The Standards Department was a department of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Board of Trade having the custody of the imperial standards of weights and measures.

History

As far back as can be traced, the standard weights and measures, the primary instruments for determining the justness of all other weights and measures used in the United Kingdom, were kept at the

Exchequer In the civil service of the United Kingdom, His Majesty’s Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's '' current account'' (i.e., money held from taxation and other government revenu ...

, and the duties relating to these standards were imposed upon the chamberlains of the Exchequer. The office of chamberlains was abolished in 1826 using the Receipt of the Exchequer Act 1783, but the custody of the standards and any duties connected to them remained attached to an officer in the Exchequer until that department was abolished by the

Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866 The Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866 is the UK Act of Parliament under which most of the revenue from taxation, and all other money payable to the Exchequer, must be paid into the Consolidated Fund. The act "established a cycle of account ...

. Meanwhile, in pursuance of recommendations of Standard Commissions of 1841 and 1854 and a

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

committee of 1862, the Standards of Weights, Measures, and Coinage Act 1866 was passed. This act created a special department of the Board of Trade, called the Standard Weights and Measures Department, and a head of that department styled the Warden of the Standards. His duty was to conduct comparisons, verifications and operations with reference to the standards in aid of scientific research and otherwise. Standards Department" in the ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'', 11th ed. (1911).

Directors

* Henry Williams Chisholm, warden of the standards (1866–1878), father of

Hugh Chisholm Hugh Chisholm (; 22 February 1866 – 29 September 1924) was a British journalist, and editor of the 10th, 11th and 12th editions of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Life He was born in London, a son of Henry Williams Chisholm (1809–1901), ...

* Henry James Chaney (March 1842–13 February 1906), superintendent of weights and measures (1878–1906).

References

Bibliography

* " Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Defunct departments of the Government of the United Kingdom Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom Privy Council of the United Kingdom Standards organisations in the United Kingdom {{UK-gov-stub