The Pell Office was a department of 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 ...

in which the receipts and payments were entered upon two rolls of parchment, the one called the ''introitta'', which was the record of monies received, and the other the ''exitus'', or the record of monies issued. A statement of all moneys issued was entered by the Clerk of the Pells on the issue roll. In 1552 the unreliable "Declarations of the State of the Treasury" were replaced by declarations made by the Clerk of the Pells,National Archives, notes on "Category E" Records of the Exchequer, and its related bodies, with those of the Office of First Fruits and Tenths, and the Court of Augmentation

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Etymology

Up to the reign of James I of England, King James I entries recording Treasury transactions were made upon rolls, or pells, from the Latin ''pellis'' meaning "skin, hide, pelt". From the reign of James I Treasury records have been entered in books.

Location

The Pell Office was situated on the eastern side of

Westminster Hall The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north bank ...

until the beginning of the 19th century. Some early Treasury records were kept in the nearby Chapter House of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...

. The office was damp and was liable to destruction by fire due to the many wooden partitions within it and the many hearths used for heating. In 1820 the records were reported to be dry and well-aired, but were piled up on the floor of a room too small to contain them properly. In 1822 they were transferred to attic storage in Somerset House and were "heaped in some places up to the ceiling and in an exceedingly dirty state". In 1840 the records were taken to the Comptroller of the Exchequer's Office in Whitehall Yard, where they were thoroughly cleaned and re-bundled. They were then placed on racks in Rolls House in 1841 where they were catalogued and labelled. They were then transferred to the new

Public Record Office The Public Record Office (abbreviated as PRO, pronounced as three letters and referred to as ''the'' PRO), Chancery Lane in the City of London, was the guardian of the national archives of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003, when it was ...

Chancery Lane Chancery Lane is a one-way street situated in the ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. It has formed the western boundary of the City since 1994, having previously been divided between the City of Westminster and the London Boro ...

, from where they have more recently been moved to the National Archives site at Kew.

Clerks of the Pells

This is a list of the Clerks of the Pells in the English Exchequer. Similar offices existed in Scotland and Ireland. *1516–1549: John Uvedale *1555–1560: Edmund Cockerell *1560–1570: Robert Hare *1570–?1611: Chidiock Wardour (died 1611) *1603-1611:

Edward Wardour Sir Edward Wardour (died 14 March 1645/6) was an English office holder and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1621 and 1625. Wardour was a native a Malmesbury and held the office of Clerk of the Pells.Edward Wardour Sir Edward Wardour (died 14 March 1645/6) was an English office holder and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1621 and 1625. Wardour was a native a Malmesbury and held the office of Clerk of the Pells.Edward Wardour Sir Edward Wardour (died 14 March 1645/6) was an English office holder and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1621 and 1625. Wardour was a native a Malmesbury and held the office of Clerk of the Pells.Henry Pelham Henry Pelham (25 September 1694 – 6 March 1754) was a British Whig statesman who served as 3rd Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1743 until his death in 1754. He was the younger brother of Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, who ...

(died 1754) *1721–1739: Robert Walpole, Viscount Walpole *1739–?1784: Hon. Sir

Edward Walpole Sir Edward Walpole KB PC (Ire) (1706 – 12 January 1784) was a British politician, and a younger son of Sir Robert Walpole, Prime Minister from 1721 to 1742. Early life The second son of Sir Robert Walpole, he was educated at Eton (1718) a ...

(died 1784) *1784–1802:

Isaac Barré Isaac Barré (15 October 1726 – 20 July 1802) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and politician. He earned distinction serving with the British Army during the Seven Years' War and later became a prominent Member of Parliament, where he was a vocal s ...

(blind 1784, died 1802) *1802–1823: Hon. Henry Addington jnr (died insane 1823) *1823–1825: Edward Roberts *1825–1834: Henry Ellis *''1834 Post abolished''

References

{{English Exchequer Exchequer offices