Extra Clerks c. 1721-1816

Extra Clerks c. 1721-1816

Clerks, sometimes described as 'Extra Clerks', were employed in the Admiralty office at salaries of £50 between 1705 and 1713. However, their status does not appear to have been very clearly defined at this period and it is impossible to distinguish them satisfactorily from the other Clerks, particularly as they all received their salaries in the same manner from the Treasurer of the Navy. Their appointments have, therefore, been included in the list of Clerks 1660-1800.

Between 1715 and 1800 the number of established Clerks was fixed at seven and during this period the Extra Clerks were clearly differentiated from them. Little is known of their identity or periods of service before 1740. At first they appear to have been employed as writers without salary. (fn. 1) From 1738 it was the practice for them to receive £50 a year from the contingent fund. (fn. 2) In 1740, when they were five in number, their salaries were transferred to the ordinary estimate for the navy and made payable by the Treasurer of the Navy. (fn. 3) From this period the details of their careers can be accurately established. The number of Extra Clerks fluctuated according to whether conditions of peace or war prevailed. (fn. 4) On occasion Clerks who had been discharged at the end of a period of war were re-engaged at a later date. Vacancies on the establishment were almost invariably filled by the promotion of Extra Clerks.

In 1786 the Extra Clerks numbered eleven, each receiving a salary of £50. (fn. 5) In 1790 provision was made for ten, four with salaries of £110, three with salaries of £100 and three with salaries of £90. (fn. 6) In 1800 the existing Extra Clerks were recruited into the new grade of Junior Clerk, while provision was made for a further seven Extra Clerks, three at £100 a year and four at £90 a year, whose salaries were to be increased by a fifth in time of war. (fn. 7) In 1807 new salary arrangements were introduced as follows: for under three years' service £90, for three to five years' service £110, for five to seven years' service £120 and for more than seven years' service £140, again with the addition of a fifth in time of war. (fn. 8) In 1815 the war salaries were made permanent. (fn. 9) The grade was abolished in 1816. (fn. 10)