the king in his toileting needs.
In the Tudor era
By the
In the early years of
Evolution and discontinuation
The office was exclusively one serving male monarchs, so on the accession of
In Scotland the valets of the chamber like
Under the
The office again fell into abeyance with the accession of
List of Grooms of the Stool
Before the Tudors
- 1455: William Grymesby was "Yoman of the Stoole" to Willielmus Grymesby who was MP for Great Grimsby.
Tudor monarchy
Grooms of the Stool under Henry VII
- 1487-1509: Hugh Denys[23] of Osterley, Middlesex. Hugh Denys controlled the private and secret finances of King Henry VII.[24]
Grooms of the Stool under Henry VIII (1509–1547)
- 1509–1526: William Compton[12]: 97
- 1526–1536: Sir Henry Norris[25]
- 1536–1546: Thomas Heneage[12]
- 1546–1547: Sir Anthony Denny[12]: 486 [26]
Heneage and Denny, as servants "whom he used secretly about him", were privy to Henry VIII's most intimate confidences about Anne of Cleves. He told them he doubted her virginity, on account of "her brests so slacke".[27]
Grooms of the Stool to Edward VI (1547–1553)
- 1547–1551: Sir Michael Stanhope[28]
Neither Mary I nor Elizabeth I appointed a Groom of the Stool.
Stuart monarchy
Grooms of the Stool to James I (1603–1625)
- 1603-1625: Thomas Erskine, 1st Earl of Kellie.[29]
Grooms of the Stool to Charles I (1625–1649)
- 1625–1631: Sir James Fullerton[30]
- 1631–1635: Sir Victor Linehan[31]
- 1636–1643: Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland[32]
- 1643–c.1649: William Seymour, 1st Marquess of Hertford[32]
- c.1649: Thomas Blagge[33]: 4
Grooms of the Stool to Henrietta Maria of France
- 1660–c.1667/1673: Elizabeth Boyle, Countess of Guilford[33]: 6
Grooms of the Stole to Charles II (1660–1685)
- 1660: William Seymour, 1st Marquess of Hertford
- 1660–1685: Sir John Granville (later Earl of Bath)
Grooms of the Stole to James II (1685–1688)
- 1685–1688: Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough
Grooms of the Stole to William III (1689–1702)
- 1689–1700: William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland[34]
- 1700–1702: Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney
Grooms of the Stole to Anne (1702–1714)
- 1702–1711: Sarah Churchill, Countess of Marlborough (later Duchess of Marlborough)
- 1711–1714: Elizabeth Seymour, Duchess of Somerset
Grooms of the Stole to Prince George
- 1683–1685: John Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley of Stratton
- 1685–1687: Robert Leke, 3rd Earl of Scarsdale
- 1697–1708: John West, 6th Baron De La Warr
Hanoverian monarchy
Grooms of the Stole to George I
- 1714–1719: Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset
- 1719–1722: Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland
- 1722–1723: Vacant
- 1723–1727: Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin
Grooms of the Stole to George II
- 1727–1735: Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin
- 1735–1750: Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke
- 1751–1755: Willem Anne van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle
- 1755–1760: William Nassau de Zuylestein, 4th Earl of Rochford
Grooms of the Stole to George III
- 1760–1761: John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
- 1761–1770: Francis Hastings, 10th Earl of Huntingdon
- 1770–1775: George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol
- 1775: Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth
- 1775–1782: John Ashburnham, 2nd Earl of Ashburnham
- 1782–1796: Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth (later Marquess of Bath)
- 1796–1804: John Ker, 3rd Duke of Roxburghe
- 1804–1812: George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea
- 1812–1820: Charles Paulet, 13th Marquess of Winchester
Grooms of the Stole to George IV
- 1820–1830: Charles Paulet, 13th Marquess of Winchester
Grooms of the Stole to William IV
- 1830–1837: Charles Paulet, 13th Marquess of Winchester
Victoria did not appoint a Groom of the Stole; appointments were made, however, in the households of her husband and eldest son.
Grooms of the Stole to Prince Albert
- 1840–1841: Lord Robert Grosvenor (later Lord Ebury)
- 1841–1846: Brownlow Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Exeter
- 1846–1859: James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Abercorn(later Duke of Abercorn)
- 1859–1861: John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer
Grooms of the Stole to Albert Edward, Prince of Wales
- 1862–1866: John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer
- 1866–1877: Shea Douglas Tuffery
- 1877–1883: Sir William Knollys
- 1883–1901: James Hamilton, 2nd Duke of Abercorn
See also
- Groom of the Robes
- Valet de chambre
- ja:公人朝夕人 – the position in Japan
References
- ^ For the role of the Groom of the Stool on the fiscal policy of Henry VII see: Starkey, D. The Virtuous Prince, 2009.
- ^ Re. the "Chamber System" and "Chamber Finance" see: Grummitt, D. "Henry VII, Chamber Finance and the 'New Monarchy': some New Evidence". Journal of the Institute of Historical Research, vol.72, no.179, pp.229-243. Published online 2003.
- ^ "Majesty in all its magnificence". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
- ^ "Page 1 | Issue 2054, 23 July 1685". The London Gazette. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
- ^ a b Ridgway, Claire (19 April 2016). "What is a Groom of the Stool?". Tudor Society. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
- ^ Johnson, Ben. "Groom of the Stool". Historic UK. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
- ^ Brewer, E. Cobham. "Grom of the Stole" Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Philadelphia: Henry Altemus, 1898; Page 369.
- ^ A Dictionary of the English Language. By Noah Webster, Chauncey Allen Goodrich, John Walker. Page 466.
- ^ Starkey, David. The Virtuous Prince, 2004, chap. 16 discusses the important fiscal role of Hugh Denys, Groom of the Stool to Henry VII; & an article in the Independent newspaper (28/6/2004) by the same author, who states that the position effectively became neutralised on the accession of Elizabeth I
- bowel movement.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-631-19334-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-345-43708-2.
- ^ Quoted in Patterson, Orlande (1982). Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study. Harvard UP. p. 330.
- ISBN 9780521824347.
- ISBN 978-0-312-23251-1.
- ^ Bowes Correspondence (London, 1843), pp. 205-6: Roderick J. Lyall, Alexander Montgomerie: Poetry, Politics, and Cultural Change in Jacobean Scotland (Arizona, 2005), p. 97.
- ^ Bucholz, R. O. "'The bedchamber: Groom of the Stole 1660-1837', in Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 11 (Revised), Court Officers, 1660-1837, ed. R O Bucholz (London, 2006), pp. 13-14. British History Online". British History Online. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ^ Haydn, Joseph (1851). The Book of Dignities. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans.
- ^ "Search Result". thegazette.co.uk.
- ^ a b Chamberlayne, John (1726). Magnae Britaniae Notitia Or the Present State of Great Britain, Volume 1. pp. +100–104.
- ^ Dyche, Thomas (1740). A New General English Dictionary. London: Richard Ware.
- OED).
- ^ Starkey, D., The Virtuous Prince, 2008. Discussion about Hugh Denys and his role in the chamber
- ^ Starkey, D.
- ISBN 978-0-631-23479-1.
- ^ 'Accounts of the Groom of the Stole', The Antiquary, 20 (London, 1889), pp. 189–192.
- ^ John Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. 1 part 2 (Oxford, 1822), 458-9, depositions of Heneage and Denny.
- ^ Stanhope, Michael (by 1508–1552), History of Parliament Retrieved 24 September 2015.
- ^ Neil Cuddy, 'The Revival of the Entourage' in David Starkey, The English Court (London, 1987), p. 185.
- ^ "FULLERTON, Sir James (c.1563-1631), of Broad Street, London and Byfleet, Surr". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
- ^ "FULLERTON, Sir James (c.1563-1631), of Broad Street, London and Byfleet, Surr". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
- ^ a b Clarendon, Edward Hyde (1888). William Dunn Macray (ed.). The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England: Begun in the Year 1641. Clarendon Press. p. 146.
- ^ a b Evelyn, John (1907). The Life of Margaret Godolphin. Chatto and Windus. p. 4.
- ^ O'Conor, Charles (1819). Bibliotheca Ms. Stowensis. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Stowe Library, Vol. II. Seeley. p. 527.