The office of High Sheriff of Sussex 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.
At various times the High Sheriff of Surrey was also High Sheriff of Sussex (1229–1231, 1232–1240, 1242–1567, 1571–1635), The office of High Sheriff of Sussex ceased with local government re-organisation in 1974, when the county was split for local government purposes into East Sussex (see High Sheriff of East Sussex) and West Sussex (see High Sheriff of West Sussex).