Editing Board of Ordnance (section)

===Principal officers===
[[File:Richard Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian by William Salter.jpg|thumbnail|[[Richard Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian|Lord Vivian]] in uniform of Master-General of the Ordnance. The two senior officers of the Ordnance wore uniforms as for a general and lieutenant-general respectively, but of blue cloth with scarlet facings (rather than scarlet with blue).<ref>Confirmed 'by command of the Prince Regent', General Orders, July 1811.</ref>]]

By the mid-16th century the Master was assisted by five 'Principal Officers' who later went on to form the Board, which thus consisted of:

Two overseers:
*[[Master-General of the Ordnance|Master (later Master-General) of the Ordnance]] (head of the board and commander-in-chief of the corps)
*[[Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance|Lieutenant (later Lieutenant-General) of the Ordnance]] (deputy to the Master and second-in-command of the corps)
And four heads of department:
*[[Surveyor-General of the Ordnance|Surveyor (later Surveyor-General) of the Ordnance]] (in charge of quality)
*[[Clerk of the Ordnance]] (in charge of purchasing)
*[[Storekeeper of the Ordnance|Storekeeper (later Principal Storekeeper) of the Ordnance]] (in charge of storage)
*[[Clerk of the Deliveries of the Ordnance]] (in charge of issuing)

The offices of Master of the Ordnance and Clerk of the Ordnance may be said to date from 1414, when Letters Patent were issued on behalf of [[Henry V of England]] to 'Nicholas Merbury, Master of our Works, Engines, Cannons and other kinds of Ordnance for War, and to John Louth, Clerk of the same Works'<ref name=arrows /> (though it appears that these were appointments for service in the field of war rather than to a permanent position).<ref name=Tomlinson79 /> Merbury was present at the [[Siege of Harfleur]] and (albeit without his guns) at the [[Battle of Agincourt]].<ref>[http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mike.comerford/ORDNANCE/01.htm Part 01 – Arms of the Board of Ordnance<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080623233400/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mike.comerford/ORDNANCE/01.htm |date=2008-06-23 }}</ref> By 1450 Master of Ordnance was a permanent appointment, firmly based at the Tower of London.

The office of Yeoman of the Ordnance (established in 1430 to oversee both the storage of weapons and accoutrements and their delivery for use in the field) was abolished in 1543 and its duties were split between two new officers: the Storekeeper of the Ordnance and Clerk of the Deliveries.<ref name="Sharpe93">{{cite book |last1=Sharpe |first1=L. C. |title=The Field Train Department of the Board of Ordnance |date=1993 |publisher=Royal Logistics Corps Museum}}</ref> At the same time the office of Surveyor of the Ordnance was also established.

Until 1544 the Master had generally managed the day-to-day activities of the Ordnance Office. In that year, however, [[King Henry VIII]] appointed his brother-in-law [[Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley|Thomas Seymour]] as Master of the Ordnance, displacing the incumbent [[Christopher Morris (Master of the Ordnance)|Sir Christopher Morris]], who continued his previous work but with a new title: Lieutenant of the Ordnance. Thereafter the Lieutenant (or Lieutenant-General) had day-to-day oversight of the Board's activities, while Master (or Master-General) had more the role of a statesman and supervisor (albeit still with specific responsibilities to the Board and its work).<ref name=Tomlinson79 />

From the 17th century through till 1828 the Master-General routinely had a seat in [[Cabinet (United Kingdom)|Cabinet]], and thus served as ''de facto'' principal military adviser to the government. Some of the most illustrious soldiers of their generation served as Master-General: [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough|Marlborough]], [[William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan|Cadogan]], [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|Cornwallis]], [[Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings|Hastings]], [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Wellington]], [[Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge|Hardinge]].<ref name=arrows/>

While the offices of Master-General and Lieutenant-General were almost always filled by prominent soldiers, the Ordnance Office was a largely civilian organisation up until the formation of its Artillery and Engineer corps in the early 18th century. Prior to 1716, civilians were generally employed as gunners and engineers by the Board; Storekeepers and their subordinates were also civilians (and remained so through till the Board's demise in the 1850s) as were those engaged in manufacturing. Having established the [[Royal Artillery]] and [[Royal Engineers]], however, the Board had parallel oversight of both a Military and a Civil Establishment. The Master-General was head of both Establishments; on a practical level, the Lieutenant-General had day-to-day oversight of the military personnel and the Surveyor-General oversaw the civil departments.<ref name="Roper1998" />