Clerks Assistant to Under Secretaries 1822-41

Clerks Assistant to Under Secretaries 1822-41

On the reorganisation of the Foreign Office in 1822 annual allowances of £150 were made available to the two most junior Clerks on the establishment as 'Private Secretaries to the Under Secretaries'. (fn. 1) In 1831 Palmerston directed that, as their duties were of a public and not a private nature, they should henceforth be designated Clerks Assistant to the Under Secretaries. (fn. 2) The latter term has been used throughout these lists. The number of Clerks Assistant was increased to three in 1824 and to four in 1836. (fn. 3) After 1822 receipt of the allowance was not restricted to Junior Clerks. From 1824 until 1839 all Clerks Assistant were Second Class Clerks, who became effectively superintendents of the work in the Political Departments of the office. On his promotion to a senior clerkship in 1834, Lenox Conyngham surrendered both the allowance and the duties of a Clerk Assistant. On Staveley's promotion to a senior clerkship in 1839, however, he retained both his allowance and his duties. In 1841 the three other Clerks Assistant were promoted to the enlarged senior grade and became in name as well as in fact Superintendents of the Political Departments. It was then provided that the four Clerks Assistant should retain their allowances of £150 until their retirement, but that their maximum salaries as Senior Clerks should be restricted to £850 rather than £1,000. (fn. 4)