Board of Ordnance The Board of Ordnance was a British government body responsible for the supply of armaments and munitions to the Royal Navy ( until 1830 ) and British Army . It was also responsible for providing artillery trains for armies and maintaining coastal fortresses and , later , management of the artillery and engineer corps . It also produced maps for military purposes , a function later taken over by the Ordnance Survey . The board existed under various names from at least the early fifteenth century until 1855 , with headquarters in the Tower of London . History . The introduction of gunpowder to Europe led to innovations in offensive weapons such as cannon and defences such as fortifications . In the 1370s , to manage the new technology , the royal household appointed a courtier to administer weapons , arsenals and castles . The office and main arsenal were located in the White Tower of the Tower of London . The earliest known Master of Ordnance was Nicholas Merbury , appointed about 1415 - 1420 by Henry V of England . Merbury was present at the Battle of Agincourt . The Office of Ordnance was created by Henry VIII of England in 1544 and became the Board of Ordnance in 1597 , its principal duties being to supply guns , ammunition , stores and equipment to the King ' s Navy . The Board of Ordnance consisted of six principal officers : In 1830 , the principal officers were reduced to four by the abolition of the posts of Lieutenant - General and Clerk of the Deliveries . The Treasurer of the Ordnance was also an important officer of the department , although he did not sit on the board . This office was consolidated with several others in 1836 to form that of Paymaster - General . A number of other inferior officers reported to the board , such as clerks , storekeepers , engineers , and master gunners . Issues of performance in the Crimean War , especially disastrous lack of due provision for operations during the Russian winter of 1854 brought about the Board ' s demise in 1855 . [ " See also the reference to Lord Raglan below " . ] " As a result of enquiries made into the breakdown of transport and hospital arrangements during the first winter of the war , the Board of Ordnance , which had been in existence for four hundred years , was abolished , and the Artillery together with the Royal Engineers came directly under the Commander - in - Chief and the War Office like the rest of the Army . " The former board was incorporated into the War Office by an 1855 Act of Parliament ( 18 & 19 Vict . c . 117 ) as the Department of the Master - General of the Ordnance . Subdivisions of the Board of Ordnance . The Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers answered to the Board of Ordnance instead of the War Office until 1855 . The Ordnance Medical Department was established to provide surgeons for these corps . Ordnance Board . Almost fifty years later , after the Second Boer War , and unease that the British Army had been ill - equipped , a new office called the Ordnance Board was created . It consists of a board of munition s experts , whose purpose was to advise the Army Council on the safety and approval of weapons . The Ordnance Board , and its name , survived within the Ministry of Defence until the mid - 1990s when it was renamed the Defence Ordnance Safety Group . Long before then , the Ordnance Board had extended its scope to encompass more than just the safety and approval of the Army ’ s ordnance .