Evelyn Wrench Speaker Program
The Lord Lisvane, KCB
THE LORD LISVANE, KCB
Retired Clerk of the British House of Commons
A Universal Charter? The Legacy of the Magna Carta
Nearly eight centuries ago, in June of 1215, twenty-five barons waited in a meadow on the banks of the Thames, under fluttering pennants, for King John to round the bend in the river. The events of those days in Runnymede underpin our modern concepts of liberty, freedom and justice. But why and how did Magna Carta or "Great Charter" come about? What distinguished it from other charters of early medieval times? What did it really say and why? How did it then become embedded in the consciousness of the people of England before travelling the world? And most importantly, as we celebrate the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta, what does it mean for us today?
Biography
Lord Lisvane (formerly Sir Robert Rogers) recently retired as 49th Clerk of the House of Commons in the British Parliament, an office that dates back to 1363. For his service, the British magazine, The Spectator, named him 2014 Parliamenarian of the Year. As Clerk he was the principal constitutional adviser to the House, drawing on four decades of experience in every aspect of the House's business He is the author of two miscellanies about the British Parliament: Order! Order! and Who Goes Home? and is the joint author of How Parliament Works, now in its seventh edition. Away from Parliament he is an Honorary Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, and an Honorary Bencher of the Middle Temple Inn of Court. He is a Liveryman of the Skinners' Company (one of the Great Twelve London Livery Companies); and he has been Chairman of the Hereford Cathedral Perpetual Trust, as well as governor of an inner-city school and involved in local government. In his spare time he sails, shoots, plays the organ and plants trees. He maintains a close connection with Hereford Cathedral, and is in nomination to be High Sheriff of Herefordshire in 2016-17. In 2013 he was named Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath and in 2014 was given a Life Peerage by the Queen. His wife, Jane, is a clergywoman in the Church of England and they have two grown daughters, Catherine and Eleanor.
