Catalogue description Treasury: Minutes, Entry-books and correspondence pre 1920

Details of Division within T
Reference: Division within T
Title: Treasury: Minutes, Entry-books and correspondence pre 1920
Description:

This group consists of the early records of the Treasury down to the reorganisation of 1919. Reflecting the administrative nature of the Treasury during this period the records are of the type typically produced by a Board rather than a modern government department. As such they are most conveniently looked at by record type. Accounting and Establishment records from this period are described under those divsions.

The minutes of the Treasury Board from 1667 are mainly in T 29. These are supplemented by T 99 and T 197

The original correspondence of the Board with reports and draft minutes will be found in the main series of Treasury Papers, T 1, which is supplemented by T 98. Contemporary registers and indexes will be found in T 2-T 4 and T 108. Original commissions appointing the Lords Commissioners will also be found in T 40. There is a series of miscellaneous papers in T 64

Treasury entry books of incoming warrants and outgoing warrants and orders are in T 51-T 61

With few exceptions the volumes forming the series of Treasury Out-letters are entry books up to December 1885, after which date they are bound press-copies (and later carbons) of letters sent. They generally run to 1920, with a few series extending to an earlier or later date.

The earliest of the Treasury's outgoing letters will be found entered in the General and Various series of letter books in T 27 and T 28. From these the other series relating to specific departments or subjects were separated out. These series will be found in T 5-T 26, T 97, T 101, T 103. T 109-T 155 and T 157 are books of out-letters covering the period of the First World War and post-war period. In some cases where the number of letters sent no longer justified a separate book, either because of a contraction of business or a change of function, subjects reverted to the General series or were absorbed by another series.

Maps and plans extracted from Treasury papers dating from 1668 to 1882 will be found in T 62 and T 63
Date: 1547-1959
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Physical description: 109 series
Publication note:

Many of the records in these series will be found described in the printed Calendar of Treasury Papers 1556 to 1728 (1868-1889, 6 vols), Calendar of Treasury Books and Papers, 1729-1745 (1897-1903, 5 vols) and Calendar of Treasury Books, 1660-1718 (1904-1957, 32 vols).
Administrative / biographical background:

In 1660 the Treasury did not exist as an established body. The only important salaried officials serving the Lord Treasurer, or Commissioners, were a Solicitor and a Secretary. The establishment of the Treasury grew out of the work of the Secretary: the increasing complexity of business and (from 1667) the needs of a Board fostered a permanent need for the Secretary to employ a staff of clerks.

The later seventeenth century saw a steady growth in the numbers of staff and by 1714, when Treasury minutes begin to note matters relating to staffing, the Treasury had developed a settled establishment. There were now two secretaries supporting the Board with four clerks, known as first, or chief, clerks. They had the role of advising the secretaries on any area of expenditure, although they may also have had responsibilities relating to particular areas of business. Nine under clerks carried out the day to day work of preparing instruments authorising expenditure. The business of each Under Clerk was organised in 'divisions' in order to give the most senior clerks (in terms of length of service) a greater income from fees. This meant that there was no fixed structure of business as the departments assigned to each under clerk changed with each change in personnel. Promotion was by seniority and vacancies would often be filled from a pool of supernumerary clerks.

Separated from this establishment by the early eighteenth century, there was a distinct and specialised group of three clerks drawing up the revenue accounts. This group became known as the Revenue Department.

With a growth in business and numbers, the Treasury was at the forefront of the campaign for 'Economical Reform' in the later eighteenth century. A Treasury minute of 22 February 1776 brought in pensions, proper training and the principle of promotion by ability rather than seniority. This was followed by the major reform of 30 November 1782, which introduced fixed salaries and organised the business of expenditure into six fixed divisions each with two clerks: senior and junior. The business within each division, however, was still organised according to the expected yield of fees.

A minute of 19 August 1805 brought about further change particularly at senior levels. An Assistant Secretary became head of the permanent establishment. The role of the chief clerks was no longer to offer generalised advice to the Board but to be in direct charge of the six divisions. The business of the divisions was redistributed on the basis of affinity of departments rather than expected yields of fees.

The next major reform of 17 October 1834 made explicit the distinction between those submitting advice to the Board and those carrying out the Board's decisions. Executive functions were now carried out by the Assistant Secretary and three other recently appointed officers: Principal Clerk Assistant (1815), Auditor of the Civil List (1831) and Principal Clerk of Colonial Business (1832). Five divisions now carried out the Treasury's work. Four (reduced to two in 1848) of these worked on the expenditure side, while the fifth was the Revenue Department which was now brought fully into the permanent establishment. A Chief Clerk headed each division served by a Senior Clerk and a number of assistant and junior clerks.

A principal Clerk for Finance was appointed in 1854 and a minute of 4 July 1856 made further major changes in organisation. This reversed the distinction at the heart of the 1834 reform. The Assistant Secretary, the Auditor of the Civil List, and four Principal Clerks now each headed a division. The old grades of Clerk were replaced by three classes. By 1867 the number of divisions had been reduced again to four, as the Auditor of the Civil List and the Assistant Secretary were given more general functions. Henceforth the Assistant Secretary was known as the Permanent Secretary.

The last major reorganisation before the First World War was initiated by a minute of 25 May 1870, which (it has been said) laid the foundations of the modern Treasury. Open competition for appointment was introduced. There was also a more fundamental application of the principle of the division of labour. The old routines involving the copying of Treasury papers threefold were done away with. This allowed the 'superior' establishment of first and second class clerks to engage in the decision making process by drafting minutes dealing with routine business for example. The third class of clerks was abolished. There were now five divisions, which were generally known by a number although 1D was also known as the Finance Division. Routine copying and writing was now the work of the Supplementary Department, which consisted of two branches: Accounts and Registry.

The number of divisions was increased to six in 1908 as a result of the additional work imposed by the Old Age Pension Act and the closer attention to Naval and Military expenditure.

Have you found an error with this catalogue description?

Help with your research