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CIVIL LIST
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See also:CIVIL See also:LIST , the See also:English See also:term for the See also:account in which are contained all the expenses immediately applicable to the sup-See also:port of the See also:British See also:sovereign's See also:household and the See also:honour and dignity of the See also:crown. An See also:annual sum is settled by the British See also:parliament at the beginning of the reign on the sovereign, and is charged on the consolidated fund. But it is only from the reign of See also: The parliament of William and Mary fixed the revenue of the crown in time of peace at £1,200,000 per annum; of this sum about £700,000 was appropriated towards the " civil list." But from this the sovereign was to defray the expenses of the civil service and the See also:payment of See also:pensions, as well as the cost of the support of the royal household and his own personal expenses. It was from this that the term " civil list arose; to distinguish it from the statement of military and See also:naval charges. The revenue voted to meet the civil list consisted of the hereditary revenues of the crown and a See also:part of the See also:excise duties. Certain changes and additions were made in the See also:sources of revenue thus appropriated between the reign of William and Mary and the accession of See also:George III., when a different system was adopted. Generally speaking, however, the sources of revenue remainedas settled at the Revolution.
See also:Anne had the same civil list, estimated to produce an annual income of £70o,000. During her reign a See also:debt of £1,200,000 was incurred. This debt was paid by parliament and Anne, charged on the civil list itself. George I. enjoyed the George/ same revenue by See also:parliamentary See also: Thus in 1746 a debt of £456,00o was paid by parliament on the civil list, On the accession of George III. a See also:change was made in the system of the civil list. Hitherto the sources of revenue appropriated to the service of the civil list had been settled on the crown. If these revenues exceeded the sum they Clearge'tl1 were computed to produce annually, the surplus went to the king.. George III., however, surrendered the life-See also:interest in the hereditary revenues and the excise duties hitherto voted to defray the civil list expenditure, and any claim to a surplus for a fixed amount.' The king still retained other large sources of revenue which were not included in the civil list, and were See also:free from the control of parliament. The revenues from which the civil list had been defrayed were henceforward to be carried into, and made part of, the aggregate fund. In their See also:place a fixed civil list was granted—at first of £723,00o per annum, to be increased to £800,00o on the falling in of certain annuities to members of the royal See also:family. From this £800,000 the king's household and the honour and dignity of the crown were to be supported, as well as the civil service offices, pensions and other charges still laid on the list. During the reign of George III. the civil list played an import- See also:ant part in the history of the struggle on the part of the king to establish the royal ascendancy. From the revenue appropri- ated to its service came a large portion of the See also:money employed by the king in creating places and pensions for his supporters in parliament, and, under the See also:colour of the royal See also:bounty, See also:bribery was practised on a large See also:scale. No limit was set to the amount applicable to the pensions charged on the civil list, so See also:long as the sum granted could meet the demand; and there was no principle on which the grant was regulated. See also:Secret pensions at the king's See also:pleasure were paid out of it, and in every way the See also:independence of parliament was menaced; and though the more legitimate expenses of the royal household were diminished by the king's penurious See also:style of living, and though many charges not directly connected with the king's personal expenditure were removed, the amount was constantly exceeded, and applications were made from time to time to parliament to pay off debts incurred; and thus opportunity was given for See also:criticism. In 1769 a debt of £513,511 was paid off in arrears; and in spite of the demand for accounts and for an inquiry into the cause of the debt, the See also:ministry succeeded in securing this See also:vote without indebted- granting such See also:information. All attempts to investigate See also:Hess of tvuttst the civil list were successfully resisted, though See also:Lord See also:Chatham went so far as to declare himself convinced that the funds were expended in corrupting members of parliament. Again, in 1777, an application was made to parliament to pay off £618,340 of debts; and in view of the growing discontent Lord See also:North no longer dared to withhold accounts. Yet, in spite of strong opposition and free criticism, not only was the amount voted, but also a further £Ioo,000 per annum, thus raising the civil list to an annual sum of £900,000. In 1779, at a time when the expenditure of the country and the See also:national debt had been enormously increased by the See also:American See also:War, the See also:general dissatisfaction found See also:voice in parliament, and the abuses of the civil list were specially singled out for attack. Many petitions were presented to the See also:House of See also:Commons praying for its reduction, and a See also:motion was made in the House of Lords in the same sense, though it was rejected. In 1780 See also:Burke brought forward his See also:scheme of economic reform, but his name was already associated with the growing See also:desire to remedy the evils of the civil list by the publication in 1769 of his pamphlet on " The Causes of the See also:Present Discontent." In this scheme Burke freely animadverts on the profusion and abuse of the civil list, criticizing the useless and obsolete offices and the offices performed by See also:deputy. In every See also:department he discovers jobbery, See also:waste and peculation. His proposal was that the many offices should be reduced and consolidated, that the See also:pension list should be brought down to a fixed sum of £60,000 per annum, and that pensions should be conferred only to See also:reward merit or fulfil real public charity. All pensions were to be paid at the See also:exchequer. He proposed also that the civil list should be divided into classes, an arrangement which later was carried into effect. In t 78o Burke succeeded in bringing in his Establishment See also:Bill; but though at first it met with considerable support, and was even read a second time, Lord North's government defeated it in See also:committee. The next See also:year the bill was again introduced into the House of Commons, and See also:Pitt made his first speech in its favour. The bill was, however, lost on the second See also:reading. In 1782 the See also:Rockingham ministry, pledged to economicreform, came into See also:power; and the Civil List See also:Act 1782 was introduced and carried with the See also:express See also:object of limiting the patronage and See also:influence of ministers, or, in other cm/ Gist words, the ascendancy of the crown over parliament. as 1782. Not only did the act effect the abolition of a number of useless offices, but it also imposed restraints on the issue of secret service money, and made See also:provision for a more effectual supervision of the royal expenditure. As to the pension list, the annual amount was to be limited to £95,000; no pension to any one See also:person was to exceed £1200, and all pensions were to be paid at the exchequer, thus putting a stop to the secret pensions payable during pleasure. Moreover, pensions were only to be bestowed in the way of royal bounty for persons in See also:distress or as a reward for merit. Another very important change was made by this act: the civil list was divided into classes, and a fixed amount was to be appropriated to each class. The following were the classes: Pensions and allowances of the royal family. Payment of salaries of lord See also:chancellor, See also:speaker and See also:judges. Salaries of ministers to See also:foreign courts See also:resident at the same. Approved bills of tradesmen, artificers and labourers for any See also:article supplied and See also:work done for His See also:Majesty's service. See also:Menial servants of the household. Pension list. Salaries of all other places payable out of the civil list revenues. Salaries and pensions of treasurer or commissioners of the See also:treasury and of the chancellor of the exchequer. Yet debt was still the See also:condition of the civil list down to the end of the reign, in spite of the reforms established by the Rockingham ministry, and notwithstanding the removal from the list of many charges unconnected with the king's personal expenses. The debts discharged by parliament between 1782, the date of the passing of the Civil List Act, and the end of George III.'s reign, amounted to £2,300,000. In all, during his reign £3,398,061 of debt owing by the civil list was paid off. With the regency the civil list was increased by £70,000 per annum, and a See also:special grant of £100,000 was settled on the See also:prince See also:regent. In 1816 the annual amount was settled at £1,083,727, including the establishment of the king, now insane; though the civil list was relieved from some annuities payable to the royal family. Nevertheless, the fund still continued charged with such civil expenses as the salaries of judges, ambassadors and See also:officers of state, and with pensions granted for public services. Other reforms were made as regards the See also:definition of the several classes of expenditure, while the expenses of the royal household were henceforth to be audited by a treasury official—the auditor of the civil list. On the accession of George IV. the civil list, freed from the expenses of the See also:late king, was settled at £845,727. On William IV. coming to the See also:throne a sum of £Sro,000 per annum was fixed for the service of the civil list. The king at the same time surrendered all the sources of revenue enjoyed by his predecessors, apart from the civil list, represented by the hereditary revenues of Scotland—the Irish civil list, the droits of the crown and See also:admiralty, the 4 % duties, the See also:West See also:India duties, and other casual revenues hitherto vested in the crown, and independent of parliament. The revenues of the duchy of See also:Lancaster were still retained by the crown. In return for this surrender and the diminished sum voted, the civil list was relieved from all the charges relating rather to the civil government than to the support of the dignity of the crown and the royal household. The future expenditure was divided into five classes, and a fixed annual sum was appropriated to each class. The pension list was reduced to £75,000. The king resisted an See also:attempt on the part of the select committee to reduce the salaries of the officers of state on the grounds that this touched his See also:prerogative, and the ministry of See also:Earl See also:Grey yielded to his remonstrance. The civil list of See also:Queen See also:Victoria was settled on the same principles as that of William IV. A considerable reduction was made in the aggregate annual sum voted, vctoe°$,8 from £510,000 to £385,000, and the pension list was civtt/ist separated from the ordinary civil list. The civil list proper was divided into the following five classes, with a fixed sum appropriated to each: I. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7• 8. Privy purse . £60,000 Salaries of household . 131,260 Expenses of household . 172,500 Royal bounty, &c.. 13,200 Unappropriated . 8,040 In addition the queen might, on the See also:advice of her ministers, grant pensions up to £1200 per annum, in accordance with a See also:resolution of the House of Commons of See also:February 18th, 1834, " to such persons as have just claims on the royal beneficence or who, by their personal services to the crown, by the performance of duties to the public, or by their useful discoveries in See also:science and attainments in literature and See also:art, have merited the gracious See also:consideration of the sovereign and the gratitude of their country." The service of these pensions increased the annual sum devoted to support the dignity of the crown and the expenses of the household to about £409,000. The list of pensions must be laid before parliament within See also:thirty days of loth See also:June. Thus the civil list was reduced in amount, and relieved from the very charges which gave it its name as distinct from the statement of military and naval charges. It now really only dealt with the support of the dignity and honour of the crown and the royal household. The arrangement was most successful, and during the last three reigns there was no application to parliament for the See also:discharge of debts incurred on the civil list. The See also:death of Queen Victoria rendered it necessary that a renewed provision should be made for the civil list; and King Civil List See also:Edward VII., following former precedents, placed Act 1901. unreservedly at the disposal of parliament his heredi- tary revenues. A select committee of the House of Commons was appointed to consider the provisions of the civil list for the crown, and to See also:report also on the question of grants for the See also:honourable support and See also:maintenance of Her Majesty the Queen and the members of the royal family. The committee in their conclusions were guided to a considerable extent by the actual civil list expenditure during the last ten years of the last reign, and made certain recommendations which, without undue interference with the sovereign's personal arrangements, tended towards increased efficiency and See also:economy in the support of the sovereign's household and the honour and dignity of the crown. On their report was based the Civil List Act 1901, which established the new civil list. The system that the hereditary revenues should as before be paid into the exchequer and be part of the consolidated fund was maintained. The amount payable for the civil list was increased from £385,000 to £470,000. In the application of this sum the number of classes of expenditure to which See also:separate amounts were to be appropriated was increased from five to six. The following was the new arrangement of classes:—1st class, Their Majesties' privy purse, £110,000; and class, salaries of His Majesty's household and retired allowances, £125,800; 3rd class, expenses of His Majesty's household, £193,000; 4th class, See also:works (the interior repair and decoration of See also:Buckingham See also:Palace and See also:Windsor See also:Castle), £20,000; 5th class, royal bounty, See also:alms and special services, £13,200; 6th class, unappropriated, £8000. The system relating to civil list pensions, established by the Civil List Act 1837, continued to apply, but the pensions were not regarded as chargeable on the sum paid for the civil list. The committee also advised that the mastership of the Buckhounds should not be continued; and the king, on the advice of his ministers, agreed to accept their recommendation. The maintenance of the royal See also:hunt thus ceased to be a See also:charge on the civil list. The annuities of £20,000 to the prince of See also:Wales, of £10,000 to the princess of Wales, and of £18,000 to His Majesty's three daughters, were not included in the civil list, though they were conferred by the same act. Other grants made by special acts of parliament to members of the royal family were also excluded from it; these were £6000 to the princess See also:Christian of See also:Schleswig-See also:Holstein, £6000 to the princess See also:Louise (duchess of See also:Argyll), £25,000 to the See also:duke of See also:Connaught, £6000 to the duchess of See also:Albany, £6000 to the princess See also:Beatrice (See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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