Talk:Paymaster of the Forces

WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Tag & Assess 2008

Article reassessed and graded as start class. --dashiellx (talk) 18:25, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Pasted from Edmund Burke article

The fall of North led to Rockingham being recalled to power in March 1782. Burke became Paymaster of the Forces and a Privy Councillor, but without a seat in the Cabinet. Rockingham's unexpected death in July of 1782 and his replacement as Prime Minister by Shelburne put an end to his administration after only a few months. However Burke did manage to pass two Acts. The Paymaster General Act 1782 ended the post as a lucrative sinecure. Previously, Paymasters had been able to draw on money from the Treasury at their discretion. Now they were to put the money they had requested to withdraw from the Treasury into the Bank of England, from where it was to be withdrawn for specific purposes. The Treasury would receive monthly statements of the Paymaster's balance at the Bank. This Act was repealed by Shelburne's administration but the Act that replaced it repeated verbatim almost the whole text of Burke's Act. The Civil List and Secret Service Money Act 1782 was a watered down version of Burke's original intentions as outlined in his famous Speech on Economical Reform of 11 February 1780. However he managed to abolish 134 offices in the royal household and civil administration. The third Secretary of State and the Board of Trade were abolished and pensions were limited and regulated. The Act was projected to save £72,368 a year. In February 1783 Burke resumed the post of Paymaster of the Forces when Shelburne's government fell and was replaced by a coalition headed by North and including Charles James Fox. The coalition fell in 1783, and was succeeded by the long Tory administration of William Pitt the Younger, which lasted until 1801. Burke was accordingly in opposition for the remainder of his political life.

• Jim McCue, Edmund Burke and Our Present Discontents (The Claridge Press, 1997).
• F. P. Lock, Edmund Burke. Volume I: 1730–1784 (Clarendon Press, 1999).

It's actually Paymaster General of the forces

Here's the Gazette for Robert Walpole's appointment in 1720:

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/5859/page/4

I know you're trying to stop confusion with the post of Paymaster General created c.1838 by merging several posts, including this one, but wiki should correct this error. It means that pages of holders such as Walpole will need to be changed as well.

Many other sources have Walpole listed as Paymaster General [full stop] eg, the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/walpole_robert.shtml

Anyone have any ideas how we should proceed?

Ganpati23 (talk) 20:42, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Paymaster of the Forces {4th line} is bold, not linked.

I don't know why. All the other links I've added in the {} brackets after the 2nd sentence have linked properly. As you'll see, I've used double square brackets in every case. Why is it bold, not linked, and how can this be corrected.

Also, as I say in another talk section, should this page be changed to the correct title - Paymaster-General of His Majesty's Forces?

And should the pages of all holders, such as Walpole, be similarly changed?

Ganpati23 (talk) 20:57, 24 January 2016 (UTC)