WHEN ATTEMPTING to judge the competence and efficiency of the Victualling Board operation, it is necessary to know something about the people who ran and staffed that organisation: their political and social affiliations, their position in the overall naval and government hierarchy, their career paths and salary structures and how they were recruited. These issues did not remain static throughout the period; the salary structure changed in 1800 as a result of the deliberations of the Fees commissioners; and the hierarchical structure of the department, staffing and department functions were subjected to major changes in 1809 as a result of the recommendations of the Board of Revision. Here the personnel at the victualling office at Somerset Place in London are considered; clerical staff, artisans and other personnel at the victualling yards are considered in the next chapter, as is the general issue of staff supervision, disciplinary techniques, and the inter-relationships between staff and commissioners. With the sole exception of Mrs Bull, the housekeeper at Somerset Place, all the head office staff were male.

Problems of locating information on staff

Most of the people who worked in the victualling office at Somerset Place are shadowy figures, of whom little is known except their names. There are a few exceptions to this, mostly commissioners, for some of whom a little personal information is known, and for one department head whose career can be traced. It is possible, through the intermittent staffing and salary reports, and the occasional mentions in correspondence with the Admiralty, to track some of the career paths within the Victualling Office, together with salaries and retirement benefits, but with only a few exceptions that is all that can be found about them; there are no extant documents of the sort which would today be designated personnel files, nor is there any indication that such files were kept. Staffing levels were not high and it seems likely that on occasions when information was required about individuals, their department head would be able to supply it from memory. Where that information is recorded, in letters and minutes recommending promotions or superannuation, it is rarely more than a statement of length of service and comments to the effect that the individual was hardworking and deserving; or, even more rarely, that he was not.