| Description | The varied nature and substantial bulk of financial records generated by the unreformed Corporation bear witness to a sophisticated and complex financial organisation. Initially, however, the system was very simple and the earliest surviving financial records are basic accounts covering all types of transaction and kept in the Mayor's name (R/FA1/1-3). By the fifteenth century the dominant role of the guild merchant is evident and during this period the cofferers were frequently referred to as officers of the guild. W.J. Smith, `Reading Records: Cofferers' Account, 1420-1421; Berkshire Archaelogical Journal, vol. 61 (1964) pp63-71. It is not possible to say precisely when the first cofferer was elected by his fellow members of the Corporation but certainly from 1378 onwards two cofferers usually took office each year at Michaelmas, although it was not until the first charter of Elizabeth I in 1560 that the appointment of two cofferers annually was specified C. Fleetwood-Pritchard, Reading Charters, Acts & Orders, (1913), p.21. In 1488 a resolution in the diary (R/AC1/1/1) had stated that from henceforth these officers were to be known as 'camerarii' or chamberlains instead of 'cistatorem' or cofferers but this resolution was never fully carried out with the two terms being applied interchangeably during the next 150 years, culminating in a royal charter of 1638 of Charles I which claimed that it was introducing both the term 'chamberlain' and the office Fleetwood-Pritchard, op.cit, p.62. Gradually new types of account evolved as the financial business of the Corporation became more complex. In recognition of the increasing development of the system, it was deemed necessary to break the run of cofferers/chamberlains accounts at some point, and faced with the confusion over terminology it was decided to break the main series of accounts in 1600. Thus in the following lists accounts up to and including 1600 are termed cofferer's accounts (R/FA2) whilst those after this date are classed as chamberlain's accounts (R/FA3). Following the Reformation, the Corporation's responsibilities for administering charities increased and from the early seventeenth century accents for Charitable Uses, that is the disposition of those gifts and bequests made to the Corporation for the use of the poor, appear (R/FA5). However, the administration of charities is complicated by the fact that the Corporation continued to administer certain charities with the hall revenues accounts. These included the charities of John Kendrick (part - up to 1710). Archbishop Laud, Richard Aldworth, Thomas Rich, William Malthus, Edward Simeon and Queen Elizabeth's gift. These bequests were largely educational in nature, several relating to the creation and funding of a Blue Coat School in Reading. These charities continued to be administered with the hall revenues until about 1817 when they disappear from the hall revenue accounts. Throughout the period up to 1835 the Charitable Uses account included the accounts of John A' Larder's bequest relating to almshouses in Reading. From the early seventeenth century there appears to have been a division of labour between the two chamberlains with the senior chamberlain retaining control of the hall revenues and the junior chamberlain administering the Charitable Uses account. In the eighteenth century, as the pressures of administering the financial business of the Corporation increased, a new office was introduced, that of Receiver of the rents of the hall revenues and charitable uses accounts (although administered separately only one Receiver was appointed at a time). Harry Austin Deane, the first Receiver, was appointed on 20 September 1737 (R/AC1/1/22) and following the death of Martin Annesley the office was abolished in 1822 (R/AC1/1/25). Unlike the posts of chamberlains, the office of Receiver does not seem to have been seen as a political stepping stone with Receivers staying in office for many years at a time. As the name implies the Receiver collected the rents due to the Corporation and dealt with the administration of its property paying over lump sums to the Chamberlains to disburse. This arrangement is reflected in the records, with the Chamberlains' accounts for the period of the Receiver containing detailed disbursements and the Receivers' accounts containing detailed receipts. Therefore, in order to gain a full picture of the Corporation's finances between 1737 and 1821 it is necessary to consult both sets of accounts (R/FA3, R/FA4, R/FA5, R/FA6). In addition to these accounts, series of rents rolls for both the hall revenues (R/FA8) and the charitable uses (R/FA9) accounts exist. Before 1737 they were Chamberlains' records but during the time of the Receiver they become his principal financial record as the accounts kept of receipts are largely summary. From 1822 onwards the Chamberlains once again controlled all the financial administration. In 1888 the Historical Manuscripts Commission published a report on the manuscripts of the Corporation, which included descriptions of some of the financial records with extracts, a copy of which is available in the Record Office. |
| Arrangement | Arrangement
R/FA1 Mayor's accounts, c.1356-1374
R/FA2 Cofferers' accounts, 1413-1600
R/FA3 Chamberlains' accounts: hall revenues, 1606-1835
R/FA4 Receivers' accounts: hall revenues, 1739-1821
R/FA5 Chamberlains' accounts: charitable uses, 1605-1818 (incomplete)
R/FA6 Receivers' accounts: charitable uses, 1764-1821
R/FA7 Draft accounts, 1669-1743
R/FA8 Rent rolls: hall revenues, 1605-1820
R/FA9 Rent rolls: charitable uses, 1616-1641
R/FA10 Draft rent rolls, 1701-1702
R/FA11 Quit rents, 1611-1801
R/FA12 Fee farm rents, 1567-1640
R/FA13 Constables' accounts, 1645-1646
R/FA14 Miscellaneous accounts, 1607-1835 |