Cofferer of the Household

{{Short description|Former office in the English and British Royal Household}}

File:Henry Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, 2nd Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne by William Hoare.jpg served Cofferer of the Household between 1747 and 1754.]]

The cofferer of the Household was formerly an office in the English and British Royal Household. Next in rank to the Comptroller, the holder paid the wages of some of the servants above and below stairs, was a member of the Board of Green Cloth, and sat with the Lord Steward in the Court of the Verge.{{cite book|title=The Present State of the British Court, or, an Account of the Civil and Military Establishment of England |year=1720 |page=7 |publisher=printed for A. Bell. W. Taylor; and J. Osborn |location=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VXgEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA7}}{{cite book | last=Rogers | first=R. | title=Who Goes Home: A Parliamentary Miscellany | publisher=Biteback Publishing | year=2012 | isbn=978-1-84954-480-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DPmtAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT33 | access-date=30 April 2019 | pages=33–34 | quote=The Board of Green Cloth audited the accounts of the Royal Household and sat as a court on offences committed on ... for premises controlled by the Royal Palaces, and did not finally disappear until 2004, following the Licensing Act 2004.}} The cofferer was usually of political rank and always a member of the Privy Council.{{cite book |last=Haydn |first=Joseph |title=The Book of Dignities |year=1851 |publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans |location=London |pages=213–214 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=buoKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA213 |ol=7005826M}}

The office dates from the 13th century, when it was known as Cofferer of the Wardrobe. The Keeper of the Wardrobe was at this time increasingly occupied with matters of state, and so his chief clerk gradually took on additional responsibilities for accounting and bookkeeping, and came to be referred to as the Cofferer. As such, he became in effect the working head of the Wardrobe, and acted when required as locum tenens to the Keeper. The Cofferer had his own staff of clerks, who later came to be known as the Clerks of the Green Cloth (after the green cloth covering of the table in the accounting office).{{cite book |last1=Tout |first1=T. F. |title=Chapters in the administrative history of mediaeval England: the wardrobe, the chamber, and the small seals (Volume II) |date=1920 |publisher=Manchester University Press |pages=39–41 |url=https://archive.org/details/chaptersinadmin02tout/page/40/mode/2up? |access-date=22 July 2024}}

By the end of the 14th century the Wardrobe had ceased to be an independent office of influence at Court; its officers were made subsidiary to the Lord Steward and duly re-designated as being 'of the Household' (rather than 'of the Wardrobe').{{cite book |last1=Tout |first1=T. F. |title=Chapters in the administrative history of mediaeval England: the wardrobe, the chamber, and the small seals (Volume IV) |date=1928 |publisher=Manchester University Press |pages=160–161 |url=https://archive.org/details/chaptersinadmini0004tout/page/160/mode/2up? |access-date=22 July 2024}} The Cofferer retained his role as principal accounting officer under the Lord Steward.{{cite book |title=Guide to the Contents of the Public Record Office (volume II) |date=1963 |publisher=H. M. Stationery Office |location=London |page=211}}

The office of Cofferer was abolished by the Civil List and Secret Service Money Act 1782.{{cite web |first=Robert |last=Bucholz |title=Household Below Stairs: Cofferer of the Household 1660 |year=1782 |url=http://www.luc.edu/history/fac_resources/bucholz/DCO/Database-Files/HOUSEBS1.list.pdf |website=Database of Court Officers | publisher=Department of History, Loyola University of Chicago |pages=4–5 |access-date=24 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090314103345/http://www.luc.edu/history/fac_resources/bucholz/DCO/Database-Files/HOUSEBS1.list.pdf |archive-date=14 March 2009}} By the same means 'provision was made for more economical methods of keeping the accounts of Civil List expenditure under the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury': thenceforward the accounts of the Lord Steward's Department were included in the Estimates.