Commissioners of Audit explained

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

FromToNameNotes
17851799Sir William Musgrave
17851806John Thomas Batt
17851805John Martin Leakeex officio from 1794
17851802Sir John Dickex officio
17851794William Mollesonex officio
17941799William Chamberlayne
17991802Reginald Pole Carew
18001806Sir Charles William Rouse Boughton
18021805John Erskineex officio
18021806The Hon. Bartholomew Bouverie
18061821William Mackworth Praed (lawyer)Chairman of the Commissioners, 1806-1821
18061818Francis Perceval EliotPreviously an 'Additional Commissioner' 1805-1806
18061822Richard DawkinsPreviously an 'Additional Commissioner' 1805-1806
18061810Charles MoorePreviously an 'Additional Commissioner' 1805-1806
18061821John Sargent
18061819
18061836
18061813Philip Deare
18061809Lewis Jenkins
18211827Chairman of the Commissioners, 1821-1827
18211823George Jenkinson
18211823(later reappointed as chairman)
18211826John Thornton
18221849
18221835James Chapman
18241848
18261865Henry Arbuthnot
18271843Chairman of the Commissioners, 1827-1843
18351854Sir William Lewis Herries Chairman of the Commissioners, 1843-1854
18361865Chairman of the Commissioners, 1854-1865
18431854
18491860
18491867Richard Vaughan Davis
18541867
18651867Chairman of the Commissioners, 1865-1867; then appointed Comptroller and Auditor General
18651867Charles Zachary Macaulay
18671867William George Anderson Appointed Assistant Comptroller and Auditor General in 1867

Notes and References

  1. Book: Roper . Michael . The Records of the War Office and Related Departments, 1660-1964 . 1998 . Public Record Office . Kew, Surrey .
  2. Web site: Sainty . J C . Audit Commissioners 1785-1867 . . 8 December 2018.
  3. Web site: Commissioners for Examining Public Accounts. Archive Hub. 21 March 2018.