Commissioners for Examining Public Accounts

Manuscript volume containing minutes of the proceedings of the Commissioners for Examining Public Accounts, 30 Mar-14 Aug 1703. The manuscript is volume four of a series, and has an index at the end.

The earliest surviving mention of a public official charged with auditing government expenditure is a reference to the Auditor of the Exchequer in 1314. The Auditors of the Imprest were established under Queen Elizabeth I in 1559 with formal responsibility for auditing Exchequer payments. This system gradually lapsed and in 1780, Commissioners for Auditing the Public Accounts were appointed by statute. From 1834, the Commissioners worked in tandem with the Comptroller of the Exchequer, who was charged with controlling the issue of funds to the government.

Single item.

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Part of the Goldsmith's Library of Economic Literature, initially collected by Herbert Somerton Foxwell and presented by the Goldsmith's Company to the University of London in 1903.

Collection level description.

Manuscript folio. Bound in quarter-morocco.

Compiled by Sarah Smith as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project.

The House of Lords Record Office, London, holds papers of the Commissioners of Accounts, including reports and statements, 1669-1785.

Copies may be made, subject to the condition of the original. Copying must be undertaken by the Palaeography Room staff, who will need a minimum of 24 hours to process requests.

The manuscript was part of the library of Thomas Carew of Crowcombe Court (d 1766). It was bought by Herbert Somerton Foxwell in 1903.