The Commissioners for Trade and Plantations was a body formed by the

British Crown The Crown is the state (polity), state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, British Overseas Territories, overseas territories, Provinces and territorie ...

on 15 May 1696 to promote trade and to inspect and improve the plantations of the

British colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Counci ...

. It was the successor of various previous bodies set up in the seventeenth century, particularly the

Lords of Trade and Plantations The Lords of Trade and Plantations was a permanent administrative body formed by Charles II in 1675 to provide consistent advice to the Privy Council regarding the management of the growing number of English colonies. It replaced a series of temp ...

(1675–1696). It lasted until its abolition in 1782. It carried out its duties by maintaining correspondence with colonial governors, conducting inquiries, hearing complaints and interviewing merchants and

colonial agent A colonial agent was the official representative of a British colony based in London during the British Empire. About 200 men served. They were selected and paid a fixed salary by the colonial government, and given the long delays in communication, ...

s. The information so obtained was used to advise King and Parliament. The new board did not exercise executive authority and had no significant powers of appointment. Nevertheless it exerted significant influence owing to its specialised knowledge and the maintenance of an extensive archive.

Terminology

In the historical documents this organisation was sometimes known colloquially as the "Lords of Trade" or "Board of Trade", however in formal documents it was called the "Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations". The historian

John William Fortescue The Honourable Sir John William Fortescue (28 December 1859 – 22 October 1933) was a British military historian. He was a historian of the British Army and served as Royal Librarian and Archivist at Windsor Castle from 1905 until 1926. E ...

used the term "Council of Trade and Plantations" However with the more recent publication of the ''Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies'' in 1994, the editor, K. G. Davies indicated that the use of the term "Commissioners for Trade and Plantations" had become established as the preferred terminology.

References

{{reflist 1696 establishments in England 1782 disestablishments in Great Britain Trade in the United Kingdom