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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Speaker
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The presiding officer of the House of *Commons, elected by *MPs from among themselves at the start of each parliament. It is conventional to re-elect the Speaker of the previous parliament if still in the House, so in practice the office ends only with retirement or death. The first to be given the title of Speaker was Sir Thomas Hungerford, appointed in 1377. The Speaker was often considered in the early centuries to be the king's man, but an eventual unswerving loyalty to the House was firmly established with Speaker Lenthall's conduct in the case of the *Five Members.
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The later tradition that the Speaker must also be above party was established in the long career of the man considered the greatest of all in the office, Arthur Onslow (1691–1768, Speaker 1728–61).
The Speaker entering the chamber of the House is preceded by the sergeant-at-arms bearing the *mace on his right shoulder; when the Speaker is in the Chair the mace lies on the table of the House, with the orb and cross pointing towards the government side. In the House of Lords the authority of the Speaker (the lord chancellor) is similarly indicated by a mace.
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When the debates in the Commons were first heard on radio in 1975, the public reacted with some dismay to the often rowdy nature of the proceedings – a dismay later modified by the reassuring sight on television of a subsequent Speaker, Bernard Weatherill, resolutely calling for 'Order! Order!'. History was made in 1992 when Betty Boothroyd became the first woman to be elected Speaker. She was deputy Speaker from 1987, and on her first occasion in the chair she ushered in a new era (after so many centuries of 'Mr Speaker') with her ringing declaration 'Call me Madam'.
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