Paymaster General

History

The post was created in 1836 by the merger of the positions of the offices of the Paymaster of the Forces (1661–1836), the Treasurer of the Navy (1546–1835), the Paymaster and Treasurer of Chelsea Hospital (responsible for Army pensions) (1681–1835) and the Treasurer of the Ordnance (1670–1835).

Initially, the Paymaster General only had responsibilities in relation to the armed services but in 1848 two more offices were merged into that of Paymaster General: the Paymaster of Exchequer Bills (1723–1848) and the Paymaster of the Civil Service (1834–1848), the latter followed by its Irish counterpart in 1861. They thus became 'the principal paying agent of the government and the banker for all government departments except the revenue departments and the National Debt Office'.

From 1848 to 1868, the post was held concurrently with that of Vice-President of the Board of Trade.

The longest-serving holder of the post was Dawn Primarolo, whose portfolio covered HM Customs and Excise and the Inland Revenue (which during her tenure became merged as HM Revenue and Customs) and who served from 1999 to 2007.

Role

Today, the Paymaster General is usually a minister without portfolio available for any duties which the government of the day may designate. The post may be combined with another office, or may be left unfilled.

Though the Paymaster General was titular head of the Paymaster General's Office, their executive functions were delegated to the Assistant Paymaster General, a permanent civil servant who (though acting in the name of the Paymaster General) was answerable to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Office of HM Paymaster General

The Paymaster General was formerly in nominal charge (and at one time in actual charge) of the Office of HM Paymaster General (OPG), which held accounts at the Bank of England on behalf of government departments and selected other public bodies. Funds which were made available from the Consolidated Fund were then channelled into OPG accounts, from where they were used by the relevant body. OPG operated a full range of accounts and banking transaction services, including cheque and credit, BACS and CHAPS services for its customers via an electronic banking system. Integration of OPG accounts held with commercial banks was provided by the private company Xafinity Paymaster which is now part of the Equiniti group.

However, in 2008, the government announced that the Office of the Paymaster General would be incorporated into a new body, the Government Banking Service, which also provides banking operations for HM Revenue & Customs and National Savings and Investments. Following the Bank of England's decision to withdraw from providing retail banking services, retail banking and payment services for the GBS are provided by a range of financial institutions including Barclays, Citibank, NatWest, and Worldpay, although the Bank of England still plays a role in managing the government's higher level accounts.

List of paymasters general

19th century

• Sir Henry Parnell, Bt. 1836–1841
• Edward Stanley 1841
• Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bt. 1841–1845
• Bingham Baring 1845–1846
• Thomas Babington Macaulay 1846–1848
• Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville 1848–1852
• Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley 1852
• Charles Abbot, 2nd Baron Colchester 1852
• Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley 1853–1855
• Edward Pleydell-Bouverie 1855
• Robert Lowe 1855–1858
• Richard Hely-Hutchinson, 4th Earl of Donoughmore 1858–1859
• Algernon Percy, Lord Lovaine 1859
• James Wilson 1859
• William Cowper 1859–1860
• William Hutt 1860–1865
• George Goschen 1865–1866
• William Monsell 1866
• Stephen Cave 1866–1868
• Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Earl of Dufferin 1868–1872
• Hugh Childers 1872–1873
• William Adam 1873–1874
• Stephen Cave 1874–1880
• David Plunket 1880
• George Glyn, 2nd Baron Wolverton 1880–1885
• Frederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp 1885–1886
• Thomas Hovell-Thurlow-Cumming-Bruce, 5th Baron Thurlow 1886
• Frederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp 1886–1887
• Adelbert Brownlow-Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow 1887–1889
• Victor Child Villiers, 7th Earl of Jersey 1889–1890
• Robert Windsor-Clive, 14th Baron Windsor 1890–1892
• Charles Seale-Hayne 1892–1895
• John Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun 1895–1899
• Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough 1899–1902

20th century

• Savile Crossley 1902–1905
• Richard Causton (1st Baron Southwark after 13 July 1910) 1905–1910
• Ivor Guest, 1st Baron Ashby St Ledgers 1910–1912
• Edward Strachey, 1st Baron Strachie 1912–1915
• Thomas Legh, 2nd Baron Newton 1915–1916
• Arthur Henderson 1916
• Joseph Compton-Rickett 1916–1919
• Tudor Walters 1919–1922
• Office vacant 1922–1923
• Neville Chamberlain 1923
• William Joynson-Hicks 1923
• Archibald Boyd-Carpenter 1923–1924
• Harry Gosling 1924
• Office vacant 1924–1925
• George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 5th Duke of Sutherland 1925–1928
• Richard Onslow, 5th Earl of Onslow 1928–1929
• Sydney Arnold 1929–1931
• Office vacant 1931
• Tudor Walters 1931
• Ernest Lamb, 1st Baron Rochester 1931–1935
• Robert Hutchison, 1st Baron Hutchison of Montrose 1935–1938
• Geoffrey FitzClarence, 5th Earl of Munster 1938–1939
• Edward Turnour, 6th Earl Winterton 1939
• Office vacant 1939–1940
• Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Viscount Cranborne 1940
• Office vacant 1940–1941
• Maurice Hankey 1941–1942
• William Jowitt 1942
• Frederick Lindemann, 1st Baron Cherwell 1942–1945
• Office vacant 1945–1946
• Arthur Greenwood 9 July 1946 Lab
• Hilary Marquand 5 March 1947 Lab
• The Viscount Addison 2 July 1948 also Leader of the House of Lords Lab
• The Lord Macdonald of Gwaenysgor 1 April 1949 Lab

21st century

List of shadow paymasters general

References

References

1. Roper, Michael. (1998). "The Records of the War Office and Related Departments, 1660-1964". Public Record Office.
2. "Records of the Paymaster General's Office and predecessors".
3. (1935). "Office of the Paymaster-General". London County Council.
4. (22 May 2008). "Press Release: Angela Eagle launches the Government Banking Service". HM Treasury.
5. "Important changes to banking arrangements for the Insolvency Services Account". The [[Insolvency Service]].
6. "Government Banking". gov.uk.
7. "Government Banking Service". [[Department for Work and Pensions]].