Commissioners of Audit

The Commissioners of Audit had responsibility from 1785 to 1866 for the auditing of public accounts in the United Kingdom.

History

In 1785 a Commission for Auditing the Public Accounts was established by statute, replacing the Auditors of the Imprest. Its members, the Commissioners of Audit, were five in number: three were appointed by letters patent, the other two were the Comptrollers of Army Accounts, who served ex officio. (Comptrollers of Army Accounts had first been appointed in 1703, to audit the accounts of all Army regiments and paymasters; their office was later abolished, in 1835, whereupon their duties were taken over by the Commissioners of Audit.)[1]

In 1806 the Commission was reconstituted with ten commissioners (no longer incorporating the ex officio members).[2] Over ensuing decades the size of the Commission gradually decreased as departing members were not always replaced. Under the terms of the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866, the offices of the Comptroller of the Exchequer and the Commissioners of Audit were merged and their duties vested in a new official: the Comptroller and Auditor General.[3] His office, the Exchequer and Audit Department, was reconstituted in 1984 as the National Audit Office.

List of Commissioners[2]
From To Name Notes
1785 1799 Sir William Musgrave
1785 1806 John Thomas Batt
1785 1805 John Martin Leake ex officio from 1794
1785 1802 Sir John Dick ex officio
1785 1794 William Molleson ex officio
1794 1799 William Chamberlayne
1799 1802 Reginald Pole Carew
1800 1806 Sir Charles William Rouse Boughton
1802 1805 John Erskine ex officio
1802 1806 The Hon. Bartholomew Bouverie
1806 1821 William Mackworth Praed (lawyer) Chairman of the Commissioners, 1806-1821
1806 1818 Francis Perceval Eliot Previously an 'Additional Commissioner' 1805-1806
1806 1822 Richard Dawkins Previously an 'Additional Commissioner' 1805-1806
1806 1810 Charles Moore Previously an 'Additional Commissioner' 1805-1806
1806 1821 John Sargent
1806 1819 John Anstey
1806 1836 John Whishaw
1806 1813 Philip Deare
1806 1809 Lewis Jenkins
1821 1827 The Hon. Edward Richard Stewart Chairman of the Commissioners, 1821-1827
1821 1823 George Jenkinson
1821 1823 Francis Seymour Larpent (later reappointed as chairman)
1821 1826 John Thornton
1822 1849 Henry Fownes Luttrell
1822 1835 James Chapman
1824 1848 Sir John Osborn
1826 1865 Henry Arbuthnot
1827 1843 Francis Seymour Larpent Chairman of the Commissioners, 1827-1843
1835 1854 Sir William Lewis Herries Chairman of the Commissioners, 1843-1854
1836 1865 Edward Romilly Chairman of the Commissioners, 1854-1865
1843 1854 Sir Alexander Cray Grant
1849 1860 Charles Ross
1849 1867 Richard Vaughan Davis
1854 1867 William Leader Maberley
1865 1867 Sir William Dunbar Chairman of the Commissioners, 1865-1867; then appointed Comptroller and Auditor General
1865 1867 Charles Zachary Macaulay
1867 1867 William George Anderson Appointed Assistant Comptroller and Auditor General in 1867

References
  1. Roper, Michael (1998). The Records of the War Office and Related Departments, 1660-1964. Kew, Surrey: Public Record Office.
  2. Sainty, J C. "Audit Commissioners 1785-1867". Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  3. "Commissioners for Examining Public Accounts". Archive Hub. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
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