Clerk of the Acts

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Office of the Clerk of the Acts
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Flag of the Navy Board
Department of the Admiralty
Member of Navy Board (1546–1796)
Reports to First Lord of the Admiralty
Nominator First Lord of the Admiralty
AppointerMonarch, with advice from council/ministers
Term length Not fixed (usually for life)
Inaugural holder Samuel Pepys
Formationc. 1660–1796

The Clerk of the Acts, [1] originally known as the Keeper of the King's Ports and Galleys, [2] [3] [4] [5] was a civilian officer in the Royal Navy and a principal member of the Navy Board. The office was created by King Charles II in 1660 and succeeded the earlier position of Clerk of the Navy (1546 to 1660). The Clerk was responsible for the organisation of Navy Office, processing naval contracts and coordinating the administrative and secretarial side of the Navy Board's work. The post lasted until 1796, when its duties were merged with that of the Second Secretary to the Admiralty later known as the Permanent Secretary to the Admiralty. [6]

Contents

History

The ultimate origins of the office lie in the reign of King John, who developed a royal fleet and the earliest known administrative structure for the English Navy, through his appointment of William of Wrotham as Keeper of the King's Ports and Galleys in the early 13th century. According to modern historians, William had a "special responsibility for ports, customs, and the navy".[ citation needed ] Murray (1935), Oppenheim (2014), Lloyd (1970) and Runyan (1987) support the view that his office continued until the creation of the Navy Board in 1546 and is therefore a direct predecessor of the later Clerk of the Acts and the Secretary of the Admiralty. [2] However, a clear definition of Wrotham's office is not conclusive and has been viewed by other sources such as Turner (1994) to be similar to that of the First Lord of the Admiralty. [7] King John's son and successor Henry III [8] continued to refine the administration the royal fleet. However it was during Edward III's reign that a formal naval administration really began to evolve when the Keeper was succeeded by the office of Clerk of the King's Ships, [9] according to naval historian Nicholas A. M. Rodger in his book the Admiralty (1979) states "Insofar as mediaeval Kings of England possessed a permanent administrator of their navies, he was the 'Clerk of the Kings Ships'. The post first appears in a distinct form under King John with William de Wrotham as Keeper of the Kings Ports and Galleys, the Clerk of the Kings Ships was not a one man department of state but a permanent agent of the crown" [10] For a period of over 300 years this official was responsible, sometimes really and sometimes nominally, for control of naval organisation until the formation of the Navy Board in 1546. [11] During the course of the following centuries the title changed its name. In the fifteenth century the post was known as the Clerk of Marine Causes and during the sixteenth century the office was known as the Clerk of the Navy, in the seventeenth century, Clerk of the Acts. [12] [13] Between the years 1673 and 1677 the office was held jointly by two clerks of the acts, and then again from 1702 until 1706. Between 1673 and 1680 the post was held simultaneously with the Secretary of the Admiralty. In the same year the Clerk of the Acts was appointed an assistant to alleviate him of some of his secretarial duties [14] and thus separating those responsibilities from the office of the secretary. In 1796 the offices of Clerk of the Acts and three other offices, those of Comptroller of Storekeepers Accounts, Comptroller of Treasurer Accounts and Comptroller of Victualling Accounts, [15] were abolished and the Board reconstituted; the function of the Navy Office was then supervised by three Committees, of Correspondence, Accounts and Stores. [16]

Responsibilities

The Clerk of the Acts' official responsibility's were: [17] [18]

The Clerk of the Kings Ships' responsibilities were: [19]

The Keeper of the Kings Ports and Galleys' responsibilities were: [20]

List of office holders

Included: [21] [22] [23]

Note this an incomplete list

Keeper of the King's Ports and Galleys

Note: The post is assumed to have been left vacant, this is because no official court records have been found after this date listing any other similar office holders until the appearance of the clerk of the kings ships at the beginning of the fourteenth century

Clerks of the King's Ships (also referred to as Keeper of the King's Ships or Clerk of the Ships)

Clerk of Marine Causes (in official court circulars also referred to as Clerk of the Ships)

Clerks of the Navy (in official court circulars also referred to as Clerk of the Ships)

From June 1639 to August 1706 two clerks of the acts were occasionally appointed jointly to the office

Note: Title of Clerk of the Navy is changed to Clerk of the Acts in 1660 [34]

Clerks of the Acts

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References

  1. ↑ Ehrman, John (Feb 2, 2012). The Navy in the War of William III 1689–1697: Its State and Direction. Cambridge University Press. p. 181. ISBN   9781107645110.
  2. 1 2 Runyan, Timothy J. (1987). Ships, Seafaring, and Society: Essays in Maritime History. Wayne State University Press. p. 42. ISBN   0814319912.
  3. ↑ Lloyd, Christopher (1970). The British Seaman 1200–1860: A Social Survey. Associated University Presse. p. 17. ISBN   9780838677087.
  4. ↑ Oppenheim, Michael (23 February 2014) [1940]. "The Administration of the Royal Navy before 1509". A History Of The Administration Of The Royal Navy And Of Merchant Shipping In Relation To The Navy, from MDIX To MDCLX, with an Introduction Treating Of The Preceding Period. Nabu Press. p. 3. ISBN   9781295694860.
  5. ↑ "His Majesty's Many Moveable Forts". Naval Review. 34. London: Naval Society: 339. 1946.
  6. ↑ Ehrman, John (February 2, 2012). The Navy in the War of William III 1689–1697: Its State and Direction. Cambridge University Press. p. 181. ISBN   9781107645110.
  7. ↑ Turner, Ralph V. (1995). King John (Repr. ed.). London [u.a.]: Longman. p. 128. ISBN   9780582067264.
  8. ↑ Runyan, Timothy J. (1987). Ships, Seafaring, and Society: Essays in Maritime History. Wayne State University Press. p. 43. ISBN   0814319912.
  9. ↑ Knighton, Dr C. S.; Loades, Professor David (Jul 28, 2013). The Navy of Edward VI and Mary I, Introduction. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. xxix. ISBN   9781409482406.
  10. ↑ Rodger, N. A. M. (1979). The Admiralty: Offices of State (First ed.). Lavenham: Terence Dalton Ltd. pp. 3–4. ISBN   9780900963940.
  11. ↑ Peck, Linda Levy (2003). Court Patronage and Corruption in Early Stuart England. Routledge. p. 112. ISBN   9781134870424.
  12. ↑ Weigley, Russell F. (2004). The Age of Battles: The Quest for Decisive Warfare from Breitenfeld to Waterloo. Indiana University Press. p. 179. ISBN   0253217075.
  13. ↑ Clowes, Wm. Laird (1897). The Royal Navy : a history from the earliest times to the present, Volume 1 ([Repr.]. ed.). London: Chatham Pub. p. 350. ISBN   1861760108.
  14. ↑ Collinge, J.M. "Assistant Clerk of the Acts and Secretary 1680–1832 | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. University of London, 1978. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  15. ↑ The present state of the British court, or, An account of the civil and military establishment of England. University of Oxford. 1720. p. 79, (digitized, 23 Oct 2006).
  16. ↑ "Navy Board, In-Letters And Orders, 1688–1815 - National Maritime Museum". collections.rmg.co.uk. Royal Museums Greenwich, 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  17. ↑ Ehrman, John (Feb 2, 2012). The Navy in the War of William III 1689–1697: Its State and Direction. Cambridge University Press. pp. 180–183. ISBN   9781107645110.
  18. ↑ Goldsmiths, Worshipful Company of (1935). "Samuel Pepys and his Goldsmiths". The London Goldsmiths. Cambridge: CUP Archive. p. 13.
  19. ↑ Bates, Robin (2008). Shakespeare and the Cultural Colonization of Ireland. Routledge. p. 28. ISBN   9781135905125.
  20. ↑ Poole, Austin Lane (1993). "The Development of the Navy". From Domesday Book to Magna Carta, 1087–1216. Oxford University Press. p. 435. ISBN   9780192852878.
  21. ↑ Sainty, J.C. "Navy Clerk of the Acts c. 1546–1660 | Institute of Historical Research". history.ac.uk. University of London, January 2003. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  22. ↑ Collinge, J.M. "Principal officers and commissioners Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 7, Navy Board Officials 1660–1832. Originally published by University of London, London, 1978, British History Online". british-history.ac.uk. University of London, 1978, pp. 18–25. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  23. ↑ Oppenheim, M. (1988). A history of the administration of the Royal Navy and of merchant shipping in relation to the Navy from 1509 to 1660 with an introduction treating of the preceding period ([Repr.] ed.). Aldershot, England: Temple Smith. pp. 3–79. ISBN   9780566055720.
  24. ↑ Rose, Susan (2013). England's Medieval Navy 1066–1509: Ships, Men & Warfare. Seaforth Publishing. p. 44. ISBN   9781473853720.
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 Murray, Katherine Maud Elisabeth (1935). The Constitutional History of the Cinque Ports. Manchester University Press. p. 79.
  26. ↑ Rose, Susan (2013). "3:Understanding the Naval Resources of the Crown". England's Medieval Navy 1066–1509: Ships, Men & Warfare. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN   9781473853546.
  27. ↑ "Edward III, Patent Rolls, Volume 9, 1351" (PDF). uiowa.edu. University of Iowa, p.129. 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  28. ↑ Vale, Brian (2017). The Naval Miscellany: Volume VIII. Taylor & Francis. p. 1. ISBN   9781351730839.
  29. ↑ Hewitt, Herbert James (1966). Organization of War under Edward III, 1338-62. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 70.
  30. ↑ Vale, Brian (2017). The Naval Miscellany: Volume VIII. Taylor & Francis. p. 1. ISBN   9781351730839.
  31. ↑ Rose, Susan (2013). England's Medieval Navy 1066–1509: Ships, Men & Warfare. Seaforth Publishing. p. 45. ISBN   9781473853720.
  32. ↑ "CATTON, William (d.1431), of Winchelsea, Suss. | History of Parliament Online". historyofparliamentonline.org. The History of Parliament Trust 1964–2017. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  33. ↑ Winfield, Rif (2010). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603–1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. p. xxii, Introduction. ISBN   9781783469246.
  34. ↑ Winfield, Rif (2010). "Introduction". British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603–1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. p. xxii. ISBN   9781783469246.
  35. ↑ Jefferys, Thomas (1759). A Companion to the Almanac M.DCC.LIX. The Eighth Edition... To which is Added, a Map of the World, Neatly Engraved by Thomas Jefferys . The British Library. p. 146.
  36. ↑ A Companion to the Almanac M.DCC.LIX. The Eighth Edition. ... To which is Added, a Map of the World, Neatly Engraved by Thomas Jefferys . The British Library. 1759. p. 146.
  37. ↑ The Royal Kalendar, Or, Complete and Correct Annual Register for England, Scotland, Ireland, and America. UC Southern Regional Library Facility. 1797. p. 102.

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