helena murphy on 29 Mar 2003  •  Link

The Clerk of the Acts was officially responsible for the secretarial side of the Navy Board's work. Samuel Pepys was appointed to this post. He broadened his knowledge by studying the functions of his colleagues and the work of affiliated organisations like the Ordinance Board and the victuallers, untill his influence spread to cover the whole range of Navy Board business.

vincent on 25 Jun 2003  •  Link

CLERKE OF THE ACTS. read intro
http://www.pepysdiary.com/intro/p…
then
Particulars of the life of Samuel Pepys

then approx 1/4 the way down
CLERKE OF THE ACTS.

"...The clarke of the Navye’s duty depends principally upon rateing (by the Board’s approbation) of all bills and recording of them, and all orders, contracts & warrants, making up and casting of accompts, framing and writing answers to letters, orders, and commands from the Councell, Lord High Admirall, or Commissioners of the Admiralty, and he ought to be a very able accomptant, well versed in Navall affairs and all inferior officers dutyes..."

Pauline on 13 Jul 2003  •  Link

1660 Sam does the paperwork hoop jumping necessary for the job
Clerk of the Acts of the Navy Board
23 June *Montagu tells Sam he has a promise of the post for him
29 June *Sam receives a warrant for the post from the Duke of York
9 July *Sam draws up the bill for his appointment
10 July *Sam receives a warrant for the post from the Attorney General
11 July *Sam’s warrant turned into a bill, signed by the king
12 July *Sam’s bill is granted a Privy Seal writ for his patent
12-13 July *Sam finds a Chancery clerk to formally write out his patent
13 July *Sam takes the patent to Mr. Beale for a docket
13 July *Sam takes the patent to the Lord Chancellor to be sealed

Warrant-to-bill-to-patent path courtesy of Sara George in “The Journal of Mrs. Pepys.”

vincent on 10 Nov 2003  •  Link

Job description and no CV to qualify ?
The following description of the duty of the Clerk of the Acts shows the importance of the office, and the statement that if the clerk is not fitted to act as a commissioner he is a blockhead and unfit for his employment is particularly racy, and not quite the form of expression one would expect to find in an official document: "CLERKE OF THE ACTS. "The clarke of the Navye's duty depends principally upon rateing (by the Board's approbation) of all bills and recording of them, and all orders, contracts & warrants, making up and casting of accompts, framing and writing answers to letters, orders, and commands from the Councell, Lord High Admirall, or Commissioners of the Admiralty, and he ought to be a very able accomptant, well versed in Navall affairs and all inferior officers dutyes. "It hath been objected by some that the Clarke of the Acts ought to be subordinate to the rest of the Commissioners, and not to be joyned in equall power with them, although he was so constituted from the first institution, which hath been an opinion only of some to keep him at a distance, least he might be thought too forward if he had joynt power in discovering or argueing against that which peradventure private interest would have concealed; it is certaine no man sees more of the Navye's Transactions than himselfe, and possibly may speak as much to the project if required, or else he is a blockhead, and not fitt for that imployment. But why he should not make as able a Commissioner as a Shipp wright lett wise men judge." In Pepys's patent the salary is stated to be L33 6s. 8d., but this was only the ancient "fee out of the Exchequer," which had been attached to the office for more than a century. Pepys's salary had been previously fixed at L350 a-year. Neither of the two qualifications upon which particular stress is laid in the above Instructions was possessed by Pepys. He knew nothing about the navy, and so little of accounts that apparently he learned the multiplication table for the first time in July, 1661

Cumgranissalis on 17 Apr 2005  •  Link

more background: Clerk of the Acts
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/… of the Acts#s2

Cumgranissalis on 17 Apr 2005  •  Link

future problems and Scandals at:http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=27061&strquery=Clerk%20of%20the%20Acts

Cumgranissalis on 17 Apr 2005  •  Link

this will show that there be two Clerks to the Clerk of the Acts 1660
[that work for Sam ]; Hayter,T and Hewer but former be senior by 13 days, as Clerks to the Clerk of the Acts 1660
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

William Crosby on 19 Jun 2023  •  Link

The 2023 Pulitzer Prize went to a one-volume biography of founding FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover which as I write I am well-into reading. I am reminded of Pepys--the great ur-bureaucrat since Hoover's mastery wasn't necessarily action; but, strikingly akin to Pepys--a master of files and data. The up and coming young men who mastered the art of finding the file and from that position amassed great expertise and power.