Catalogue description Chancery: Petty Bag Office: Bills and Warrants for the Appointment of Customs Officers

Warrants from the lords commissioners of the Treasury, with bills attached, for letters patent appointing to office customers, collectors, controllers, searchers, undersearchers, and king's waiters.

The warrants were delivered into the Petty Bag Office where the letters patent were made out. They were sent into Chancery to secure royal letters patent. Some customs officers held their position by virtue of letters patent of either the lord treasurer or the lords commissioners of the Treasury.

For the personnel structure of the customs service in the eighteenth century, see E E Hoon, The Organisation of the English Customs System, 1696-1786 (New York and London, 1938).

Indexes to the warrants in this series are in C 202/267-269.