Clerks and Paperwork

The King or Queen’s Clerk registered the papers which passed between the Treasury and the Mint. The Warden and Comptroller, with the help of their clerks, worked alongside the King or Queen’s Clerk and the Clerk of the Papers to keep ledgers of all bullion of gold and silver, its weight, fineness and value, who brought it in and on what day. They also kept records of the number, assay, gross weight and computed (standard) weight of other metals such as tin and copper, along with the prices to be paid to merchants who delivered it. These clerks created both fair copies and receipts, which were countersigned by the parties to whom the receipts are given.

The Assaymaster’s Clerk kept a book of the quality and fineness of the bullion which ‘may appeare with the report also of the assay of every several pot commonly called the Pott assay.’[1] Newton noted that ‘when the Importer & Master disagree about the price of bullion the Assaymaster in the presence of the Warden Master & Controller assays the same & the Master then receives it & stands charged with it according to the report of the Assaymaster who is a sworn officer.’[2] The Clerk of Irons kept accounts of all the blank and engraved dies delivered to the engravers, to attend the sinking of the dies, and ‘when they are worn out [he] sees them defaced in the presence of the Warden Master & Controller. He now keeps an account of all the Dyes that are sunck & for that end has one of the keys to the great Press & to the box of Puncheons.’[3] There were also clerks for the Purveyor to the Mint, the Weigher and Teller, and the Surveyor of the Meltings [who was occasionally the same person as the Clerk of Irons].[4] These were all ‘standing Officers with set salaries to cheque the Moneyers & Workers’, who ultimately came under the Master Worker’s control, and his Clerks entered the accounts of their work in ‘Day-books, Leger-books, Melting books, Pott-books & Books of Debtor & Creditor.’[5]

The Warden and Master’s accounts were declared (read allowed) on oath ‘by the vouchers aforesaid & by a Controllment Roll.’[6] An example of a ‘Comptrolment Roll’ is this detailed table of the amount of gold and silver coined in London and (where relevant) the country mints each year from 1659 to 1700.[7] The accounts of the Warden and Master were examined annually by two Auditors for a substantial fee.[8]

All the Tower clerks had dwelling houses assigned to them ‘for the better security of the Mint, & dispatch of business’, and during this period Newton had to fight the board of Ordnance who were seeking to find houses for their own clerks.[9] Clerks were sometimes involved in heavy lifting or manual work, as when Thomas Pendleton was paid for ‘going up to the Exchequer [in a carriage with the Purveyor of the Mint, Richard Bullock] and Loading fourty three Loads.’ He made this trip a number of times.[10]

During his time as Warden and Master, Newton oversaw a refinement of the administrative processes of the Mint, investing in clerks, and improving accountability through rigorous record-keeping. Throughout the period of Newton’s involvement in the Mint, there were demands for an increase in the clerks’ salary – they had to wait, however, for the old buildings of the Mint to be repaired as they were ‘ready to fall.’[11] When he did eventually seek to improve their salary, Newton stated that the clerk’s attendance at the Mint was ‘incompatible with any other business; and there being to our certain knowledge, great diligence & care required of them & no manner of profits or perquisites besides the bare salaries.’[12] They were, by virtue of their position as Mint clerks, exempt from civic duties and taxation.[13]

The number of clerks and their various responsibilities expanded massively during Newton’s employment, partly due to the Recoinage: ‘That the Business of his Majestys Mint by the Late extraordinary Coinage... hath been greatly encreased to the filling up almost 20 Journalls in Large Folio, which will require Severall Yeares Constant attendance from Your Petitioners to transcribe into Leigers Melting Books &c. over & above the usuall Business in the office.’[14] Hopton Haynes, on the strength of his former role as King’s Chief Clerk, was engaged to ‘serve the public on that extraordinary occasion’ by examining the books and accounts of the Tower and country mints.[15] To maintain accuracy, it was important that each of the Mints kept records in the same way. In May 1696, the Lords of the Treasury, ‘to quiet... the minds of the people’ ordered the officers and clerks of the Tower to instruct those of the country mints.[16] In December 1698, however, the Officers of the Tower Mint were forced to ask for permission to submit the accounts of the country mints en bloc, without annual division, ‘by reason they are so entangled one year with another, that it is not possible to distinguish them.’[17]

In 1707, Newton wrote to Godolphin of his shock that there was only one clerk at the Edinburgh Mint: ‘for want of more Clerks errors are sometimes committed & the silver not rightly standarded, that their assaying & rating & standarding & way of book-keeping differs from ours & must be set right.’[18] Three other clerks were appointed, and each were ‘well instructed in the methods of rateing and standarding and the forms of book keeping used in the Mint of the Tour [sic], By the Clerk sent by Her Majestie for this purpose.’[19] As far as Newton was concerned, the more clerks, the better: ‘Let the ablest of yor Clerks be imployed in consulting & comparing yor books & computing what is necessary out of them, but trust not the computation of a single Clerk nor any other eyes than your own.’

Newton positioned himself at the centre of a network of record-keeping, acting as the ultimate arbiter at the Mint, tasked with representing these accounts to the Treasury and, upon occasion, to Parliament: ‘And let the inclosed or a fair copy thereof filled up & signed by the Officers be sent back in a week or 10 days after the receipt hereof or sooner if you can. And if there remain any blanks wch you cannot fill up in that time, you may keep a copy of the Paper you send me, to be filled up more completely afterwards & sent to me as soon as you have finished it. I have sent the same Papers to all the Mint that yor Accompts may be conformable to one another & thereby the better fitted for the view of the Lords & put in a method for Auditing.’[20]