Paymaster of the Forces

The Paymaster of the Forces was a position in the British government. The office, which was established 1661 after the Restoration, was responsible for part of the financing of the British Army. The first to hold the office was Sir Stephen Fox. Before his time it had been the custom to appoint Treasurers at War, ad hoc, for campaigns. Within a generation of the Restoration the status of the Paymastership began to change. In 1692 the then Paymaster, the Earl of Ranelagh, was made a member of the Privy Council; and thereafter every Paymaster, or when there were two Paymasters at least one of them joined the council if not already a member. From the accession of Queen Anne the Paymaster tended to change with the government. By the 18th century the office had become a political prize and perhaps potentially the most lucrative that a parliamentary career had to offer. Appointments to the office were therefore often made not upon merit alone, but by merit and political affiliation. It was occasionally a cabinet-level post in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and many future prime ministers served as Paymaster.

The duty of the Paymaster was to act as sole domestic banker of the army. He received, mainly from the Exchequer, the sums voted by Parliament for military expenditure. Other sums were also received, for example from the sale of old stores. He disbursed these sums, by his own hands or by Deputy Paymasters; these payments being made under the authority of sign manual warrants as far as related to the ordinary expenses of the army, and under Treasury warrants in the case of extraordinary expenses (the expenses which were unforeseen and unprovided for by Parliament).

During the whole time in which public money was in his hands, from the day of receipt until the issue of his final discharge, the Quietus of the Pipe Office, his private estate was liable for the money in his hands; and failing the Quietus this liability remained without limit of time, passing on his death to his legal representatives.

The position was abolished in 1836.

Paymasters of the Forces, 1661–1836

 * Stephen Fox 1661–1676
 * Sir Henry Puckering Newton 1676–1679
 * Sir Stephen Fox 1679–1680
 * Nicholas Johnson and William Fox 1680–1682
 * Charles Fox 1682–1685
 * Richard Jones, 1st Earl of Ranelagh 1685–1702
 * John Howe 1702–1714
 * Robert Walpole 1714–1715
 * Henry Clinton, 7th Earl of Lincoln 1715–1720
 * Robert Walpole 1720–1721
 * Charles Cornwallis, 4th Baron Cornwallis 1721–1722
 * Spencer Compton, 1st Lord Wilmington 1722–1730
 * Henry Pelham 1730–1743
 * Thomas Winnington 1743–1746
 * William Pitt the Elder 1746–1755
 * Henry Vane, 1st Earl of Darlington and Thomas Hay, Viscount Dupplin 1755–1756
 * Thomas Hay, Viscount Dupplin and Thomas Potter 1756–1757
 * Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland 1757–1765
 * Charles Townshend 1765–1766
 * Frederick North, Lord North and George Cooke 1766–1767
 * George Cooke and Thomas Townshend (later Viscount Sydney) 1767–1768
 * Richard Rigby 1768–1782
 * Edmund Burke 1782
 * Isaac Barré 1782–1783
 * Edmund Burke 1783
 * William Wyndham Grenville 1783–1784
 * William Wyndham Grenville and Constantine Phipps, 2nd Baron Mulgrave 1784–1789
 * Constantine Phipps, 2nd Baron Mulgrave, and James Graham, Marquess of Graham 1789–1791
 * Dudley Ryder and Thomas Steele 1791–1800
 * Thomas Steele and George Canning 1800–1801
 * Thomas Steele and Sylvester Douglas, 1st Baron Glenbervie 1801–1803
 * John Hiley Addington and Thomas Steele 1803–1804
 * George Rose and Lord Charles Henry Somerset 1804–1806
 * Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, Earl Temple, and Lord John Townshend 1806–1807
 * Charles Long and Lord Charles Henry Somerset 1807–1813
 * Charles Long and Frederick John Robinson 1813–1817
 * Charles Long 1817–1826
 * William Vesey Fitzgerald 1826–1828
 * John Calcraft 1828–1830
 * Lord John Russell 1830–1834
 * Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bt. 1834–1835
 * Sir Henry Parnell, Bt 1835–1836

Notes and references

 * Notes


 * References


 * Bibliography