Exons

Brigadier David Innes OBE - Royal Green Jackets
Colonel Michael Kingscote - 17/21st Lancers

The next officers in rank are four Exons. The first mention of Exon is in the ceremony of All Nights, which is fully described in the chapter relating to Charles II. They were added to the staff of officers in 1668 just about the time when Marsham’s account of All Night was written. The derivation and meaning of the

Sir Thomas Seymour Sadler, Exon of the Guard. In the new uniform for Officers of the Body Guard, ordered by William IV 1830-31.

word Exon has been and is a puzzle to many, but it is undoubtedly the French pronunciation of the word exempt. An exempt was an officer in the old French Garde Du Corps. “Exempts des Guedes du Corps” are described in a military dictionary as “Exons belonging to the Body Guards,” There was in France an officer of police called “Un Exempt (exon) de Police.” When Charles II formed his Horse Guards he created a commissioned officer who was styled indiscriminately the exempt or the Exon, and in each of the two troops this officer ranked with the Captain. There is further confusion connected with the title of Exon, for in his commission he is styled corporal. But it appears that in Elizabeth’s reign “corporal” was a commissioned officer, and the term was synonymous with Captain. Down to the time of the Coronation of George III, which took place on 22 September 1761, corporal was only another word for Exon, as may be seen on referring to the official programme of the Coronation, wherein mention is made of “the Corporals or Exons of the Yeomen of the Guard.” The exempt in the French Garde du corps always had charge of the Night Watch, and the Exon is the English Body Guard was especially appointed for that service. Curiously enough the word Exempt is also used in the orders of the Yeomen of the Guard with its English meaning.
Edited from A History of the Yeomen of the Guard 1485 - 1885

1	1668	Edward Ashton Esq	62	1817	W Russ Whyting Esq
2	1668	Hugh Houghton Esq	63	1830	Henry Cipriani Esq
3	1668	Roger Gardner Esq	64	1831	Charles or John Hancock *6
4	1668	Richard Sadlington Esq	65	1831	Sir Isaac Housley Curteis Esq
5	1675	William Houghton Esq	66	1831	Samuel Hancock Esq *7
6	1675	John Pound Esq	67	1836	Thomas Derinzy Esq
7	1675	Henry Dutton Esq	68	1837	Capt William Bellairs *8
8	1685	Robert Sawyers Esq	69	1838	Jonothan P Nuttall Esq
9	1685	William Barlow Esq	70	1839	Thomas Seymour Sadler *9
10	1685	Thomas Orme Esq	71	1844	Capt John Kincaid *11
11	1689	John Biggs Esq	72	1847	Henry Chard Esq
12	1689	Robert Sawyers Esq	73	1847	Charles H Broadwood Esq
13	1689	Robert Uphill Esq	74	1848	Capt Richard Phibbs
14	1690	Paul Cotton Esq	75	1849	Lt Hook Wilson Bellairs
15	1702	George Davenant Esq	76	1851	Capt T Parker Rickford
16	1703	Ambrose Meers Esq	77	1852	Capt William Lewis Grant
17	1703	William Dormer Esq	78	1853	Lt John Wardlaw
18	1705	John Capell Esq	79	1853	Capt George Warmham MacDonald
19	1705	Chiverton Christopher Charleton Esq	80	1856	Capt Magnus FM Herbert
20	1711	Horatio Walpole Esq	81	1859	Capt William Barron
21	1712	Henry Killigrew Esq	82	1862	Lt Col C Doyle Patterson
22	1714	Thomas Windham Esq	83	1862	Col Oliver Paget Bourke
23	1714	Thomas Whitmore Esq	84	1862	Lt Col Jonothan Henry Cooke
24	1717	Soloman Ashley Esq	85	1864	Lt Col Jonothan Augustus Todd
25	1718	Prescott Maynard Esq	86	1869	Capt Francis B Morley CB
26	1732	Leonard Childe Esq	87	1873	Col Henry Hume CB
27	1732	Francis Clarke Esq	88	1880	Lt Col Francis Baring
28	1734	Trevor Borret Esq	89	1884	Col RG Ellison
29	1735	Theophilus Bland Parson Esq	90	1889	Lt Col Horatio P Vance
30	1740	John Towers Esq	91	1892	Maj Edmund H Elliot
31	1743	Richard Hobson Esq	92	1892	Lt Col Hon FIJ Colbourne
32	1743	Matthew Hickeringill Esq	93	1894	Col Reginald Hennell DSO
33	1743	Peter Fenoulhet Esq *1	94	1895	Capt Houston French
34	1744	Ralph Congreve Esq	95	1902	Col Fenwick Bulmer de Sales la Terriere
35	1744	Samuel Horsey Esq	96	1906	Capt Colin MacRae CBE
36	1747	George Melthrope Esq	97	1908	Lt Col JC Wray MVO *10
37	1751	Charles Prideaux Esq	98	1912	Lt Col GR Lascelles
38	1756	Thomas Mildmay Cockayne	99	1925	Col R McCalmont
39	1757	Edward Hussey Esq	100	1925	Maj EB Frederick
40	1760	Savile Cockayne Cust Esq	101	1926	Lt Col W Gibbs
41	1760	William Trent Esq	102	1932	Brig Gen Lord Roundways CMG DSO MVO
42	1761	Cheret Jones Esq	103	1937	Maj Hon EAC Weld-Forester
43	1762	Everard Buckwith Esq	104	1937	Lt Col RC Bingham DSO
44	1763	Nathaniel Causton Esq	105	1947	Maj Gen AHS Adair CB DSO MC
45	1764	Samuel Warburton Esq	106	1950	Lt Col VB Turner VC
46	1771	? Gascoine Esq	107	1950	Brig Gen WG Carr DSO
47	1773	Nathaniel Garrick Esq	108	1951	Lt Col GH Grosvenor DSO
48	?	? Froggart Esq *2	109	1955	Lt Col JD Hornung OBE MC
49	?	? Bellingham Esq *3	110	1964	Col HT Brassey OBE MC
50	1780	Walter Kinneir Esq	111	1967	Col AB Pemberton MBE
51	1780	Joseph Jonothan Bulter Esq	112	1970	Capt Sir Charles McGrigor Bt
52	1782	Robert Fagg Arnold Nash Esq	113	1971	Maj Bruce Shand MC
53	1782	Joseph Baxter Esq	114	1979	Col Greville Tufnell
54	1782	George Stone Esq	115	1985	Col Shaun Longsdon
55	1782	Francis Baker Esq	116