Civil Lord Of The Admiralty
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The Civil Lord of the Admiralty formally known as the Office of the Civil Lord of Admiralty also referred to as the Department of the Civil Lord of the Admiralty was a member of the
Board of Admiralty The Board of Admiralty (1628–1964) was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requi ...
who was responsible for managing the Royal Navy's supporting civilian staff, the works and buildings departments and naval lands from 1830 to 1964.


History

From 1709 the
board of admiralty The Board of Admiralty (1628–1964) was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requi ...
usually had a minimum of two Civil Lord Commissioners, however, there was not a settled arrangement for the distribution of duties amongst the members of the Board. In 1805 the First Lord of the Admiralty Charles Middleton, the Lord Barham, began a period of reform of the commissioners responsibilities during his tenure. He initially gave a new name to the Naval Lord Commissioners now referred to as "Professional Naval Lords", whilst the Civil Lords were given the duty of signing off all official documents. In 1830 when Sir James Graham was appointed First Lord he also underwent further re-organising of the board following the abolition of the Navy Board each of the members were given particular responsibility for different areas of naval administration from this year it was fixed in principle that, other than the First Lord, there should be four Naval Lords; and one Civil Lord who was added in 1832. This arrangement was subject to minor variations. In 1834-5 there were three Naval and two Civil Lords. Between 1830 and 1868 he had main responsibility for Naval Finance, this however changed when Parliamentary Secretary was re-designated the Parliamentary and Financial Secretary. In January 1869 the civil lord through an order in Order in Council was designated an assistant to the First Lord of the Admiralty. These orders usually had a much wider remit in that they outlined the general regulations of governance of the Naval Service. In March 1872 another order in council was issued this time the civil lord would have specific duties assigned to them by the First Lord defining on this occasion the structure of the board. In 1874 the civil lord was given much wider powers. Exceptional changes to these rules meant that during wartime periods additional civil lords (though not officially styled so until after 1882) were added to the board to ease the burden of workload on the Civil Lord. The office existed until 1964 when the
Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...
was abolished and replaced by the Navy Department within a new
Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
.


Responsibilities

The Civil Lord assisted the First Lord in political and parliamentary duties, between 1830 and 1964 his remit changed from time to time but generally included the following responsibilities: * Deal with all special questions relating to the retirements, pay, and allowances of naval and marine officers and men. * Direct Civil Engineering Works. * Manage all Admiralty buildings including repairs and the construction as well as the storing of building materials that were within the Works Department. * Manage business within the Greenwich Hospital Department. * Manage compassionate allowances, the admiralty charitable fund, the allowances to ministers of religion, the various Dockyard and Marine Schools. * Manage leasing arrangements in regards to coastguard stations. * Superintendence of all Admiralty works and labour services. * Superintend all civilian staff at naval establishments, including: classifications, appointments, promotions, pay, allowances, and pensions, excluding appointments and promotions in London, and of professional officers of the Controller's Department of Dockyards. * Superintends the Contracts Department. * Superintends the Department of the Accountant General of the Navy. (in 1932 this department is abolished its financial functions were merged within the Department of the Permanent Secretary.


Civil Lords of the Admiralty

Included: * Mr. Charles Ross MP, July 1830 – May 1832. * Henry Labouchere, the Lord Taunton, June 1832 – December 1834. * Anthony Ashley Cooper, the Lord Ashley, December 1834 – March 1834. ''(held jointly with Maurice Fitzgerald)'' * Sir Maurice FitzGerald, December 1834 – March 1835. ''(held jointly with Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley)'' * Archibald Primrose, the Lord Dalmeny, 1835 – July 1841. * Mr. Henry Lowry-Corry, 1841–1845 * Mr. Henry FitzRoy, 1845–1846. * Mr.
William Fraser Cowper William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the large ...
, 1846–1854. * Sir
Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer ...
, 1855–1857. * Mr. Thomas George Baring, 1857–1858. * Algernon Percy, the Lord Lovaine, 1858–1859. * Rt Hon: Frederick Lygon, March–April 1859. * Mr. Samuel Whitbread, June 1859 – March 1863. * Spencer Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire, March–April 1863. * Mr.
James Stansfeld Sir James Stansfeld, (; 5 March 182017 February 1898) was a British Radical and Liberal politician and social reformer who served as Under-Secretary of State for India (1866), Financial Secretary to the Treasury (1869–71) and President of ...
, May 1863 – April 1864. * Mr.
Hugh Childers Hugh Culling Eardley Childers (25 June 1827 – 29 January 1896) was a British Liberal statesman of the nineteenth century. He is perhaps best known for his reform efforts at the Admiralty and the War Office. Later in his career, as Chancellor ...
, 1864–1865. * Mr. Henry Fenwick, January–April 1866. * Captain
John Hay John Milton Hay (October 8, 1838July 1, 1905) was an American statesman and official whose career in government stretched over almost half a century. Beginning as a private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln, Hay's highest office was Un ...
, April–May 1866. * Lord George Shaw-Lefevre, May–July 1866. * Sir
Charles du Cane Sir Charles Du Cane (5 December 1825 – 25 February 1889) was a British Conservative Party politician and colonial administrator who was a Member of Parliament between 1852 and 1854 and Governor of Tasmania from 1868 to 1874. Du Cane was born ...
, 1866–1867. * Frederick, the Lord Stanley of Preston, 1868. * Sir
George Otto Trevelyan Sir George Otto Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet, (20 July 1838 – 17 August 1928) was a British statesman and author. In a ministerial career stretching almost 30 years, he was most notably twice Secretary for Scotland under William Ewart Gladstone and ...
, 1868–1870. * Robert Haldane-Duncan, Earl of Camperdown, 1870–1874. * Sir
Massey Lopes Sir Lopes Massey Lopes, 3rd Baronet, PC (14 June 1818 – 20 January 1908), known as Massey Franco until 1831, of Maristow in the parish of Tamerton Foliot, Devon, was a British Conservative politician and agriculturalist. Life Lopes was the e ...
, 1874–1880 * Mr. William Caine, 1884–1885 * Mr.
Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett (11 February 1881 – 4 May 1931) was an English war correspondent during the First World War. Through his reporting of the Battle of Gallipoli, Ashmead-Bartlett was instrumental in the birth of the Anzac legend which ...
, 1885–1885 * Mr. Robert Abercromby, 1886–1886 * Mr.
Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett (11 February 1881 – 4 May 1931) was an English war correspondent during the First World War. Through his reporting of the Battle of Gallipoli, Ashmead-Bartlett was instrumental in the birth of the Anzac legend which ...
, 1886–1892 * Mr. Edmund Robertson, 1892–1895 * Mr.
Austen Chamberlain Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain (16 October 1863 – 16 March 1937) was a British statesman, son of Joseph Chamberlain and older half-brother of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer (twice) and was briefly ...
, 1895–1900 * Colonel Arthur Lee, 1903–1905 * Mr. George Lambert, 1905–1915 * Mr. Simon Digby ?–? * Sir Bolton Eyres-Monsell, 1921–1922 * Mr. Frank Hodges, 1924–1924 * Rt Hon George Hall, 1929–1931 * Mr.
Kenneth Lindsay Kenneth Martin Lindsay (16 September 1897 – 4 March 1991) was a Labour Party politician from the United Kingdom who joined the breakaway National Labour group. He was the final Member of Parliament to be elected by the single transferable vo ...
, 1935–1937 * Mr. John Llewellin, 1937–1939 * Sir Austin Hudson, 1939–1942 * Mr. Stoker Edwards, 1945–1951 * Hon. Thomas Galbraith, 1957–1959 * Mr. Ian Orr-Ewing, 1959–1963 * Mr.
John Hay John Milton Hay (October 8, 1838July 1, 1905) was an American statesman and official whose career in government stretched over almost half a century. Beginning as a private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln, Hay's highest office was Un ...
, 1963–1964


Departments under the civil lord

Included: * Office of the
Additional Civil Lord of the Admiralty The Additional Civil Lord of the Admiralty or formally the Office of the Additional Civil Lord of the Admiralty sometimes called the Department of the Additional Civil Lord of the Admiralty was a member of the Board of Admiralty first from 1882 ...
* Architectural and Engineering Works Department * Contracts Department *
Civil Engineer in Chief's Department Civil may refer to: * Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights * Civil disobedience *Civil engineering * Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a m ...
* Department of the Accountant General of the Navy * Department of the Director of Contract Labour * Department of Dockyards * Dockyard Schools * Greenwich Hospital Department * Marine Schools * Navy Works Department * Works Department * Works Loan Department


References


Attribution

Primary source for this article is by Harley Simon, Lovell Tony, (2016), Civil Lord of the Admiralty, dreadnoughtproject.org, http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org.


Sources

* Admiralty. Return "of the Distribution of Business under the Lords of the Admiralty under the Old and New Arrangement for conducting the business of the Department." H.C. 84, 1869. Copy in Greene Papers. National Maritime Museum. GEE/2. * Hansard (1803–2005), Offices, Civil Lord of Admiralty, http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/offices/civil-lord-of-admiralty. * The Orders in Council for the Regulation of the Naval Service. Vol. III. London: For Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1873.


External links

{{Admiralty Department, state=collapsed 1830 establishments in the United Kingdom 1964 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Royal Navy appointments Royal Navy