Royal Naval dockyards

1. Introduction

Until its abolition in 1832, dockyards and naval establishments were the responsibility of the Navy Board, a body technically subordinate to the Admiralty, but distinct from it, and in large measure independent of it. Victualling yards and depots were in the same way answerable to the Victualling Board, and it in turn to the Navy Board and the Admiralty. The gunwharves, however, belonged to the Ordnance Board, an entirely independent body responsible only to the Master-General of Ordnance and the King. When the Ordnance Board was abolished in 1855, control of naval ordnance passed to the War Office and was not recovered by the Admiralty until 1909. This research guide deals with the personnel only of naval and victualling establishments, though it should be noted that there are in The National Archives some records of Ordnance employees, mainly among the Ordnance Office Registers (WO 54).

2. Organisation before 1832

Dockyards were entirely run by naval officers, civilian employees of the Navy Board, not sea officers. The senior official of each yard was the Commissioner, appointed by, and nominally a member of, the Navy Board. Under him were the Clerk of the Cheque and the Storekeeper who, with their clerks, were responsible for the financial and administrative business of the yard; the Master Shipwright, who with his colleagues, the Master Sailmaker, Anchorsmith, Rigger, Boatbuilder etc, was in charge of the building and repair work of the yard; the Master Attendants and the Boatswain, who supervised the yard craft, the ships afloat and 'in Ordinary', that is in reserve, and finally the Master Ropemaker who ran the Ropeyard. These senior officers, together with the clerks and foremen known as Inferior Officers, were salaried, and borne on the Ordinary vote, as were the established artificers and labourers of the yard; unestablished employees were borne on the Extraordinary vote.

Although all yard officers were naval and not sea officers, there was movement between the two services. The Commissioners and Masters Attendant were usually retired sea officers; dockyard shipwrights, having served their apprenticeship, often became carpenters in the Navy, and might return to be Master Shipwrights, and in the same way the other Master Tradesmen and the Boatswain were normally recruited from the Sea Service. The career of any man, therefore, especially one of the skilled men, the 'artificers' or 'tradesmen', may have to be traced in the records of both services.

The senior officers of a Victualling Yard were the Agent Victualler (in the larger establishments only), the Storekeeper or Naval Officer, and the Clerk of the Cheque.

In or around the dockyards might also be found the Transport Agents, Agents for Prisoners and Hospital Agents who represented the Transport Board and the Sick and Hurt Board, and each had their own clerks and labourers.

3. Records before 1832

The majority of yard musters and lists include salaried staff with other employees. The main class of records for the larger yards is the Yard Pay Books (ADM 42) and those for minor yards and establishments are the Ships' Pay Books, Ticket Office (ADM 32), and the Ships' Musters (ADM 36 and ADM 37). They are arranged by yard, and are included in the alphabetical summary appended to this research guide. The following should be noted in addition:

The main series of records of Victualling Yards, the Victualling Departments Registers (ADM 113) and Victualling Yards: Portsmouth and Gosport (ADM 224) are likewise arranged by yard, and are included in the appendix. Note also Victualling salaries 1805-22 (ADM 7/869, ADM 7/870, ADM 7/871).

4. Organisation after 1832

All yards and establishments in each port, excepting the gunwharves, were now amalgamated under a single authority, though the Victualling Yards continued to be practically distinct and independent. The senior officer of each yard was now the Superintendent, an Admiral or Captain-Superintendent according to the size of the yard, who was a serving sea officer and was often also the Port Admiral, that is the local flag officer. The duties of the Masters Attendant were distributed to the Captain of the Guardship, the local flagship which acted as barracks and headquarters, and a Captain of the Ordinary. When the introduction of steam engineering led to the building of 'Steam Factories' attached to the major yards, an Inspector of Steam Machinery and a Captain of the Steam Reserve joined the Admiral Superintendent's subordinates. Later the Steam Factories were integrated into the yards, and a Chief Constructor took the place of the Inspector of Steam Machinery and the Master Shipwright. Though many titles have since changed, the yards continue to be run by a mixed body of civilians and sea officers under the authority of the Admiral Superintendent.

5. Records after 1832

5.1 Salaries

The main series of records in Additional Pension Books (ADM 23) and Naval Establishment: Salaried Officers Civil Pensions (PMG 24) cover the periods 1834-1926 and 1836-1918 respectively. Information about Naval Store and Ordnance officers 1857-1914 can be found in Admiralty and Secretariat: Miscellanea (ADM 7) piece 917 and about Civil Appointments 1860-1870 in piece 920.

5.2 Wages

The main series of yard musters and lists noted above survive into the mid-nineteenth century (the exact dates are noted in the appendix to this research guide and in the class lists in The National Archives). Lists for later dates were destroyed under statute and the only later records surviving are pension registers in ADM 23 from 1830 to 1926, and in Naval Establishment: Artificers and Labourers Civil Pensions (PMG 25) from 1836 to 1928.

5.3 1892-1939

Some service records for dockyards personnel, 1892-1939, are held by The Directorate of Personnel Support (Navy), Navy Search, TNT Archive Services, Tetron Point, William Nadin Way, Swadlincote, Derbyshire DE11 0BB. Tel: 01283 227913 Fax: 01283227942

6. Dockyards and naval establishments, 1660-1857

7. Victualling yards and establishments, 1703-1868