Some Historic Pieces of Furniture In former times the Speaker, at the conclusion of his term of office, claimed the chair in which he sat as his perquisite. Some of these chairs are still in existence, and the canopy of the one which Lenthall filled again and again during the Commonwealth was presented by him to Radley Church, near his Berkshire estate. Though black with age it is still la fairly good preservation, and is, in all probability, the oldest piece of Parliamentary furniture now in existence.
The story that Arthur Onslow carried off five chairs appears to be apocryphal, but in the room called the Speaker's Parlour at Clandon there hang the portraits of no fewer than three occupants of this seat of the mighty—Richard Onslow (1566), Sir Richard Onslow (1708-1710), and the great Arthur, who was Speaker for the record number of years, from 1728 to 1761. Speaker Addington also claimed the chair as his personal property, and the one occupied by Manners Sutton, the only man who has ever been seven times Speaker, is preserved at Melbourne.
Another and more valuable perquisite was the service of plate formerly claimed by the outgoing Speaker on his retirement. The fine Queen Anne plate made for Speaker Bromley of Baginton, who filled the chair from 1710 to 1718, is still in the possession of his descendant, Brigadier - General Bromley-Davenport, whilst the equally splendid service made for Sir Thomas Hanmer, Bromley's successor in the chair, was brought to the hammer at Christie's so recently as 1907, when it realized high prices at auction.
In medieval times the Speaker wore a suit of shining armour, surmounted by a helmet, and was girt with a sword. Numerous examples of this custom remain in memorial brasses and sculptured effigies of the martial Speakers, of whom Sir Thomas Lovell was about the last.
Early in the 16th century it became customary for the presiding officer of the Commons, whether he were a knight of the shire or a lawyer, fo wear a long: rebe or silken gown and a_wig. The fine brass of Sir Thomas Nevill, Speaker in 1514-15, preserved ab Mereworth "Church, Kent, shows the Speaker in a kneeling posture. his hands clasped in an attitude of prayer, and a cross upon his breast. He wears both wig and gloves and a voluminous robe of silk or velvet.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.