Board of Ordnance
Encyclopedia
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 map
s 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
.
. 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.]
(18 & 19 Vict. c. 117) as the Department of the Master-General of the Ordnance
.
and Royal Engineers
answered to the Board of Ordnance instead of the War Office
until 1855. The Ordnance Medical Department was established to provide surgeon
s for these corps.
, 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 munitions 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.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
government body responsible for the supply of armaments and munitions to the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
(until 1830) and British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
. 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 map
Map
A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....
s for military purposes, a function later taken over by the Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
. The board existed under various names from at least the early fifteenth century until 1855, with headquarters in the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
.
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 EnglandHenry V of England
Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....
. Merbury was present at the Battle of Agincourt
Battle of Agincourt
The Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory against a numerically superior French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 , near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France...
. The Office of Ordnance was created by Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
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:
- Master-General of the OrdnanceMaster-General of the OrdnanceThe Master-General of the Ordnance was a very senior British military position before 1855, when the Board of Ordnance was abolished.-Responsibilities:...
(head of the board) - Lieutenant-General of the OrdnanceLieutenant-General of the OrdnanceThe Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance was a member of the British Board of Ordnance and the deputy of the Master-General of the Ordnance. The office was established in 1544, and the holder was appointed by the crown under letters patent...
- Surveyor-General of the OrdnanceSurveyor-General of the OrdnanceThe Surveyor-General of the Ordnance was a subordinate of the Master-General of the Ordnance and a member of the Board of Ordnance 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...
- Clerk of the OrdnanceClerk of the OrdnanceThe Clerk of the Ordnance was a subordinate of the Master-General of the Ordnance and a member of the Board of Ordnance from its constitution in 1597. He was responsible for the correspondence and for the financial bookkeeping of the Board...
- Storekeeper of the OrdnanceStorekeeper of the OrdnanceThe Principal Storekeeper of the Ordnance was a subordinate of the Master-General of the Ordnance and a member of the English Board of Ordnance from its constitution in 1597. He was responsible for the care and maintenance of ordnance stores. The office was abolished in 1855.-Storekeepers of the...
- Clerk of the Deliveries of the OrdnanceClerk of the Deliveries of the OrdnanceThe Clerk of the Deliveries of the Ordnance was a subordinate of the Master-General of the Ordnance and a member of the Board of Ordnance from its constitution in 1597. He was responsible for keeping record of the number and kind of stores issued from the stocks of ordnance...
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
Treasurer of the Ordnance
The Treasurer of the Ordnance was a subordinate of the Master-General of the Ordnance in the United Kingdom, the office being created in 1670. The office was abolished in 1836 and its duties merged with that of several others to form the office of Paymaster-General.-Treasurers of the Ordnance:*25...
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
Paymaster-General
HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom. The Paymaster General is in charge of the Office of HM Paymaster General , which held accounts at the Bank of England on behalf of Government departments and selected other public bodies...
. 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
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, 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
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
(18 & 19 Vict. c. 117) as the Department of the Master-General of the Ordnance
Department of the Master-General of the Ordnance
Department of the Master-General of the Ordnance was a department within the British War Office.-See also:* Master-General of the Ordnance...
.
Subdivisions of the Board of Ordnance
The Royal ArtilleryRoyal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
and Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
answered to the Board of Ordnance instead of the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
until 1855. The Ordnance Medical Department was established to provide surgeon
Surgeon
In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...
s for these corps.
Ordnance Board
Almost fifty years later, after the Second Boer WarSecond Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
, 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 munitions experts, whose purpose was to advise the Army Council
Army Council (1904)
The Army Council is a governing board for the British military organization. It was created in 1904 along with other institutional changes made in that year to the British Army....
on the safety and approval of weapons. The Ordnance Board, and its name, survived within the Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
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.
Notable staff
- One of its 18th century map-makers was noted water-colour artist Paul SandbyPaul SandbyPaul Sandby was an English map-maker turned landscape painter in watercolours, who, along with his older brother Thomas, became one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768.-Life and work:...
. - Lord RaglanFitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron RaglanField Marshal FitzRoy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan, GCB, PC , known before 1852 as Lord FitzRoy Somerset, was a British soldier.-Early life:...
, the British commander-in-chief during the Crimean War, was also the last Master-General of the Board of Ordnance. It is very likely that his incompetence in the field of battle was more to blame than the Board of Ordnance for the 1854-55 supply failures. Ironically, he himself died of dysentery in the Crimea on 29 June 1855 at a time when his forces were afflicted with cholera and reeling from a disastrous series of military failures.(In 1855) . . . a loud outcry against Lord Raglan had begun in the press. He was charged with neglecting to see to the actual state of his troops, and to the necessary measures for their relief. Their condition was becoming more and more pitiable; their numbers dwindling rapidly from death and disease. The road between Balaclava and the camp had become a muddy quagmire, the few remaining horses of our cavalry were rapidly disappearing, every day the difficulty of getting up food and other necessaries from Balaclava was becoming more serious, and still no provision was being made for supplying an effective means of transport.
See also
- List of Masters-General from 1415
- Royal Ordnance Factories
- Ordnance SurveyOrdnance SurveyOrdnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
- Broad arrowBroad arrowA broad arrow or pheon is a type of arrow with a typically flat barbed head. It is a symbol used traditionally in heraldry, most notably in England, and later the United Kingdom to mark government property.-Use in heraldry:...
- Anthony RollAnthony RollThe Anthony Roll is a record of ships of the English Tudor navy of the 1540s, named after its creator, Anthony Anthony. It originally consisted of three rolls of vellum, depicting 58 naval vessels along with information on their size, crew, armament, and basic equipment. The rolls were...