# Paymaster of the Forces

The Paymaster of the Forces was a position in the British government. The office was established in 1661, one year after the Restoration of the Monarchy to Charles II of England, and was responsible for part of the financing of the British Army, in the improved form created by Oliver Cromwell during the Commonwealth. The full title was Paymaster-General of His Majesty's Forces. It was abolished in 1836, near the end of the reign of William IV, and was replaced by the new post of Paymaster General.

## History

The first to hold the office was Sir Stephen Fox (1627–1716), an exceptionally able administrator who had remained a member of the household of King Charles II during his exile in France. Before his time, and before the Civil War, there was no standing army and 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, Richard Jones, 1st 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 Privy 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 potentially the most lucrative that a parliamentary career could obtain. Appointments to the office were therefore made often not due to merit alone, but also to political affiliation. It was occasionally a cabinet-level post in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and many future prime ministers served as paymaster.
Before the development of the banking system, the duty of the paymaster was to act as the personal 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, under the authority of sign-manual warrants for ordinary expenses of the army, and under Treasury warrants for extraordinary expenses (expenses 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 receipt of his final discharge (the quietus of the Pipe Office), he assumed unlimited personal liability for the funds, thus his private estate was liable for the money in his hands. Failing the quietus this liability remained without limit of time, passing on his death to his heirs and legal representatives.
Appointments were made by the Crown by letters patent under the Great Seal. The patent salary was £400 from 1661 to 1680 and 20 shillings a day thereafter, except for the years 1702–07 when it was fixed at 10 shillings a day.
The office of Paymaster of the Forces was abolished in 1836 and superseded with the formation of the post of Paymaster General.

## List of Paymasters of the Forces

| Portrait | Name(s) | Term of office | Term of office | Government | Monarch (Reign) |
| | Sir Stephen Fox | 18 March 1661 | 9 February 1676 | Clarendon Cabal Danby I | Charles II (1660–1685) |
| | Sir Henry Puckering, Bt | 9 February 1676 | 23 May 1679 | // | Charles II (1660–1685) |
| | Sir Stephen Fox | 23 May 1679 | 3 January 1680 | The Chits | Charles II (1660–1685) |
| | Nicholas Johnson and (?) William Fox (died 1680 aged 20) | 3 January 1680 | 20 April 1682 (†Johnson) 28 April 1682 | The Chits | Charles II (1660–1685) |
| | Charles Fox | 28 April 1682 | 26 December 1685 | The Chits | Charles II (1660–1685) |
| | The Earl of Ranelagh | 26 December 1685 | 22 December 1702 | The Chits | James II (1685–1688) |
| | The Earl of Ranelagh | 26 December 1685 | 22 December 1702 | Carmarthen–Halifax Carmarthen Whig Junto I Pembroke | William III and Mary II (1689–1694) William III (1694–1702) |
| | The Earl of Ranelagh | 26 December 1685 | 22 December 1702 | Godolphin–Marlborough | Anne (1702–1714) |
| | John Grubham Howe (Home troops only) with Charles Fox (1702–05) Hon. James Brydges (1705–13) Thomas Moore (1713–14) (Overseas troops) | 22 December 1702 | 3 October 1714 | Godolphin–Marlborough | Anne (1702–1714) |
| | John Grubham Howe (Home troops only) with Charles Fox (1702–05) Hon. James Brydges (1705–13) Thomas Moore (1713–14) (Overseas troops) | 22 December 1702 | 3 October 1714 | Oxford–Bolingbroke | Anne (1702–1714) |
| | Sir Robert Walpole | 3 October 1714 | 17 October 1715 | Townshend Stanhope–Sunderland I Stanhope–Sunderland II | George I (1714–1727) |
| | The Earl of Lincoln | 17 October 1715 | 11 June 1720 | Townshend Stanhope–Sunderland I Stanhope–Sunderland II | George I (1714–1727) |
| | Sir Robert Walpole | 11 June 1720 | 19 April 1721 | Townshend Stanhope–Sunderland I Stanhope–Sunderland II | George I (1714–1727) |
| | The Lord Cornwallis | 19 April 1721 | 20 January 1722 | Walpole–Townshend | George I (1714–1727) |
| | Hon. Spencer Compton (Lord Wilmington from 1728) | 15 March 1722 | 15 May 1730 | Walpole–Townshend | George I (1714–1727) |
| | Hon. Spencer Compton (Lord Wilmington from 1728) | 15 March 1722 | 15 May 1730 | Walpole–Townshend | George II (1727–1760) |
| | Hon. Henry Pelham | 15 May 1730 | 24 December 1743 | Walpole Carteret | George II (1727–1760) |
| | Thomas Winnington | 24 December 1743 | 23 April 1746† | Broad Bottom | George II (1727–1760) |
| | William Pitt the Elder | 7 May 1746 | 16 December 1755 | Broad Bottom | George II (1727–1760) |
| | William Pitt the Elder | 7 May 1746 | 16 December 1755 | Newcastle I | George II (1727–1760) |
| Dupplin | The Earl of Darlington and The Viscount Dupplin | 16 December 1755 | 8 December 1756 | Newcastle I | George II (1727–1760) |
| Dupplin | The Viscount Dupplin and Thomas Potter | 8 December 1756 | 15 July 1757 | Pitt–Devonshire 1757 Caretaker | George II (1727–1760) |
| | The Lord Holland | 15 July 1757 | 12 June 1765 | Pitt–Newcastle | George II (1727–1760) |
| | The Lord Holland | 15 July 1757 | 12 June 1765 | Pitt–Newcastle | George III (1760–1820) |
| | The Lord Holland | 15 July 1757 | 12 June 1765 | Bute Grenville | George III (1760–1820) |
| | Hon. Charles Townshend | 12 June 1765 | 21 August 1766 | // Rockingham I Chatham | George III (1760–1820) |
| North | Lord North and George Cooke | 21 August 1766 | 9 December 1767 | // | George III (1760–1820) |
| Townshend | George Cooke and Thomas Townshend | 9 December 1767 | 5 June 1768 (†Cooke) 17 June 1768 | // | George III (1760–1820) |
| | Richard Rigby | 17 June 1768 | 10 April 1782 | // Grafton North | George III (1760–1820) |
| | Edmund Burke | 10 April 1782 | 1 August 1782 | Rockingham II | George III (1760–1820) |
| | Isaac Barré | 1 August 1782 | 16 April 1783 | Shelburne | George III (1760–1820) |
| | Edmund Burke | 16 April 1783 | 8 January 1784 | Fox–North Pitt the Younger I | George III (1760–1820) |
| | William Wyndham Grenville | 8 January 1784 | 7 April 1784 | // | George III (1760–1820) |
| Mulgrave | William Wyndham Grenville and The Lord Mulgrave | 7 April 1784 | 2 September 1789 | // | George III (1760–1820) |
| Mulgrave | The Lord Mulgrave and The Duke of Montrose | 2 September 1789 | 7 March 1791 | // | George III (1760–1820) |
| | Hon. Dudley Ryder and Thomas Steele | 7 March 1791 | 5 July 1800 | // | George III (1760–1820) |
| | Thomas Steele and George Canning | 5 July 1800 | 26 March 1801 | // | George III (1760–1820) |
| | Thomas Steele and The Lord Glenbervie | 26 March 1801 | 3 January 1803 | Addington | George III (1760–1820) |
| | Thomas Steele and John Hiley Addington | 3 January 1803 | 7 July 1804 | Addington | George III (1760–1820) |
| | George Rose and Lord Charles Somerset | 7 July 1804 | 17 February 1806 | Pitt the Younger II | George III (1760–1820) |
| | The Earl Temple and Lord John Townshend | 17 February 1806 | 4 April 1807 | All the Talents | George III (1760–1820) |
| | Charles Long and Lord Charles Somerset | 4 April 1807 | 26 November 1813 | Portland II Perceval Liverpool | George III (1760–1820) |
| | Charles Long and Hon. F. J. Robinson | 26 November 1813 | 9 August 1817 | // | George III (1760–1820) |
| | Charles Long (Lord Farnborough from 1826) | 9 August 1817 (continued) | 14 July 1826 | // | George III (1760–1820) |
| | Charles Long (Lord Farnborough from 1826) | 9 August 1817 (continued) | 14 July 1826 | // | George IV (1820–1830) |
| | William Vesey Fitzgerald | 14 July 1826 | 10 July 1828 | // Canningite Govt. Canning · Goderich Wellington–Peel | George IV (1820–1830) |
| | John Calcraft | 10 July 1828 | 30 December 1830 | // | George IV (1820–1830) |
| | Lord John Russell | 30 December 1830 | 30 December 1834 | Whig Govt. Grey · Melbourne I | William IV (1830–1837) |
| | Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bt | 30 December 1834 | 28 April 1835 | Peel I | William IV (1830–1837) |
| | Sir Henry Parnell, Bt | 28 April 1835 | 1 December 1836 | Melbourne II | William IV (1830–1837) |
Office merged into that of Paymaster General, 1836.

## Paymaster of the Forces Abroad

From 1702 to 1714, during the War of the Spanish Succession, there was a distinct Paymaster of the Forces Abroad, appointed in the same manner as the Paymaster. These were appointed to a special office to oversee the pay of Queen Anne's army in the Low Countries, and are not in the regular succession of Paymasters of the Forces. The salary of the position was 10 shillings a day. Colonel Thomas Moore was paymaster of the land forces in Minorca and in the garrisons of Dunkirk and Gibraltar and is not always counted among the Paymasters of the Forces Abroad.
* Charles Fox (23 December 1702 – 10 May 1705)
* The Hon. James Brydges (10 May 1705 – 4 September 1713)
* Col. Thomas Moore (4 September 1713 – 3 October 1714)