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.
1974: Hugh Charles Innes Rogers, of Beach House
1975: John Foster Robinson CBE TD, of St. Georges Hill
1976: Simon Melville Wills, of the Manor House, Walton-in-Gordano
1977: Malcolm Allinson Anson, of Hill Court
1978: Ewart Agnew Boddington, of Fanshawe Brook Farm
1979: Thomas Lloyd Robinson TD, of Lechlade
1980: Mary Ada Phoebe Towill, of Urchinwood Manor
1981: Roderick Macdonald Davidson, of 13 Buckingham Vale, Clifton
1982: Peter Douglas Smith, of Westbrook
1983: Colonel Charles James Stewart OBE TD, of Thornton
1984: Christopher Wilson Thomas CBE, of Bourne House
1985: Robert Edward John Bernays, of Old Down House, Tockington
1986: Sir Alexander Walter Merrison FRS, of The Manor, Hinton Blewett
1987: Robert Alexander Chermside, of The Old Rectory, Tormarton
1988: Charles Richard Thurlow Laws, of Jerome House
1989: Sir George White, 4th Baronet, of Pypers
1990: Robert Foxcroft Robertson-Glasgow, of Hinton House
1991: Andrew Milton Reid, of Parsonage Farm
1992: Francis William Greenacre, of 3 Cecil Road, Clifton
1993: Hylton Henry Bayntun-Coward
1994: Christopher Marsden-Smedley, of Church Farm
1995: James Napier Tidmarsh KCVO, MBE, of 8 Princes Buildings, Clifton
1996: George Robert Paget Ferguson, of 5 Windsor Terrace, Clifton
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