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This page is part of a website based
on the life and achievements of eighteenth-century inventor Henry Cort. Please email site controller Eric
Alexander with any comments or queries. |
Cort’s Navy
Office associates
The
admiralty's books of "promiscuous bills" at the PRO gives regular
lists of Navy Office staff and their remuneration. We can assume that many of them
in the 1760s are known to navy agent Henry Cort,
although it is not obvious from these lists whether they are working in
London. Adam
Jellicoe is of course the most important in the Cort story.
Another
name worthy of note is George Jackson (later Sir George Jackson Duckett). His long and distinguished career is
detailed in the DNB. Secretary to the
Navy Board in 1758, he later becomes Second Secretary to the Admiralty and
Judge Advocate of the Fleet. His
signature on the 1791 petition suggests that he is
familiar with Cort from earlier times.
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Duckett died at his London
home in Upper Grosvenor Street on 15 December 1812 at the age of
ninety-seven. From Oxford DNB entry for Sir George Jackson
Duckett. |
Edward
Bentham, head clerk from 1757 to 1772 at the Navy's ticket office, may be of
interest because of the family relationship to naval architect Samuel Bentham (brother
of philosopher Jeremy), whose later designs involve frequent use of the wrought
iron available thanks to Cort's processes.
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Bentham’s ideas for improvement covered every
aspect of dockyard organization, including the size of dock basins, the layout
of the various offices, and measures to minimize the risk of fire in the
yards. From Oxford DNB entry for
Samuel Bentham. |
Edward
is first cousin to Samuel's father Jeremiah.
Furthermore, Samuel is baptised at St Olave's
Hart Street: 9th February 1757, possibly before Cort's arrival on the
scene.
Among
other names worth noting are:
Timothy
Brett, Comptroller of the Navy Treasure's Accounts from some time in the
1760s. His name appears on the cover of
many ships' paybooks of the time.
Alexander
Chorley, navy clerk, later Commissioner of Victualling. Frequently acts as navy agent. Occasionally awarded prize
agency.
Andrew
Douglas, paymaster 1770-85. Succeeded
by Alexander Trotter. Probably father of Archibald Douglas, who gives evidence at Melville trial.
George
Fennell: more than one generation. One
becomes Accountant to the Treasurer of the Navy in 1780.
John
Fennell: quoted as nephew to a George Fennell in October-November 1789, when an
extent is issued to recover £1000 that he owes the Navy. Barely two months after Jellicoe!
George
Marsh, also a navy agent. He keeps a diary, which can be viewed on the web.
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Took my seat at the
Victualling Board. From George Marsh’s diary, 7
November 1763. |
This day Lord Sandwich told me
the King had been pleased to order me to be appointed a Commissioner of the
Navy in the room of Thomas Hanway Esq deceased of which his Lordship gave me
joy and professed great respect for me, and made many very flattering
compliments to me on the occasion. From George Marsh’s diary, 4
October 1772. |
Robert
Osborne, Comptroller of Victualling 1764-71.
Swaffield:
numerous family members. George, Chief
Cashier of Victualling in 1804, tells the Commission of
Naval Enquiry he has worked at the Pay Office for 60 years.
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Related pages |
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