There are also distinct non-combat personal bodyguards which serve as ceremonial guards and personal attendants ( such as the Gentlemen at Arms, the Yeomen of the Guard, the Royal Company of Archers, and the Honourable Artillery Company, as well as the Corps of Serjeants at Arms, the Gold Stick and Silver Stick, and the High Constables and Guard of Honour of the Palace of Holyroodhouse ).

There are also distinct non-combat personal bodyguards which serve as ceremonial guards and personal attendants ( such as the Gentlemen at Arms, the Yeomen of the Guard, the Royal Company of Archers, and the Company of Pikemen and Musketeers of the Honourable Artillery Company, as well as the Corps of Serjeants at Arms, the Gold Stick and Silver Stick, and the High Constables and Guard of Honour of the Palace of Holyroodhouse ).

This further increased the Exchequer's standing, since for the first time it put the Exchequer at the same level as the Court of Common Pleas and Court of King's Bench, where all judges were already required to be Serjeants.

Within the Serjeants-at-Law were more distinct orders ; the King's Serjeants, particularly favoured Serjeants-at-Law, and within that the King's Premier Serjeant, the Monarch's most favoured Serjeant, and the King's Ancient Serjeant, the oldest.

The decline of the Serjeants-at-Law started in 1596, when Francis Bacon persuaded Elizabeth I to appoint him " Queen's Counsel Extraordinary " ( QC ), a new creation which gave him precedence over the Serjeants.

Non-combat personal bodyguards include the Gentlemen at Arms, the Yeomen of the Guard, the Royal Company of Archers ( in Scotland ), the Honourable Artillery Company ( in the City of London ), the Corps of Serjeants at Arms, the High Constables and Guard of Honour of the Palace of Holyroodhouse ( in Scotland ), and the Wardens of the Jewel House, Tower of London.

The Attorney-General and Solicitor-General had similarly succeeded the King's Serjeants as leaders of the Bar in Tudor times, though not technically senior until 1623 ( except for the two senior King's Serjeants ) and 1813 respectively.

With the Exchequer's expansion during the Tudor era, the Barons became more important ; where previously only the Chief Baron had been appointed from the Serjeants-at-Law, with the other Barons mere barristers, it became practice for all Barons of the Exchequer to be Serjeants.

The rise of central courts other than the Common Pleas allowed for other lawyers to get advocacy experience and work, drawing it away from the Serjeants, and at the same time the small number of Serjeants were insufficient to handle all the business in the Common Pleas, allowing the rise of barristers as dedicated advocates.

The rule that all common law judges must be Serjeants was also flouted ; it was decided this simply meant that anyone appointed as a judge would quickly be appointed a Serjeant, and then immediately a judge.

For almost all of their history, Serjeants at Law and King's Serjeants were the only advocates given rights of audience in the Court of Common Pleas.

In the order of precedence King's Serjeants came before all other barristers, even the Attorney General for England and Wales, until the introduction of King's Counsel.

This state of affairs came to an end as a result of two changes-firstly, during the reign of James I, when a royal patent gave the Attorney General precedence over all King's Serjeants " except the two ancientiest ", and secondly in 1814 when the Attorney General of the time was a barrister and the Solicitor General ( politically junior to the Attorney General ) a King's Serjeant.

At the time they were the only clearly distinguishable branch of the legal profession, and it is thought that their work may have actually created barristers as a separate group ; although Serjeants were the only lawyers who normally argued in court, they occasionally allowed other lawyers to help them in special cases.

Despite holding a monopoly on cases in the Court of Common Pleas, Serjeants also took most of the business in the Court of King's Bench.

King's Serjeants also worked as legal advisers in the House of Lords, and were not allowed to act in cases against the Crown or do anything that would harm it ; in 1540 Serjeant Browne was heavily punished for creating a tax avoidance scheme.

In exchange for these privileges, Serjeants were expected to fulfil certain duties ; firstly, that they represent anybody who asked regardless of their ability to pay, and secondly that, due to the small number of judges, they serve as deputy judges to hear cases when there was no judge available.

* Royalties from mineral extraction at Hatherton Colliery, Bloxwich ; Hatherton Colliery, Great Wyrley ; Serjeants Hill Colliery, Walsall ; Hatherton Lime Works, Walsall ; Walsall Old Lime Works ; Paddock Brickyard, Walsall ; Sutton Road Brickyard, Walsall ; Serjeants Hill Brickyard, Walsall ; Butts Brickyard, Walsall ; Old Brooks Brickyard, Walsall ; Long House Brickyard, Cannock ; Rumer Hill Brickyard, Cannock ; Penkridge Brickyard ; Wolgarstone Stone Quarry, Teddesley ; Wood Bank and Quarry Heath Stone Quarries, Teddesley ; Gravel Pit, Huntington ; Sand Pit at Hungry Hill, Teddesley.

The Order certainly existed during the reign of Henry II from 1154 – 1189, who created a dozen Serjeants and thus moved the order's existence " out of the realm of conjecture " and into recorded fact.

Serjeants at Law existed in Ireland from at least 1302, and were appointed by letters patent in a similar way to English Serjeants.

This period also saw the first regulation of Serjeants, with a statutory power from 1275 to suspend from practise any Serjeant who misbehaved.

Section 8 provided that common law judges no longer be appointed from the Serjeants-at-Law, removing the need to appoint judicial Serjeants.

Serjeants were traditionally appointed by a writ directly from the King.

The newly created Serjeants would then assemble in one of the Inns of Court, where they would hear a speech from the Lord Chancellor or Lord Chief Justice and be given a purse of gold.

The cut and colour of this robe varied-records from the King's Privy Wardrobe show judges being instructed to wear robes of scarlet, green, purple and miniver, and Serjeants being ordered to wear the same.

Serjeants also had the privilege of being immune from most normal forms of lawsuit-they could only be sued by a writ from the Court of Chancery.

Although required to make the Common Pleas their principal place of work, there is evidence of Serjeants who did not ; one, Robert Mennell, worked entirely in the North of England after his creation in 1547 and was not known in Westminster, where the Common Pleas was located.

He would pass these names on to the Lord Chancellor, who would appoint the new Serjeants.

When wigs were first introduced for barristers and judges it caused some difficulty for Serjeants, who were not allowed to cover the Coif.

It was held as an extension of this that servants of Serjeants could only be sued in the Common Pleas.

The area now known as Serjeants ' Inn, one of two sites formerly occupied by the Serjeants, the other being in Chancery Lane, was purchased by the Inner Temple in 2002.

The Serjeants were the oldest formally created order in England, having been brought into existence as a body by Henry II.

Serjeants ( except King's Serjeants ) were created by Writ of Summons under the Great Seal of the Realm and wore a special and distinctive dress, the chief feature of which was the coif, a white lawn or silk skullcap, afterwards represented by a round piece of white lace at the top of the wig.

By the 1270s there were approximately 20 recorded Serjeants ; by 1290, 36.

By 1404 it was known as " Farringdon's Inn ", but although the Serjeants were in full possession by 1416 it was not until 1484 that the property became known as Serjeant's Inn.

The Attorney-General, Solicitor-General, and King's Serjeants were King's Counsel in Ordinary in the Kingdom of England.

He was one of the last Serjeants in the courts, that title and position being abolished in the judicial reforms of 1873.

He took little interest in the theatrical performances or other pieces of high culture at the Inns, preferring to spend his time at the law courts in Westminster Hall, listening to the Serjeants argue.

On Sunday, the 11th of May 1729, when going out to preach before the judges at Serjeants ' Inn, Clarke was seized with a sudden illness, which caused his death on the Saturday following.

Another important inn, Serjeants ' Inn, was dissolved in 1877 and its assets were, controversially, distributed amongst the existing members.

It was formerly the custom for senior judges to join Serjeants ' Inn, thereby leaving the Inn in which they had practised as barristers.

Since there is now no Serjeants ' Inn, judges remain in the Inns which they joined as students and belonged to as barristers.

The Serjeant-at-Arms is a permanent Officer of the House and controls the Chamber & Gallery Section comprising 20 officers, including a Deputy Serjeant-at-Arms and two Assistant Serjeants.

The King's Serjeants & Officers of State with their Coronation Services.

" The Serjeants of the Common Bench in the reign of Edward I.

The Serjeants ' exclusive jurisdictions were ended during the 19th century, and with the Judicature Act 1873 coming into force in 1875, it was felt that there was no need to have such figures, and no more were created.

The Serjeants had for many centuries exclusive jurisdiction over the Court of Common Pleas, being the only lawyers allowed to argue a case there.

Only Serjeants-at-Law could become judges of these courts right up into the 19th century, and socially the Serjeants ranked above Knights Bachelor and Companions of the Bath.