7 - Central Management

Summary

At the pinnacle of naval administration was the Board of Admiralty, its pre-eminent position empowering it to decide all matters relative to the navy and its departments and expressed in these terms in 1787 by the Commission for inquiring into Fees. It was a description that was equally valid for the period 1815 to 1865. Encompassed within the Admiralty's area of authority were the dockyards, the Board able to give directions on all matters relating to management, construction and design of ships, the nature and quality of materials produced, wage and salary levels and the conditions under which the workforce was employed [368].

Situated between the Admiralty and the dockyards was an intermediate body, the Navy Board. Created to take instructions from the Admiralty and offer advice when called upon, the Commissioners of the Navy Board, over nearly two centuries of continuous existence, had gradually become a semi-autonomous body. This independence arose partly from the means by which Commissioners on this Board were appointed. While those who made up the Admiralty were political appointees who held office no longer than any government, the Commissioners of the Navy Board had semi-permanent tenure arising from appointment by letters patent from the sovereign. This gave the inferior Board an authority based on experience, which gave rise occasionally to apparent resentment at being told what to do by Admiralty ‘amateurs’ whose term of office was uncertain [385].

By 1816, the Navy Board consisted of four principal officers and seven Commissioners. The principal officers (the comptroller and three surveyors) had duties that brought them into direct contact with the dockyard at Chatham. In addition, the seven Commissioners frequently shared in decisions relating to the yard at Chatham, the result of each being a member of one of three committees that were responsible for executing Board business. Introduced by an order-in-council of 1796 [369], the establishment of these committees resulted from a recommendation by the Commission on fees that followed an investigation of the Navy Office in 1786–87. It was the intention that these committees should help reduce the amount of work placed before full meetings of the Board. One outcome was that each individual member, through attendance at committee and Board meetings, had little time to oversee the department for which he was responsible.

The three committees formed in 1796 were those for correspondence, accounts and stores.