Minute Book: December 1714

Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 29, 1714-1715. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1957.

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'Minute Book: December 1714', in Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 29, 1714-1715, (London, 1957) pp. 35-39. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-treasury-books/vol29/pp35-39 [accessed 16 April 2024]

December 1714

Dec. 2. Present: all the five Lords.
Lord Coningsby and Lady Katherine Jones [are] called in. A memorial signed by the said Lady Katherine is read praying that 500l. may be advanced by his Majesty to enable her to finish the accounts of her late father the Earl of Ranelagh [as former Paymaster General of the Forces]. My Lords say they will consider of it. Then the said Lord and Lady withdraw.
My Lords direct the [Treasury] Books to be searched and an account to be laid before them of what money was paid to the Earl [of Ranelagh] for the finishing and passing his accounts. And it appearing that at several times there has been given to the Earl of Ranelagh 5,500l. to expedite and finish all his accounts they think there is no room for them to advance any further sum. But if any person concerned for the honour of my Lord Ranelagh and the good of the public will expend the said 500l. for finishing and passing the said Earl's accounts they will be very ready to move the King so soon as the same shall be passed to repay the said 500l. Ibid.
Dec. 6. Present: Earl of Halifax, Sir William St. Quintin, Mr. Wortley, Mr. Methuen.
Several papers are read and minutes are taken [and are endorsed] thereon.
[My Lords order] Sir Basil Dixwell to be restored to the office of Auditor of Excise.
[My Lords order] Mr. Henry Baker to be restored to the office of Surveyor of the coasts of Kent and Sussex and against owlers. Ibid., p. 40.
Dec. 7. Present: Earl of Halifax, Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer [Sir Richard Onslow], Sir William St. Quintin, Mr. Wortley.
The Justices [of Peace] of Middlesex [are] called in. [They] represent a state of their proceedings in the affair relating to the destroying the distempered cows. My Lord H[alifax] acquaints them that it has been laid before the King in Council and it being found to be a charge too great for the Civil List to bear it is [by the Privy Council] ordered that his Majesty be at no further charge therein.
My Lord [Halifax] asks them what time will be necessary to give [public] notice hereof.
They say by to-morrow inclusive.
Upon which my Lords desire that the Order of Council may allow the payment of 40s. per cow to continue to the 8th inst. inclusive. And my Lords desire they will give notice to the owners and cause an exact account to be kept of all the cows they lose by the distemper after that day.
[My Lords direct the following issues out of Civil List moneys: viz.] 200l. to Sir Clement Cotterel for Monsieur Delorme; 1,000l. to Mr. Thomas Lowther on an order signed in that behalf.
[My Lords direct issues as follows] to the Treasurer of the Navy out of money arisen by sale of South Sea Stock:
£
for wages to ships ordered to be laid up 32,000
[and to the Paymaster of the Forces] for Half Pay Officers 18,000
£50,000
[My Lords direct] 9,850l. to the Cofferer of the Household for the Purveyors of the Household: out of Civil List money grown due since 1 Aug. 1714. Treasury Minute Book XXII, p. 40.
Dec. 13. Present: Earl of Halifax, Sir William St. Quintin, Mr. Wortley.
Mr. Cæsar, late Treasurer of the Navy, [is] called in. His memorial is read praying directions to the Navy Board to make out bills for paying 1,000l. for Exchequer fees and several other sums and to assign the same for payment out of divident money in his hands for South Sea Stock. [My Lords order his memorial] to be sent to the Navy Commissioners to know if they have any objection to what is desired.
Mr. Aislabie, Treasurer of the Navy, is called in. His memorial is read in relation to the Course of the Navy and [the Course of the] Victualling. My Lords say the money which “they” [the Navy Treasurer for the Navy and Victualling] have borrowed they [my Lords] are of opinion will best be applied to put ships out of pay: but that he should bring an account of what is wanting for paying two months upon each of the said Courses and my Lords will consider how to provide money for it.
Also a letter [is read] from the Commissioners for the Chest at Chatham praying 21,000l. to clear the arrears to the [Navy] pensioners to Lady day last and to carry on the monthly payments for some short time.
But it being suggested in the said letter that there would be no occasion for this application if the Defalcations made out of the pay of the seamen and Marines had been duly paid, my Lords direct a copy of the said letter to be sent to the Navy Commissioners, the Commissioners for disbanding the late Marine Regiments, Sir Roger Mostyn and the Auditors of Imprests respectively [with a request for them] to lay before my Lords a state of that matter as to the method of making the said Deductions and accounting for the same and how much thereof (if any) now remains in any of the Treasurers' or Paymasters’ hands [to wit respectively the Navy Treasurer, the Paymaster of the Marine Regiments and the said Commissioners for Disbanding].
Mr. Hancock, Comptroller of Wine Licences: [my Lords order] his commission to be renewed.
Mr. Johnson, Solicitor of the Salt Office: the like [order]. Ibid., p. 42.
Dec. 14 Present: ut supra.
Mr. Hanbury and Mr. Elphinston [are] called in. A petition of the latter is read complaining of Mr. Hanbury as not having made him a just allowance for his attendance in the Cotton Library. Mr. Hanbury exhibits an account of the money he has received for looking after the said Library and what he has paid to the said Elphinston for his attendance there; which is also read. [My Lords order] Mr. Lowndes to hear them and examine their accounts.
My Lord Halifax discourses with Mr. Hanbury concerning the state of the said Library and then he and Mr. Elphinston withdraw. Ibid., p. 43.
Dec. 15. Present: Earl of Halifax, Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer [Sir Richard Onslow], Sir William St. Quintin, Mr. Wortley.
[My Lords order a] letter of direction to the Auditor of the Receipt to issue to the Earl of Stair et al. 2,904l. out of Civil List money.
[Write] the Attorney General, Solicitor General and Lord Chief Baron Smith to be here this afternoon at five o'clock.
[Write] the Navy Commissioners, the Victualling Commissioners and the Trustees for South Sea Stock to be here next Friday morning.
Mr. Hawes [is] called in. His memorial relating to the Yards and the courses of the Navy and Victualling [is read]. My Lords will consider it next Friday.
Mr. Merryll [is] called in. A memorial from Mr. Howe is read and the minutes taken thereupon [by my Lords on reading it are endorsed thereupon].
He says Mr. Howe has received a letter from a person that is willing to come in and make a discovery of frauds committed in relation to the outpensioners of Chelsea Hospital. [My Lords thereupon] ordered that an advertisement be inserted for him in the Gazette [desiring him to come in].
The following memorial from Sir Bibie Lake is read and my Lords agree to what is therein proposed:
to the Rt. Honourable the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury.
I do propose forthwith to pay into the Receipt of the Exchequer 2,257l. 4s. 10¼d. in part of the debt owing by Robert Peters [as former Receiver General for Co. Herts] upon the fifteenth 4s. Aid; and that the sum of 10,892l. 5s. 9¼d. due to the several assignees [Army clothiers] from or under the said Robert Peters upon the offreckonings of the Regiments of General Wills, Lord Shannon, Lord North and Grey, and Brigadier Lepell shall be duly assigned and transferred to James Taylor in trust to apply the money arising therefrom (in the first place) to discharge the residue of the debt owing by the said Robert Peters to the Crown upon the several Land Tax Aids and Duties on Houses wherewith he doth stand charged: upon this condition that as soon as all the [said] debt owing by the said Robert Peters shall be satisfied as aforesaid then the extended estates of the said Robert Peters shall by privy seal or otherwise be conveyed to Sir Bibye Lake or whosoever he shall appoint for the benefit of himself and creditors of the said Robert Peters, who are or shall be entituled thereunto under the Commission of bankruptcy issued out against the said Robert Peters. And I do engage that the said James Taylor shall perform his trust accordingly.
Bibye Lake.
14 Dec. 1714.
Ibid., pp. 44–5.
Eodem die.
Afternoon.		 Present: Earl of Halifax, Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer [Sir Richard Onslow], Sir William St. Quintin, Mr. Wortley.
My Lords direct a privy seal to be prepared for several pensions to Lord Tweeddale et al. Treasury Minute Book XXII, p. 45.
Dec. 17. Present: ut supra.
The Navy Commissioners [are] called in. Lord Halifax acquaints them that the Treasury has been informed that though the Course of the Navy and Victualling is little more than three months in arrear the [Navy] bills for the same are at three or four per cent. discount. The Commissioners say they have heard nothing of it and hope it is not true.
[My Lords] directed 5,000l. to the Treasurer of the Navy on the head of Ordinary, being towards the quarter's salaries ending at Xmas next to the Admiralty [Office], Navy [Office], &c.
The Victualling Commissioners [are] called in. They say there is a discount on the Victualling bills [but] how much they don't know but they fear if two months’ Course be not speedily ordered there will be a greater discount thereon.
[My Lords] ordered payments as follow as of his Majesty's royal bounty: out of money in the hands of Mr. Thomas Lowther: viz. to
£
Charles Cornwallis, Esq. 100
Charlotte Rycaute, Anne Christian widow, Cecilia Newberry and Edith College, 20l. each 80
Anne and Elizabeth Wilkinson, 10l. each 20
Rachel and Frances Mansell, each 5l. 10
Jane Dickenson 10
Eleanor Conway 5
John Butts, Anne Kershe, William Powell, Thomas Tagg and Judith North, 10l. each 50
Elizabeth Rossington 15
Elizabeth Newman, Anne Whittle, Uriah Ironmonger, 10l.each 30
Frances Mackenzie 20
John Dwyre 10
Mrs. Griffith, widow of Mr. Griffith, late Commissioner of Salt Duties 50
£400
Ibid., p. 46.
Dec.20. Present: Earl of Halifax, Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer [Sir Richard Onslow], Sir William St. Quintin.
Memorials are read from the Lords of the Justiciary for an additional allowance for the charge of [going] the Circuits in Scotland; and from the President of the Session there for an increase of 500l. a year to his allowances. My Lords thereupon direct states of the whole to be made from what [entries or material] appear at the Treasury. Ibid., p. 47.
Dec. 23. Present: Sir William St. Quintin, Mr. Wortley.
Sir Theodore Janssen and Sir Charles Peers are called in. They acquaint my Lords from the Trustees for sale of South Sea Stock that they will lend 100,000l. more to-morrow morning. [My Lords agree that same is] to be repaid out of the first money arising by [sale of] the said Stock after satisfaction of the moneys already lent by them and the interest thereof in the same manner as the said former loans and interest are directed to be discharged. And in regard the said Trustees borrow this money of the Bank who are to have their interest at five per cent. computed and paid every two months my Lords will cause the interest to be computed and paid to the Trustees accordingly, together with their contingent charges relating to this affair.
Out of the said 100,000l. my Lords are pleased to direct as follows:
£ s. d.
[to the Treasurer of the Navy] to be applied to seamen's wages for putting ships out of pay 50,000 0 0
for the Course of the Navy for the months of September and October 1714 20,321 15 2
for the Course of the Victualling for the same two months 25,045 7 3
towards paying 22,686l. for the poor labourers of Chatham and Sheerness Yards for 1713 Midsummer and Michaelmas quarters: 4,632l. 17s. 7d. to be issued out of this present loan 4,632 17 7
£50,000 0 0
and 3,003l. 10s. 6¼d. to be issued out of so much remaining in the Exchequer of the former loan [from the said Trustees] 3,003 10 6¼
Ibid., p. 48.
Dec. 31. Present: Earl of Halifax, Sir William St. Quintin, Mr. Wortley, Mr. Methuen.
[Write] to Mr. Awnsham Churchill for two sets of Rymer's Fœdera, one for the French King's Library, the other for the Marquis de Torcy, and Flamsteed's ‘Histoire des Astres’.
[My Lords order] warrants for [payment of] the officers of the Works to be prepared.
[Likewise a] warrant for Mr. Wise's allowance for the Gardens. Ibid., p. 49.
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