5 - The Admiralty reformed again: context and problems, 1868–1885

Summary

The reforms under Childers and Goschen, 1868–1872

H. C. E. Childers's arrogance is beautifully caught by the caricature in the 19 June 1869 number of Vanity Fair, seven months after he became First Lord of the Admiralty, where he is shown as splay-footed, strutting, his embonpoint barely constrained by his frock coat, all in all reminiscent of a pouter pigeon. Yet perhaps a certain self-confidence was justified: his qualifications for the appointment were clear. He had been Civil Lord (1864–5), with particular responsibility for the supervision of naval expenditure, and during that time had had cause to notice weaknesses in Admiralty policy-making, administration and financial control. His fears about naval inefficiency could not have been forgotten when he moved on to be Financial Secretary to the Treasury (1865–6), if only because his old department regularly applied for Treasury approval for the transfer of funds from one part of the naval estimates to another. He also retained a link of understanding with Spencer Robinson, the Controller, and by 1868 they had reached agreement on ways to simplify and sharpen the naval administration. Thus, already at the first meeting of the new Board of Admiralty, in December, Childers was ready to present a general plan of reform, one that he dictated to his new colleagues rather than offered for discussion, thus setting the model for the future.