The office of
High Sheriff is over 1000 years old, with its establishment before the
Norman Conquest. The Office of High Sheriff remained first in precedence in the counties until the reign of
Edward VII when an Order in Council in 1908 gave the
Lord-Lieutenant the prime office under the Crown as the Sovereign's personal representative. The High Sheriff remains the Sovereign's representative in the County for all matters relating to the Judiciary and the maintenance of law and order.
The county of
Avon was formed in 1974 and abolished in 1996. Before and after this time the area covered was in a variety of other shrievalties, including
Somerset,
Bristol and
Gloucestershire.
Officeholders
1974: Hugh Charles Innes Rogers, of Beach House,
Bitton, near Bristol.[1]