Cofferer of the Household

The cofferer of the Household was formerly an office in the English and British Royal Household. Next in rank to the Comptroller, the holder paid the wages of some of the servants above and below stairs, was a member of the Board of Green Cloth, and sat with the Lord Steward in the Court of the Verge.^[1][2] The cofferer was usually of political rank and always a member of the Privy Council.^[3]

Henry Pelham-Clinton, 2nd Duke of Newcastle served Cofferer of the Household between 1747 and 1754.

The office dates from the 13th century, when it was known as Cofferer of the Wardrobe. The Keeper of the Wardrobe was at this time increasingly occupied with matters of state, and so his chief clerk gradually took on additional responsibilities for accounting and bookkeeping, and came to be referred to as the Cofferer.^[4] As such, he became in effect the working head of the Wardrobe, and acted when required as locum tenens to the Keeper. The Cofferer had his own staff of clerks, who later came to be known as the Clerks of the Green Cloth (after the green cloth covering of the table in the accounting office).^[4]

By the end of the 14th century the Wardrobe had ceased to be an independent office of influence at Court; its officers were made subsidiary to the Lord Steward and duly re-designated as being 'of the Household' (rather than 'of the Wardrobe').^[5] The Cofferer retained his role as principal accounting officer under the Lord Steward.^[6]

The office of Cofferer was abolished by the Civil List and Secret Service Money Act 1782.^[7] By the same means 'provision was made for more economical methods of keeping the accounts of Civil List expenditure under the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury':^[6] thenceforward the accounts of the Lord Steward's Department were included in the Estimates.

List of incumbents

Name	Entered office	Left office	Notes	Reference
Roger Repington			In office during the reign of Empress Matilda in the 12th century	[8]
William Louth	1274	1280		[9]
William March	1280	1284		[9]
Henry Wheatley	1284	1287		[9]
Walter Langton	1287	1290	Keeper of the Wardrobe, 1290	[9]
John Droxford	1290	1290	Keeper of the Wardrobe, 1295	[9]
Philip Everdon	1290	1295		[9]
Walter Barton	1295	1297		[9]
Ralph Manton	1297	1303		[9]
Walter Bedwyn	1303	1307		[9]
Peter Collingbourn	1307	1308	Keeper of the Wardrobe, 1312	[9]
John Ockham	1308	1309		[9]
Robert Wodehouse	1309	1311	Controller of the Wardrobe, 1314	[9]
John Ockham	1311	1314		[9]
Nicholas Huggate	1314	1315	Controller of the Wardrobe, 1326	[9]
Henry Hale	1316	1316		[9]
Robert Wodehouse	1317	1318		[9]
Unknown	(1318–1320)			[9]
Richard Ferriby	1320	1323	Controller of the Wardrobe, 1331	[9]
Unknown	(1323–1327)			[9]
Richard Bury	1327	1328	Keeper of the Wardrobe, 1328	[9]
John Houton	1328	1331		[9]
William Norwell	1331	1334	Keeper of the Wardrobe, 1335	[9]
John Cokham	1334	1335		[9]
John Houton	1335	1337		[9]
Richard Nateby	1337	1338	Controller of the Wardrobe, 1338	[9]
William Dalton	1338	1344	Controller of the Wardrobe, 1344	[9]
Richard Eccleshall	1334	1349 or 1350		[9]
Unknown	(1350–1359)			[9]
Thomas Brantingham	1359	1361	Keeper of the Wardrobe, 1368	[9]
Unknown	(1361–1369)			[9]
Richard Beverley	1369	1376	Keeper of the Wardrobe, 1376	[9]
John Carp	1376	1390	Keeper of the Wardrobe, 1390	[9]
John Stacy	1390	1395		[9]
Thomas More	1395	1399	Keeper of the Wardrobe, 1401	[9]
Unknown
John Spencer	1413	1413	Keeper of the Great Wardrobe, 1413	[10][11]
William Kinwolmarsh			In office during the reign of Henry V	[12]
Unknown
John Kendale	1461	1470		[13]
John Elrington	1471	1474	Keeper of the Wardrobe, 1474	[13]
Richard Jeny	1479			[13]
James Blundell	1479	1481		[13]
John Belle	1483	1485		[13]
Laurence Warham	In office in 1485			[14]
John Payne	1486	1492		[14]
William Fisher	1492	1494		[14]
William Cope	1494	1505		[14]
Edward Cheseman	by 1508			[14]
John Shurley	1509	1527		[14]
Sir Edmund Peckham	1524 or 1527	1547		[14][15]
John Ryther	1547	1552		[14][16]
Thomas Weldon	1552	1553		[14][17]
Sir Richard Freeston	1553	1557		[14]
Michael Wentworth	1558	1558		[14][18]
Thomas Weldon and Richard Ward	1558	1559		[14][17][19]
Thomas Weldon	1559	1567		[14][17]
Richard Ward	1567	1578		[14][19]
Anthony Crane	1578	1580		[14]
John Abingdon	1580	1582		[14]
Gregory Lovell	1582	1597		[14]
Sir Henry Cocke	1597	1610		[14][20]
Sir Robert Vernon	1610	1615		[14][20]
Sir Arthur Ingram	1615	1615	Suspended	[14][20]
Sir Marmaduke Dayrell	1615	cont.		[14][20]
Sir Marmaduke Dayrell and Sir Henry Vane	1625	1632		[14][20]
Sir Henry Vane and Sir Roger Palmer	1632	1632		[14][20]
Sir Roger Palmer	1632	1643		[14]
William Ashburnham	1642	1646		[3][21]
Commonwealth	(1649–1660)			[21]
William Ashburnham	1660	1679		[7]
Lord Brouncker, from 1684 The Viscount Brouncker	1679	1685		[7]
Sir Peter Apsley	1685	1689		[7]
The Viscount Newport, from 1694 The Earl of Bradford	1689	1702		[7]
Sir Benjamin Bathurst	1702	1704		[7]
Francis Godolphin, from 1706 Viscount Rialton	1704	1711	First period in office; succeeded as The Earl of Godolphin in 1712	[7]
Samuel Masham, from 1712 The Lord Masham	1711	1714		[7]
The Earl of Godolphin	1714	1723	Second period in office	[7]
William Pulteney	1723	1725	Created The Earl of Bath in 1742	[7]
The 7th Earl of Lincoln	1725	1728		[7]
Vacant	(1728–1730)			[7]
Horatio Walpole	1730	1741	Created The Lord Walpole in 1756	[7]
Thomas Winnington	1741	1744		[7]
The Lord Sandys	1744	1744		[7]
Edmund Waller	1744	1747		[7]
The 9th Earl of Lincoln	1747	1754	Succeeded as The Duke of Newcastle in 1768	[7]
Sir George Lyttelton, 5th Baronet	1754	1756	Created The Lord Lyttelton in 1756	[7]
The Duke of Leeds	1756	1761		[7]
James Grenville	1761	1761		[7]
The Earl of Thomond	1761	1765		[7]
The Earl of Scarbrough	1765	1766		[7]
Hans Stanley	1766	1774		[7]
Jeremiah Dyson	1774	1776		[7]
Hans Stanley	1776	1780		[7]
Viscount Beauchamp	1780	1782	Succeeded as The Marquess of Hertford in 1794	[7]

References

1. The Present State of the British Court, or, an Account of the Civil and Military Establishment of England. London: printed for A. Bell. W. Taylor; and J. Osborn. 1720. p. 7.
2. Rogers, R. (2012). Who Goes Home: A Parliamentary Miscellany. Biteback Publishing. p. 33–34. ISBN 978-1-84954-480-1. Retrieved 30 April 2019. The Board of Green Cloth audited the accounts of the Royal Household and sat as a court on offences committed on ... for premises controlled by the Royal Palaces, and did not finally disappear until 2004, following the Licensing Act 2004.
3. Haydn, Joseph (1851). The Book of Dignities. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. pp. 213–214. OL 7005826M.
4. Tout, T. F. (1920). Chapters in the administrative history of mediaeval England: the wardrobe, the chamber, and the small seals (Volume II). Manchester University Press. pp. 39–41. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
5. Tout, T. F. (1928). Chapters in the administrative history of mediaeval England: the wardrobe, the chamber, and the small seals (Volume IV). Manchester University Press. pp. 160–161. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
6. Guide to the Contents of the Public Record Office (volume II). London: H. M. Stationery Office. 1963. p. 211.
7. Bucholz, Robert (1782). "Household Below Stairs: Cofferer of the Household 1660" (PDF). Database of Court Officers. Department of History, Loyola University of Chicago. pp. 4–5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 March 2009. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
8. Burke, John (1835). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Enjoying Territorial Possessions or High Official Rank: But Uninvested with Heritable Honours, Volume 2. London: R. Bentley. p. 473.
9. Tout, T. F. (1933). Chapters in the Administrative History of Medieval England: The Wardrobe, the Chamber, and the Small Seals. Vol. 6. Manchester: University Press. pp. 30–32. OL 7212073M.
10. Woodger, L. S. "Spencer, John (d.1417), of Banham, Norf. and Burgate, Suff". The History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
11. Roskell, J. S. "The Composition of the Parliament of May 1413". The History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
12. Kirby, J. L. (January 2008). "Killamarsh , William (d. 1422)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/50138. Retrieved 24 December 2012. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
13. Myers, Alec Reginald (1959). The Household of Edward IV. Manchester University Press.
14. "Officers of the Green Cloth: Cofferer". Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
15. Dale, M. K. "Peckham, Sir Edmund (by 1495–1564), of the Blackfriars, London and Denham, Bucks". The History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
16. Coros, D. F. "Ryther (Ryder), John (by 1514–52), of London". The History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
17. Baker, T. F. T. "Weldon, Thomas (by 1499–1567), of Cookham, Berks". The History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
18. Swales, R. J. W. "Wentworth, Michael (by 1512–58), of Whitley, Yorks., Mendham, Suff. and Cannon Row, Westminster, Mdx". The History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
19. Baker, T. F. T. "Ward, Richard I (by 1511–78), of Hurst, Berks". The History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
20. Thrush, Andrew. "Principal officeholders 1603–29". The History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
21. Henning, Basil Duke Henning. "Ashburnham, William (c.1604-79), of Ashburnham House, Little Dean's Yard, Westminster". The History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 24 December 2012.