Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Board of Admiralty

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The Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Board of Admiralty was a de facto political member of the Board of Admiralty. The position was normally filled by a Member of Parliament who, although not a member of the Board, served as the second to the First Lord of the Admiralty in Parliament instead of the second political member of the Board, the Civil Lord.

History

Sir Thomas Baring, Bart. (later Lord Northbrook), First Lord from 1849 to 1852, told the Commons Select Committee on Official Salaries in 1850 that:

When the First Lord is in the House of Lords, the Secretary takes a good deal of the Estimate business; when the First Lord is in the House of Commons, the Secretary is in constant communication with the First Lord, and does a great deal of that duty; but he has not that entire superintendence of of it which he has when he represents the department in the House of Commons.[1]

By the provisions of the Order in Council of 14 January, 1869, the duties of the Parliamentary Secretary were broadly defined as:

The Parliamentary Secretary to be responsible to the First Lord of the Admiralty for the "Finance" of the Department, and the Civil Lord to act as an Assistant to the Secretary.

Under the provisions of the Order in Council of 19 March, 1872, the duties of the Parliamentary Secretary were:

The Parliamentary Secretary to be responsible to the First Lord for the Finance of the Department, and for so much of the other business of the Admiralty as may be assigned to him.

On 8 February, 1917, it was announced that the Earl of Lytton had been appointed Additional Parliamentary Secretary to the Board in the House of Lords.[2] He first attended a meeting of the Board on 19 February.[3]

The office of Parliamentary and Financial Secretary was abolished in 1959 in favour of retaining the post of Civil Lord on the disingenuous grounds that, "The position of Civil Lord on the board goes back more than 250 years, while a Parliamentary and Financial Secretary was first appointed in this century."[4]

Duties

Parliamentary and Financial Secretaries to the Board of Admiralty

Dates of appointment given:

Additional Parliamentary Secretary

Footnotes

  1. Report from the Select Committee on Official Salaries. 1850. H.C. 611.pp. 262-263.
  2. The Times. 8 February, 1917. p. 9.
  3. "Board Minutes. Monday, 19th February, 1917." The National Archives. ADM 167/51.
  4. "Reasons for changes in Admiralty posts." The Times. 21 October, 1959. p. 7.
  5. "Precis of the Division & General Mode of Conducting the Business of the Admiralty at Whitehall." Dated 21 June, 1844. The National Archives. ADM 1/5543..
  6. Distribution of Business Between the Various Members of the Board of Admiralty Showing the Successive Changes Made Between 1885 and the Present Time. C.—6199. Copy in Greene Papers. National Maritime Museum. GEE/2. p. 7.
  7. Distribution of Business Between the Various Members of the Board of Admiralty Showing the Successive Changes Made Between 1885 and the Present Time. C.—6199. Copy in Greene Papers. National Maritime Museum. GEE/2. p. 7.
  8. Statement Showing Present Distribution of Business Between the Various Members of the Board of Admiralty, Dated 20th October 1904; and that which it Superseded, Dated 1st January, 1904. Cd. 2417. p. 6.
  9. Statement Showing Present Distribution of Business Between the Various Members of the Board of Admiralty, Dated 20th October 1904; and that which it Superseded, Dated 1st January, 1904. Cd. 2417. p. 6.
  10. "The Board of Admiralty. Distribution of Business." Copy in Greene Papers. National Maritime Museum. GEE/2.
  11. "The Board of Admiralty. Distribution of Business." Copy in Greene Papers. National Maritime Museum. GEE/2.
  12. The Naval Staff of the Admiralty. p. 126.

Bibliography


Admiralty Seal.jpg
Board of Admiralty
Political Lords Commissioners
 • First Lord of the Admiralty
 • Civil Lord of the Admiralty
 • Fourth Civil Lord (1918 – 1919)
Naval Lords Commissioners
 • First Naval Lord (– 1904) • First Sea Lord (1904 – 1917) • First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff (1917 –)
 • Second Naval Lord (– 1869, 1872 – 1904) • Second Sea Lord (1904 – 1917) • Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel (1917 –)
 • Third Naval Lord (– 1869) • Third Lord and Controller (1869 – 1872) • Third Naval Lord and Controller of the Navy (1882 – 1904) • Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy (1904 – 1912) • Third Sea Lord (1912 – 1917) • Third Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Matériel (1917 – 1918) • Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy (1918 –)
 • Junior Naval Lord (– 1904) • Fourth Sea Lord (1907 – 1917) • Fourth Sea Lord and Chief of Supplies and Transport (1917 –)
 • Fifth Sea Lord (1917) • Fifth Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Air Service (1917 – 1918)
 • Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (1917 – 1940)
 • Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (1917 – 1929)
 • Deputy First Sea Lord (1917 – 1919)
Civil Lords Commissioners
 • Additional Civil Lord of the Admiralty (1882 – 1885, 1912 – 1919)
 • Third Civil Lord (1918 – 1919)
 • Controller (1917 – 1918)
Secretaries to the Board
 • First Secretary to the Board of Admiralty (– 1869) • Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Admiralty (1869 – 1904) • Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Board of Admiralty (1904 –)
 • Additional Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Admiralty (1917 – 1918)
 • Second Secretary to the Board of Admiralty (– 1869) • Permanent Secretary to the Board of Admiralty (1869 – 1877, 1880 –)
 • Naval Secretary to the Board of Admiralty (1872 – 1882)