Cut Steele High Sheriff Buckles

Imitation Cut Steele Buckle specifically designed for the High Sheriff Of London. There is also a matching Cut Steele Button. Please go to the Vintage Button section of the website for more information.

There are two Sheriffs of the City of London. The sheriffs are elected annually by the Liverymen of the Livery Companies, and it is a requirement for a Lord Mayor of the City of London to previously have served as a Sheriff. Sheriffs have only nominal duties now, but previously had large judicial responsibilities. They attend the Justices at the Central Criminal Court Old Bailey since its original role as the Court for the City and Middlesex.

The Sheriffs actually are resident for their year of office in the court house complex, so that one of them is always attendant on the judges. In Court No1 the principal chairs on the 'bench' are reserved for them and the Lord Mayor, the City's Sword hangs behind the 'bench'.

They are elected at the Midsummer Common Hall by the Liverymen by acclamation unless a ballot is demanded from the floor which takes place within 14 days. The returning officers at the Common Hall are the Recorder of London (senior Judge of the 'Old Bailey') and the serving Sheriffs. The current Sheriffs are Alderman Fiona Woolf CBE and Richard Sermon.

The sheriffs only cover the square mile of the City of London. There is now a High Sheriff of Greater London who covers London outside of the City, which today incorporates parts of several old counties, notably Middlesex.