Until 1859 there were multiple — usually four — clerks of the Privy Council. Three of the four positions then extant were progressively abolished in the 19th century until only one remained in 1859. The Clerk of the Privy Council is deputized by one or two Deputy Clerks, although the office of Senior Clerk has been established in the past.[3][4]
^"By 31 March 1553 Thomas had surrendered the clerkship" - Dakota L. Hamilton, ‘Thomas, William (d. 1554)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2005 accessed 20 May 2016
^In February 1641 he was sent on his first diplomatic mission as ambassador, to the queen of Bohemia and the elector palatine, who were then in the Low Countries, and in the following July he was dispatched as resident to Paris, where he was to remain until 1660. J. T. Peacey, ‘Browne, Sir Richard, baronet (1605–1683)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008 accessed 13 May 2016