Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 28, 1714. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1955.
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'Vol. XXVIII. Appendix: Introductory Note.', in Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 28, 1714, (London, 1955) pp. 399. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-treasury-books/vol28/p399 [accessed 24 April 2024]
Introductory Note.
WILLIAM LOWNDES'S ACCOUNT OF SECRET SERVICE MONEYS DURING THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE FROM 8 MARCH 1701–2 TO 27 JULY 1714.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
This account occupies pp. 39–313 of T 38/737, a volume which forms the last of the four volumes of Secret Service records described in the introductory note to Appendix No. 2 on pp. 513–14 of Vol. XVII of this Calendar. It then continues as T 48/16, a volume which is on exactly the same lines as the preceding four volumes of T 38/734-7.
For Queen Anne's reign the entries commence on the 22nd May 1702 and continue successively until 27 July 1714. In matter of form the entries are exactly as in the preceding Vol. T 38/736, that is to say, in each case the recipient signs the entry in the book as an acknowledgment of payment. In cases where the money was sent by hand or by messenger, the messenger took with him a receipt form to be signed by the payee and this receipt form bearing such signature is pasted in the volume under the date of the payment.
With the fall of Godolphin as Lord Treasurer, William Lowndes started a fresh volume. He continued to be employed under Harley and into the reign of George I as the Paymaster of the Treasury Secret Service Fund. His accounts still preserved the form which he had adopted from the first. But there are two subsidiary forms of accounts which he kept as well as his books of receipts. The first T 48/15 is an abbreviated account book tabulating the payments for Secret Service from 9 Sept. 1710 to the end of the reign. The material contained in this record is simply an abbreviated account of the items here printed in extenso for the same period.
The second record T 48/17 is a bundle of the separate sign manuals approving the separate accounts which Lowndes kept for examination and signature by the Lord Treasurer and the Queen. Each sign manual sets out the actual payments, but not with the full detail given in the receipt books here printed. Each one is signed at the head and at the end by the Sovereign and is countersigned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer or by the Lord Treasurer. There are 28 of these sign manuals, the first one being dated 15 Jan. 1695–6 and the last one signed by the Queen on the 27th July 1714, within four days of her death. Her handwriting in this last instance is very trembling.