The Surveyor-General of the Ordnance was a subordinate of the Master-General of the Ordnance and a member of the Board of Ordnance, a British government body, from its constitution in 1597. Appointments to the post were made by the crown under Letters Patent. His duties were to examine the ordnance received to see that it was of good quality. He also came to be responsible for the mapping of fortifications and eventually the whole of all Great Britain, through the Ordnance Survey, and it is this role that is generally associated with surveyor-generalship.
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History
The post was for a time held with that of Chief Engineer, but after 1750 became a political office, with the holder changing with the government of the day.
The office was vacant at the time the Board of Ordnance was abolished in 1855, the last holder, Lauderdale Maule, having died of cholera on assignment with forces in Crimea, on August 1, 1854.
The War Office Act 1870 revived the office, making the Surveyor-General the senior civilian adviser to the Secretary of State for War, responsible for all aspects of Army logistics. The position was expected to advise on highly complex matters of supply, transport, equipment and ordnance, and was meant to be a former senior military officer who could answer questions to Parliament and exercise strict control over expenditures on supplies and stores. The Surveyor-General was meant to oversee the Director of Artillery and Stores, the Director of Supplies and Transport, the Director of Clothing, the Director of Contracts and the Inspector-General of Fortifications, as well as the controllers in each military district responsible to their respective major-generals.
The office was filled until 1888, when it was abolished.
Surveyors-General of the Ordnance
5 February 1538: Henry Johnson
23 January 1549: Anthony Anthony
25 June 1565: Henry Iden
2 December 1568: Thomas Pynner
10 April 1570: vacant
13 April 1570: William Jurden
21 June 1595: William Partridge
21 June 1598: vacant
3 February 1599: John Davies (knighted 12 July 1599)
17 July 1602: John Linewray (knighted 10 July 1604)
11 June 1606: Joseph Earth
5 September 1609: Sir John Kaye
1 May 1624: Richard Kaye
28 November 1624: vacant
27 September 1625: Sir Alexander Brett
29 October 1627: vacant
3 December 1627: Sir Thomas Bludder
8 April 1628: Sir Paul Harris (succeeded as 2nd Baronet January 1629)
Interregnum; post occupied by:
George Payler, March 1643 to December 1658
Elia Palmer, in 1660