Deputy lieutenant
Crown appointment in the UK
In the United Kingdom, a deputy lieutenant is a Crown appointment and one of several deputies to the lord-lieutenant of a lieutenancy area, an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county. Before the creation of the Irish Free State, all Irish counties had deputy lieutenants.
In formal style, the postnominal letters DL may be added after a deputy lieutenant's surname and other postnominals, e.g., "John Brown, CBE, DL". The position of Deputy Lieutenant is honorary and receives no remuneration.
01Overview
Deputy lieutenants are nominated by a lord-lieutenant to assist with their duties (see the Lieutenancies Act 1997). Deputy lieutenants receive their commission of appointment via the appropriate government minister by command of the British monarch. In England and Wales, since November 2001, the minister responsible for most appointments is the Lord Chancellor, with exceptions such as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. In Scotland, since July 1999, it has been the Scottish Ministers.
Decades ago, a county could have as few as three deputy lieutenants. Today, there may be more than a dozen, as their number is proportional to the county's population. Deputy lieutenants tend to be people who either have served the local community, or have a history of public service in other fields.
Deputy lieutenants represent the lord-lieutenant in their absence, including at local ceremonies and official events, from opening exhibitions to inductions of vicars (as requested by the Church of England). They must live within their lieutenancy area, or within seven miles (11 km) of its boundary. Their appointments do not terminate with any change of lord-lieutenant, but they are legally required to retire at age 75.
One of the serving deputy lieutenants is appointed to be vice lord-lieutenant, who in most circumstances will stand in for a lord-lieutenant who cannot be present. The appointment as vice lord-lieutenant usually expires upon the retirement of the lord-lieutenant who made the choice. Generally, the vice lord-lieutenant would then revert to being a regular deputy lieutenant.
Unlike the office of lord-lieutenant, which is an appointment in the gift of the Sovereign, the position of deputy lieutenant is an appointment of the Sovereign's appointee, and therefore not a direct appointment of the Sovereign per se.
Deputy lieutenant commissions are published by the clerk of the lieutenancy, as a State Appointment, in either the London Gazette or the Edinburgh Gazette, as appropriate, with the names of the persons appointed deputy lieutenants for that county or area, and the dates of their commissions.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Deputy lieutenant”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Harry William Verelst (1846–1918).jpg by Unknown photographer, Public domain
- John Samuel Wilson (crop 2).jpg by MattHHM, CC BY-SA 4.0
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