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 state ...

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, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, 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 Excheque ...

, 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.

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, 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 Chancello ...

, 1864–1865. * Mr.

Henry Fenwick Henry Fenwick (1820 – 16 April 1868) was a British Liberal Party politician. He first stood for election to the House of Commons in December 1852, when he was unsuccessful at a by-election for the City of Durham. He was elected as a member of ...

, January–April 1866. * Captain

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, April–May 1866. * Lord

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, May–July 1866. * Sir Charles du Cane, 1866–1867. * Frederick, the Lord Stanley of Preston, 1868. * Sir George Otto Trevelyan, 1868–1870. * Robert Haldane-Duncan, Earl of Camperdown, 1870–1874. * Sir

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, 1874–1880 * Mr. William Caine, 1884–1885 * Mr.

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, 1885–1885 * Mr. Robert Abercromby, 1886–1886 * Mr.

, 1886–1892 * Mr. Edmund Robertson, 1892–1895 * Mr.

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, 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

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, 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 Walter James Edwards (1900 – 15 October 1964), known as Stoker Edwards or Wally Edwards, was a British Labour Party politician. Edwards was born in Whitechapel, in the East End of London. He briefly worked as a carman from 1917 and in 1918 e ...

, 1945–1951 * Hon. Thomas Galbraith, 1957–1959 * Mr.

Ian Orr-Ewing Charles Ian Orr-Ewing, Baron Orr-Ewing, OBE (10 February 1912 – 19 August 1999) was a British Conservative politician. Early life Orr-Ewing was a great-grandson of Sir Archibald Orr-Ewing, Bt. He was educated at Harrow School and Trinity Co ...

, 1959–1963 * Mr.

, 1963–1964

Departments under the civil lord

Included: * Office of the Additional Civil Lord of the Admiralty *

Architectural and Engineering Works Department The Architectural and Engineering Works Department was the main civil engineering department of the British Royal Navy responsible constructing, and maintaining naval buildings, dockyards, ports and managing civil engineering staff from 1837 to 19 ...

* Contracts Department * Civil Engineer in Chief's Department * 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 A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It inc ...

* 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