Victualling Board

Victualling Office
Type	Government Office
Preceded by	General-Surveyor of Victuals
Country	United Kingdom
Founded	1653
Abolished	1832
Headquarters	Somerset House, Whitehall, London, England
Role	Victualling
Part of	Department of Admiralty
Succeeded by	Comptroller of Victualling and Transport Services

The Victualling Board also called the Victualling Office or theCommissioners for the Victualling of the Navy, was the body responsible under the Navy Board for victualling ships of the British Royal Navy. It oversaw the vast operation of providing naval personnel (140,000 men in 1810) with enough food, drink and supplies to keep them fighting fit, sometimes for months at a time, in whatever part of the globe they might be stationed. It existed from 1683 until 1832 when it was abolished. It was first replaced by the Office of Comptroller of Victualling and Transports until 1869 when that office was also abolished and replaced by the Victualling Department.

1) History

Under Elizabeth I, a General-Surveyor of Victuals had been appointed in 1550 a principal officer of the Navy Board to oversee contracts for food and other provisions for the Navy. In 1550 he was listed as one of the seven members of the Board of Principal Officers and Commissioners of the Navy; he was required to 'take care always to have in store a stock of victuals to supply a thousand men at sea for one month at a fortnight's notice'.] At first the Victualling Office was accommodated in the Tower of London, but it soon spread outside the precincts to the east (on to the site of the recently dissolved and demolished Abbey of St Mary Graces). The complex included storehouses, ovens, brewhouses and bakeries. (Milling took place across the river at Rotherhithe, and in 1650 a slaughterhouse was acquired in Deptford). Officials of the Victualling Board were to remain accommodated here until the nineteenth century; however, the constraints of the site (and difficult riverside access) led to the establishment of a new manufacturing facility at the Deptford site (the future Deptford Victualling Yard) in 1672.

By the mid-seventeenth century the established arrangement was for a single contractor to be engaged to make all necessary victualling provisions, with the Navy Board laying down strict criteria on the quality of the provisions it required. In the 1660s, Samuel Pepys, who was then Clerk of the Acts of the Navy, reformed the system of having a Purser assigned to each ship to oversee the distribution of supplies, and obliged each one to lodge a cash surety, and to keep complete accounts of every item issued. By the time of the Anglo-Dutch Wars, however, the system was breaking down (the government complaining that sufficient provisions had not been delivered, and the contractor complaining that payment had not been made). As a result of this, a salaried Board of Commissioners was established in 1683, and this body retained oversight of victualling for the next 150 years.

Though nominally under the direction of the Navy Board (which had its headquarters nearby on Tower Hill), the Victualling Board was effectively independent. The Victualling Board took over certain functions, including medical services, from the Transport Board on its dissolution in 1817. The Victualling Board itself was abolished in the Admiralty reforms of 1832, victualling then became the responsibility of the Comptroller of Victualling and Transports, who was superintended by the Fourth Sea Lord. In 1862 transport duties passed to a separate Transport Department and in 1869 the office of Comptroller of Victualling was abolished. His former duties were divided between the newly formed Contract and Purchase Department, under the Parliamentary and Financial Secretary, which became responsible for purchasing, management of the victualling stores facilities were under the control of the Superintendent of Victualling and the Victualling Department under the control of the Director of Victualling.

2) Structure of the Board.

On the Board, each Commissioner had responsibility for a key area of victualling activity: the Brewhouse department, the Cutting House department, the Dry Goods department, Cooperage, Hoytaking and Stores. There were seven Commissioners; the aforementioned six, plus the Chairman (who had direct oversight of the Cash department). The Victualling Board proceeded to build breweries, slaughterhouses, mills and bakeries near to the Royal Navy Dockyards to provide beer, salted meat, ship's biscuits and other supplies under its own quality control. In 1725, the Victualling Commissioners, the Navy Board, the Sick and Hurt Commissioners and the Navy Pay Office all moved into new accommodation in Somerset House.

2.1) Principal Officers and Commissioners of the Victualling Board

2.1.1) Chairman of the Victullling Board

1. 1803-1808 John Marsh
2. 1808-1821 Thomas Welsh
3. 1821-1822 John Clarke Searle
4. 1822-1832 Hon. Granville Anson Chetwynd Stapylton

2.1.2) Deputy Chairman of the Victualling Board

1. 1803-1822, George Philips Towry
2. 1822-1823, Hon. Courtenay Boyle
3. 1823-1832, John Wolley

2.1.3) Comptrollers of the Victualling Board

1. Comptroller of the Brew House
2. Comptroller of the Cutting House
3. Comptroller of Dry Goods
4. Comptroller of Copperage
5. Comptroller of Hoytaking
6. Comptroller of Victualling Stores

2.1.4) Victualling Commissioners

1. 1683-1690. Nicholas Fenn
2. 1683—1690. Sir Richard Haddock
3. 1683-1690. John Parsons
4. 1683-1690. Anthony Sturt
5. 1690-1693. James How
6. 1690-1699. John Agar
7. 1690-1699 Humphrey Ayles
8. 1690-1702. Thomas Papillion
9. 1690-1702 Simon Mayne
10. 1693-1695. Israel Fielding
11. 1695-1702 John Burrington
12. 1699-1711 Thomas Colby
13. 1699-1711. Henry Vincent
14. 1702 Sir John Houblon Kt.
15. 1702 William Carpenter
16. 1702-1703 William Wright
17. 1702-1704 John James
18. 1702-1706 Abraham Tilghman
19. 1703-1705 Thomas Jennings
20. 1704-1706 Samuel Hunter
21. 1704-1706 Henry Lee
22. 1704-1714 Kenrick Edisbury
23. 1705-1711 Thomas Harlow
24. 1706-1711 Denzil Onslow
25. 1706-1711 Thomas Reynolds
26. 1706-1725 Thomas Bere
27. 1711-1714 Henry Lee
28. 1711-1714 Sir Francis Marsham 3rd Bart
29. 1711-1718 Henry Vincent
30. 1711-1721 Samuel Hunter
31. 1712-1714 William Stephens
32. 1714-1717 Waller Bacon
33. 1714-1719 Robert Arris
34. 1714-1721 Denzil Onslow
35. 1714-1721 Thomas Reynolds
36. 1714-1723 Peter Jeyes
37. 1717-1720 Own Buckingham
38. 1718-1720 Edward Eliot
39. 1719-1728 William Passenger
40. 1720-1721 Joshua Churchill
41. 1720-1727 Henry Cartwright
42. 1721-1722 Hugh Cholmley
43. 1721-1727 Sir George Saunders Kt.
44. 1721-1734 William Fisher
45. 1722-1727 Stephen Bisse
46. 1725-1729 George Huxley
47. 1725-1733 Edward Trelawny
48. 1727-1728 Sprig Manesty
49. 1727-1739 Henry Parsons
50. 1728-1734 John Berkeley
51. 1728-1747 Thomas Revell
52. 1729-1744 William Thompson
53. 1729-1747 Thomas Brereton
54. 1733-1738 George Crowle
55. 1734-1742 Francis Eyles (later Eyles Stiles)
56. 1734-1746 Stephen Bisse
57. 1738-1748 William Hay
58. 1741-1744 Thomas Trefusis
59. 1742 -1752 Richard Hall
60. 1742-1755 Thomas Cooper
61. 1744-1748 William Davies
62. 1745-1746 Arthur Stert
63. 1746-1747 John Russell
64. 1746-1778 James Wallace
65. 1747-1760 William Jenkins
66. 1747-1761 Francis Vernon
67. 1747-1762 Sir Francis Haskins, 3rd Bart
68. 1747-1765 Hon. Horatio Townsend
69. 1748-1752 Tyrwhitt Cayley
70. 1752 Thomas Winterbottom
71. 1752-1780 Sir Roger Burgoyne (Bart)
72. 1755-1776 Robert Pett
73. 1760-1763 Robert Rule
74. 1761-1768 Tyringham Stephens
75. 1762-1784 Jonas Hanway
76. 1763-1772 George Marsh
77. 1765-1767 James Fortrey
78. 1767-1794 Alexander Chorley
79. 1768-1780 Thomas Colby
80. 1772-1776 William Gordon
81. 1776-1778 Henry Pelham
82. 1776-1785 Joah Bates
83. 1778-1787 James Kirke
84. 1778-1789 John Slade
85. 1781-1786 Montagu Burgoyne
86. 1781-1790 William Lance
87. 1784-1803 George Phillips Towry
88. 1785-1799 George Cherry
89. 1785-1811 William Boscawen
90. 1787-1793 Samuel Marshall
91. 1789-1790 William Bellingham
92. 1790-1798 Joseph Hunt
93. 1790-1805 Francis Stephens
94. 1793-1796 Francis John Hartwell
95. 1794-1809 Sadleir Mood
96. 1796-1803 Hon John Rodney
97. 1798-1803 John Marsh
98. 1799-1807 John Harrison
99. 1803-1806 Charles Cunningham
100. 1805-1808 William Budge
101. 1807-1822 Thomas Welsh
102. 1808-1822 John Aubin
103. 1808-1831 Nicholas Brown
104. 1809-1813 Hon. Edward Richard Stewart
105. 1811-1832 Frederick Edgcumbe
106. 1813-1825 Robert William Hay
107. 1817-1831 John Weir
108. 1821-1827 Richard Creyke
109. 1821-1832 Henry Garrett
110. 1822-1832 Sir William Burnett Kt. (ktd. 25 May 1831)
111. 1825-1829 Hon. William Lennox Bathurst
112. 1827-1832 Sir James Alexander, Gordon Kt.
113. 1827-1832 John Hill
114. 1831-1832 John Thomas Briggs
115. 1839-1832 James Meek .

3) Departments and Offices

1. Brew-House Department (1683 – 1832)
2. Cutting-House Department, (1683 – 1832)
3. Dry Goods Department, (1683 – 1832)
4. Cash Department (-1832)
5. Copperage Department, 1683 – 1832)
6. Hoytaking Department, (1683 – 1832)
7. Victualling Stores Department, (1683 – 1832)

4) Victualling Yards

Home Victualling Yards

1. Commissioner, Victualling Yard Deptford, (1683-1832)
2. Commissioner, Victualling Yard Dover, (1683-1831)
3. Commissioner, Victualling Yard, Harwich, (1683-1832)
4. Commissioner, Victualling Yard, Haulbowline, (1683-1832)
5. Commissioner, Victualling Yard, Portsmouth, (1683-1826)
6. Commissioner, Victualling Yard, Plymouth, (1683-1825)
7. Commissioner, Royal Clarence Victualling Yard, Gosport (1683-1832)
8. Commissioner, Royal William Victualling Yard, Plymouth, (1683-1832)

Overseas Victualling Yards

1. Commissioner, Victualling Yard, Jamica, (1683-1832)
2. Commissioner, Victualling Yard, Malta, (1683-1832)
3. Commissioner, Victualling Yard, Rio de Janeiro, (1683-1832)
4. Commissioner, Victualling Yard, Cape of Good Hope, (1704-1832)
5. Commissioner, Victualling Yard, Heligoland, (1704-1832)
6. Commissioner, Victualling Yard, Gibraltar, (1704-1832)
7. Commissioner, Victualling Yard Antigua, (1723-1832)
8. Commissioner, Victualling Yard Bermuda, (1723-1832)

5) Timeline

Note: Below is a timeline of responsibility for victualling for the Royal Navy.

1. Navy Board, Surveyor of Marine Victuals, 1550-1679
2. Navy Board, Victualling Board (Board of Victualling Commissioners), 1683-1832
3. Board of Admiralty, Comptroller of Victualling and Transport Services, 1832-1862
4. Board of Admiralty, Comptroller of Victualling, 1862-1870
5. Board of Admiralty, Contract and Purchase Department, 1869-1964
6. Board of Admiralty, Superintendent of Victualling, 1870-1878
7. Board of Admiralty, Director of Victualling, 1878-1964

6) Sources

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victualling_Commissioners
2. Sainty. J. C. (2003), https://www.history.ac.uk/publications/office/comms-victual

7) Attribution

1. Flag of the Victualling Board: by Navops47 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_Victualling_Office_Royal_Navy_1832.png