Surveyor-General of the Ordnance

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For Surveyor-General of the Ordnance in Ireland, see Irish Board of Ordnance.

Office of the Surveyor-General of the Ordnance
Board of Ordnance Arms preserved on a gun tampion in Gibraltar
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Member ofBoard of Ordnance (1538-1888)
Reports toMaster-General of the Ordnance
AppointerPrime Minister
Subject to formal approval by the Queen-in-Council
Term lengthNot fixed (typically 3–9 years)
Inaugural holderHenry Johnson
Formation1538-1888

The Surveyor-General of the Ordnance was a subordinate of the Master-General of the Ordnance and a member of the Board of Ordnance, a British government body, from its constitution in 1597. Appointments to the post were made by the crown under Letters Patent. His duties were to examine the ordnance received to see that it was of good quality. He also came to be responsible for the mapping of fortifications and eventually of all Great Britain, through the Ordnance Survey, and it is this role that is generally associated with surveyor-generalship.

History[edit]

The post was for a time held with that of Chief Engineer, but after 1750 became a political office, with the holder changing with the government of the day.[1]

The office was vacant at the time the Board of Ordnance was abolished in 1855, the last holder, Lauderdale Maule, having died of cholera on assignment with forces in Crimea, on August 1, 1854.[2]

The War Office Act of 1870 revived the office, making the Surveyor-General the senior civilian adviser to the Secretary of State, responsible for all aspects of Army logistics. The position was expected to advise on highly complex matters of supply, transport, equipment and ordnance, and was meant to be a former senior military officer who could answer questions to Parliament and exercise strict control over expenditures on supplies and stores. The Surveyor-General was meant to oversee the Director of Artillery and Stores, the Director of Supplies and Transport, the Director of Clothing, the Director of Contracts and the Inspector-General of Fortifications, as well as the controllers in each military district responsible to their respective major-generals.[3]


The office was filled until 1888, when it was abolished.

Surveyors-General of the Ordnance[edit]

The office was abolished in 1888.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Whitworth Porter, History of the Corps of Royal Engineers, volume I (London, 1889), page 168
  2. ^ Warden, Alex Johnston (1885). Angus Or Forfarshire: The Land and People, Descriptive and Historical. C. Alexander & Company.
  3. ^ Spiers, Edward (12 March 1992), "The Late Victorian Army 1868–1914", The Oxford History Of The British Army, Oxford University PressNew York, NY, pp. 187–210, ISBN 978-0-19-285333-2, retrieved 24 March 2024
  4. ^ Grummitt, David (2008). The Calais Garrison: War and Military Service in England, 1436-1558. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84383-398-7.
  5. ^ a b Loades, D. M. (29 September 2017). The Anthony Roll of Henry VIII's Navy: Pepys Library 2991 and British Library Add MS 22047 with Related Material. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-54670-6.
  6. ^ "BLUDDER, Sir Thomas (c.1597-1655), of Flanchford, Reigate, Surr. and St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster. | History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  7. ^ "Ross, Sir Hew Dalrymple (1779–1868)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/24119. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
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