| Post: | Office of the Surveyor-General of the Ordnance |
| Insignia: | File:Badge of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps on a RML 10 inch 18 ton gun in Gibraltar.jpg |
| Insigniasize: | 150px |
| Insigniacaption: | Board of Ordnance Arms preserved on a gun tampion in Gibraltar |
| Department: | v |
| Member Of: | Board of Ordnance (1538-1888) |
| Reports To: | Master-General of the Ordnance |
| Appointer: | Prime Minister |
| Appointer Qualified: | Subject to formal approval by the Queen-in-Council |
| Termlength: | Not fixed (typically 3–9 years) |
| Inaugural: | Henry Johnson |
| Formation: | 1538-1888 |
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.
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.
The office was filled until 1888, when it was abolished.
The office was abolished in 1888.