History

Municipal Clerk: One of the Earliest Government Professions

The municipal clerk, along with the tax collector, is the earliest of public servants. The Office of Municipal Clerk can be traced back to the year 1272 A.D. in the history of the Corporation of Old London. In the 1500s in England, there was not only the “Towne Clarke" but also the "Clerc Comptroller of the King's Honorable Household." In 1603, there was a "Clarke General of the Armie." King Henry the Eighth had a "Clarke of the Spicery" and King Charles had his "Clerk of the Robes.".

St. Paul and his followers, during his missionary work in Persia (now Western Turkey), owed their safety to the action of a town clerk. As related in Acts XIX 23-25, the artisans of Ephesus who made the idols of the time, feared the effect of Paul's missionary work on their trade. They incited a mob to seize two of Paul's followers. The town clerk, however, spoke out against this action and insisted that charges laid against these men had to be settled in the proper manner and before the proper authorities. There was no justification for riotous conduct. With that, he dispersed the crowd.

Ancient Greece had a city secretary who read official documents publicly. At the opening of a meeting, one of his duties was to read a curse upon anyone who should seek to deceive the people.