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Samuel Pepys and the World He Lived In

Chapter 25: APPENDIX VI. LISTS
By Henry B. Wheatley
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BiographiesHistory - BritishHistory - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)

About This Book

The author assembles biographical information, diary excerpts, and contemporary documentation to portray Samuel Pepys’s life, career, and the social milieu of his era. Chapters follow his background before the diary, his daily activities and observations during its composition, and his later years, and address specific topics such as his time in Tangier, his books and collections, and the fabric of Restoration London. Separate sections examine his relations and acquaintances, naval and court service, public figures, social manners, and entertainments. A concluding discussion is followed by appendices offering portraits, manuscript inventories, play lists, and other documentary material that illuminate the narrative.

APPENDIX VI.

APPENDIX VI.

LISTS

Of the Secretaries of the Admiralty, and Principal Officers of the Navy; viz., Treasurers, Comptrollers, Surveyors, Clerks of the Acts, and Commissioners of the Navy at Chatham; to the beginning of the 18th century. (Compiled by Colonel Pasley, C.B., R.E.)

From the middle of the 16th to the end of the 17th century, Chatham was by far the most important of the English naval stations, and the Commissioner resident there had from the first a seat and vote at the Board in London—a privilege which was not extended to his colleague at Portsmouth until a much later date. The rise of the latter port dates from the alliance with the Dutch, and war with France which followed the accession of William and Mary, and which made it necessary to establish a first-class naval yard at a less distance from the French coast than Chatham. The same cause led to the construction of a dry dock at Plymouth. See “Edmund Dummer,” in the list of Surveyors of the Navy.

The figures in the first column represent the year of appointment, when that can be ascertained. The prefix “circ.” implies that the person named in the second column is known to have held the office at the time stated, although the date of first appointment is not known. In some cases the only date that can be found is that of an order to the Attorney-General to prepare letters patent; sometimes that of the patent itself; sometimes of a warrant to execute the office, notwithstanding that the patent is not yet passed; and occasionally that of a letter from some person at Court informing his correspondent that the King or Queen has signed such and such a patent. It has been thought better, therefore, to state only the year of appointment, as the insertion in lists of this kind of the month and day tends to give them a delusive appearance of accuracy.

The scantiness of MS. records before the Revolution arises from the practice which existed of retiring Officers taking away with them their office books and papers, which they regarded as their own property. This was put a stop to in the Dockyards by a Navy Board Order of the 18th August, 1692. Unless otherwise stated, the manuscripts in the following lists are in the British Museum.