High Sheriff - England, Wales and Northern Ireland - Pricking

Pricking

The practice of "pricking" is an ancient custom used to appoint the high sheriffs of England and Wales.

In February or March of each year, the parchment prepared the previous November is presented to the Sovereign at a meeting of the Privy Council. Separate parchments are drawn up in November for Cornwall and presented to the Duke of Cornwall (or to the Sovereign when there is no Duke). The Sovereign, as Duke of Lancaster, also receives a separate parchment for Merseyside, Greater Manchester, and Lancashire.

Three persons are nominated for each county, of whom one is chosen by the Sovereign to be sheriff. In practice, the first name on the list is nowadays always the one chosen; the second and third names will become sheriffs in succeeding years, barring incapacity or death. The Sovereign signifies assent by pricking (i.e., piercing) the document with a silver bodkin by the relevant name for each county, and signs the parchment when complete. The parchment for the Duchy of Lancaster is known as the "Lites", and the ceremony of selection known as "Pricking the Lites". The term "lites", meaning "list", was once reserved for Yorkshire; the date at which the name was transferred to Lancashire is unknown.

The practice is believed to date back to the reign of Elizabeth I, when, lacking a pen, she decided to use her bodkin to mark the name instead. However, Lord Campbell states that in February 1847, while acquiring a prick and a signature from Queen Victoria, Prince Albert asked him when the custom began, to which Campbell replied "In ancient times, sir, when sovereigns did not know how to write their names."

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