Wikipedia

Record Commission

Not to be confused withRoyal Commission on Historical Manuscripts.

TheRecord Commissionswere a series of sixRoyal CommissionsofGreat Britainand (from 1801) theUnited Kingdomwhich sat between 1800 and 1837 to inquire into the custody and public accessibility of the statearchives.The Commissioners' work paved the way for the establishment of thePublic Record Officein 1838. The Commissioners were also responsible for publishing various historical records, including theStatutes of the Realm(i.e. of England andGreat Britain) to 1714 and theActs of Parliament of Scotlandto 1707, as well as a number of important medieval records.

Although the six Commissions were technically distinct from one another, there was a considerable degree of continuity between them, and it is common practice to regard them as a single entity and to refer to them in singular form as theRecord Commission.

Background

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Public record keeping had a long tradition in theUnited Kingdom,the requirement for accessibility to the public present in some of the earliestRolls of Parliament.[1]Queen Elizabeth Iinstituted an inquiry into theparliamentary,chanceryandexchequerrolls and sought the recovery of dispersed charters,[2]andKing James Iestablished aState Paper OfficeandOffice of General Remembrance of Matters of Record.[1]

In 1604, theHouse of Commonsmoved for a special record repository and in 1620 theHouse of Lordsappointed a committee to search for records.[3]Soon after,King Charles Iestablished a commission for searching after all records belonging to the crown.[3]These efforts were thwarted by theEnglish Civil War,although during theRestorationKing Charles IIestablished theOffice for State Papersand reformed the Treasuries of theCommon Courts.[1]

Queen Anneauthorised the publication of theCompilation of State Papers and Records,also known asRymer's Foedera,published in 20 volumes between 1704 and 1735, as well theInquiry into the State of our Domestic Records,led byLord HalifaxandLord Somers.[1]In 1704, the Lords referred the question of the nature and condition of parliamentary records to a committee, which led to improvements in the storage of records, especially in theJewel Towerof thePalace of Westminster.[3]In April 1725, theHouse of Lordsappointed a committee to view the parliamentary records and inspect others lying in disorder in the palace.[3]

Following the 1731 Fire ofCotton Library,theHouse of Commonsinstigated an inquiry into public record keeping.[1]The committee received 18 returns from repositories, leading to the publication of theTable of the Records of the Kingdomon 9 May 1732.[1][3]

In 1772, theHouse of Commonsappointed a committee to investigate the state of records in theRolls Chapel,which found that records were damaged by age, damp, heat and transportation.[3]The work of the committee led to the establishment of clerk of the Rolls Chappel records in 1784.[3]

By 1800, it was widely recognised that public record keeping was poor, with records disparate, undescribed and kept in bad conditions.[4]It had been 70-years since any parliamentary proceedings on public record keeping, during which time the volume of records had greatly increased.[1]Furthermore, no parliamentary inquiry had extended to courts (maritime or ecclesiastical), cathedrals, universities, bespoke collections (including the Royal,SlonianandHarleiancollections), theBritish Museumor any public repositories inScotland.[1]

TheParliament of the United Kingdom,formed in 1800, following theActs of Union 1800devoted much attention to the consolidation of public records.[5]On 18 February 1800, theSelect Committee on the State of Public Recordswas appointed to inquire into the state of public records inEngland,ScotlandandIreland.[6]

The committee reported on 4 July 1800.[6]On 11 July 1800, the report was read a second time and theHouse of Commonsresolved to present ahumble addresstoKing George IIIto execute the report's recommendations.[6]A Committee was appointed to draw up the address, consisting ofCharles Abbot,Lord Viscount Belgrave,William Douglas,Charles Yorke,Charles Perceval, 2nd Baron Arden,John Smyth,John Eliot,George Rose,Sir John William Anderson,William Baker (1743–1824),George Manners-SuttonandCharles Bragge,which was reported and agreed to by theHouse of Commonsthe same day.[6]The Commons reported that while some public records were well preserved and organised, many important records were poorly arranged, undescribed, exposed to erasure, alteration or embezzlement, stored in damp conditions and at risk of fire. The address noted that it was approximately 70 years since the last parliamentary inquiry on the subject, during which changes in language and the increased complexity of proceedings had made it more difficult to organise and use records effectively. The Commons requested the Sovereign to issue directions for better preservation and organisation of public records and approve extraordinary expenses necessary for the undertaking. The address was confirmed as being presented to His Majesty on 17 July 1800.[6]

Following the report of the committee andhumble addressto the Sovereign from theHouse of Commons,the first Record Commission was established.[7]

Activities

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Extract from thePatent Rollfor3John(1201–2), as published by the Record Commission in 1835 usingrecord type

The first Commission was established on 19 July 1800, on the recommendation of theSelect Committee on the State of Public Recordsappointed earlier in the year, on the initiative and under the chairmanship ofCharles Abbot,MPforHelston,"to inquire into the State of the Public Records of this kingdom".[8]The public records were at this time housed in a variety of repositories, including theTower of London,thechapter houseofWestminster Abbey,thePell Officeadjacent toWestminster Hall,Somerset House,and elsewhere, often in a disorganised state and in highly unsuitable physical conditions. The idea of a single central repository was mooted as early as 1800, and became the subject of an abortive parliamentarybillin 1833, but it was to be some years before this was achieved: in the meantime, the Commissioners arranged for various moves of individual classes of records into new accommodation. These moves were well-intentioned and sometimes led to improvements in storage and arrangement, but more often resulted in the loss and further disorganisation of records.[9][10]

The Commission (in particular the sixth Commission, which sat from 1831 to 1837) gained a reputation for inactivity, corruption,jobbery,and for including among its members too many persons in high office with other demands on their time. Some of these criticisms came from external observers, such as SirHarris Nicolas;others were made by the Commission's own salaried employees, notablyHenry Cole,and to a lesser extentThomas Duffus Hardy.[11][12]AParliamentary committee,appointed to inquire into its work, reported in 1836 that the national archives remained scattered in a number of unsuitable locations, and in the custody of "a multitude of imperfectly responsible keepers".[13]Out of these controversies emerged thePublic Record Office Act 1838,which established thePublic Record Officein that same year.[14]

The Commissioners' second objective was to make the records more accessible through the compilation offinding aids(indexesandcalendars), and where possible the publication of these, as well as the publication of full texts of selected records of particular importance. The sixth Commission employed four sub-Commissioners (Joseph Hunter,Francis Palgrave,Joseph Stevenson,and for a timeJohn Caley), as well as otherad hoceditors and a number of clerks, specifically on the task of editing records for publication.[15]Most of the Commission's publications used a "record type"typeface, designed to present the text in a near-facsimileof the manuscript originals. The publications programme was generally considered a success, and many of the Commission's editions remain in current scholarly use. In other cases, however, the absence of a permanent arrangement to the records rapidly rendered the compilation of finding aids redundant.[16]

Publications

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The Commissions' publications included:

See also

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References

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  1. ^abcdefghReports from Committees of the House of Commons: Repr. by Order of the House.House of Commons. 1800.
  2. ^Mullett, Charles F. (1964)."The" Better Reception, Preservation, and More Convenient Use "of Public Records in Eighteenth-Century England".The American Archivist.27(2): 195–217.doi:10.17723/aarc.27.2.c823476506851642.ISSN0360-9081.JSTOR40290358.
  3. ^abcdefgMullett, Charles F. (1964)."The" Better Reception, Preservation, and More Convenient Use "of Public Records in Eighteenth-Century England".The American Archivist.27(2): 195–217.doi:10.17723/aarc.27.2.c823476506851642.ISSN0360-9081.JSTOR40290358.
  4. ^Archives, The National (8 October 2010)."The National Archives - A history of the Public Record Office | The National Archives".Archives Media Player.Retrieved13 November2024.
  5. ^Ilbert, Courtenay(1901).Legislative methods and forms.Oxford:Clarendon Press.p. 57.Retrieved9 September2024.This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
  6. ^abcdeCommons, Great Britain House of (1799).Journals of the House of Commons.H.M. Stationery Office. pp. 201, 215, 410, 411, 701, 729, 752–753, 764, 790, 792.
  7. ^Ilbert, Courtenay(1901).Legislative methods and forms.Oxford:Clarendon Press.p. 57.Retrieved9 September2024.This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
  8. ^Walne 1973, pp. 9–12.
  9. ^Walne 1973, pp. 13–14.
  10. ^Cantwell 1984, p. 278.
  11. ^Cantwell 1984, p. 277–8.
  12. ^Cooper, Ann (2008) [2004]. "Cole, Sir Henry (1808–1882)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/5852.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
  13. ^Cantwell 1984, p. 277.
  14. ^Cantwell 1984.
  15. ^Walne 1973, p. 15.
  16. ^Walne 1973, pp. 14–17.

Bibliography

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