Paymaster Royal Arsenal
Although the role of Paymaster was eventually to become linked exclusively with the
Royal Ordnance Factories Woolwich, the post was originally responsible for all cash
related activities on behalf of the various War Office or War Department staff on the
Royal Arsenal site. In addition Paymaster was responsible for the financing of sub
accountants at other associated sites; e.g.
The Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield
The Royal Gunpowder Factory, Waltham Abbey
The Royal Clothing Factory, Pimlico
The onset of World War One rapidly increased the responsibilities of Paymaster. He
was soon to be acting on behalf of other Government Departments, such as the
Ministry of Munitions, and his activities in respect of Inspection staffs was greatly
extended. The Directorate of Inspection of Munitions Areas was set up at Sheffield
and the Aeronautical Inspection Department at Clements Inn. However, this extended
role placed an undue strain both on the post of Paymaster and on the antiquated
procedures of the Royal Arsenal.
In 1918 the Ministry of Munitions of War commissioned a report from its Audit staff
aimed at addressing the then current procedures of the Ordnance Factories, Paymaster
Royal Arsenal and the Inspection Departments, identifying areas in need of change
and making recommendations for implementing change.
Changes were eventually introduced in the Financial Year 1921/22. The title
Paymaster Royal Arsenal remained but the post then came totally within the ambit of
the Royal Ordnance Factories Woolwich. Paymaster continued to handle the physical
payment of wages on behalf of certain other Departments located within the Royal
Arsenal together with some at satellite locations, but the provisioning of the non ROF
cash was no longer his responsibility.
The general role of Paymaster then stayed very much the same for the next 45 years
or so. The post was abolished with the final closure of the Royal Ordnance Factories
Woolwich.
Payment of Weekly Paid Employees
As has been stated in the section dealing with the role of Paymaster Royal Arsenal it
fell to Paymaster to provision the cash and then to physically prepare the pay for issue
to employees at the weekly pay parades.
On the Thursday of each week Paymaster received forward estimates of the cash
required for the following week. The consolidated requirement was then ordered
direct from the London bullion office of the Royal Arsenal’s local bankers. The
requirement was funded by a Payable Order drawn on the Government’s Paymaster
General. Each Monday morning the cash was delivered directly to the pay office and
a receipt given to the bank teller accompanying the delivery.
Prior to World War one the bulk cash was all in coin, gold, silver and bronze. All the
coin was delivered in bags; e.g. silver in bags of £1OO and bronze in bags of £2O. The
clerks had then to count the coin and place it in compartmented trays for storage in the
bulk cash safes. The subsequent laying out of cash for each pay roll was facilitated by
the ready availability of coin in handy prescribed amounts. When £1 notes replaced
gold sovereigns, Paymaster was able to insist that new notes were delivered each
Monday. At that time there were several thousands of workers to be paid each week
and the availability of new notes left only the coin to be counted on arrival each week.
Staff of the Chief Wages Officer (CWO) prepared the payrolls for each production
centre using basic data provided by the Worktakers and/or shop management. The
payrolls were sent to the Pay Office where the make up of the pay for each pay centre
was carried out, but quite separately individual pay tickets for each worker were sent
to shop management for distribution. The pay tickets advised each employee of the
amount of pay to be received. As each pay ticket was handed out the recipient was
required to produce his ‘metal check’ for identification purposes. The metal check
was stamped with the pay number and the section letter of the worker. The check was
collected as the person passed through the ‘ticket station’ at start of work and handed
back to the timekeeper at the close of work.
On receipt of the payrolls the Paymaster or his deputy would take the appropriate
amount of notes and coin from the Bulk Cash and place with each payroll. A small
team of clerks would then lay out the cash in the amounts for each person on the
payroll. One clerk would then take the note(s) — which had to be new - for each
person and put them through a manually powered folding machine. The machine
folded the notes so that they would readily fit into the numbered compartments in the
Pay Centre tray, but before being placed in each compartment the coin and the folded
notes had to be secured together with a rubber band. The accuracy of the laying out
of pay was secured by the initial allocation to individual amounts being then subject
to a second check as the notes and coin were re-counted as part of the note folding and
banding process.
Pay parades were held in the workers own time. A deputed pay clerk collected the
made up pay from the Pay Office and had the services of a bearer to carry the Pay
Centre tray to the production or services shop. There the staff would be required to
line up in pay number order and then present themselves one at a time for recognition!
identification by a member of the shop management. The pay clerk would then take
the banded pay from the appropriate compartment and issue it to the individual in
return for a pay ticket. Any unclaimed pay would be noted and verified by both the
pay clerk and the shop management representative. Back at the pay office the pay
clerk would hand in the unclaimed pay together with the collected pay tickets. The
unclaimed wages would be set to one side for subsequent payment. If unclaimed for
more than two weeks the money was broken down and returned to the bulk cash. The
unclaimed wages were entered in the unclaimed register and regularly reconciled with
the Unclaimed Wages Account in the factory accounts.
In 1921 time clocks and clock cards were introduced for all non-management grades
in the Royal Ordnance Factories. Evaluated clock cards replaced pay tickets as the
medium for advising staff of their pay. From this time the signed clock card was used
to acknowledge receipt of the pay. In 1921, of course, there was still a statutory
requirement for a receipt covering any amount of forty shillings or more to be signed
over a 2d Postage & Revenue stamp. HM Treasury, when approving the purchase of
the time clocks for use in the Woolwich Arsenal, stated that any worker about to sign
for a wage of £2 or more would have to affix a 2d stamp prior to signature. In the
event the Chief Superintendent of Ordnance Factories was able to successfully argue
that the clock card was not a receipt for cash, in the accepted sense, but rather an
acknowledgement of the completion of the weekly pay cycle. The witnesses present
at the pay parade satisfied the factory requirement of evidence of issue of pay to the
correct individuals. It was further noted that the clock card would replace the very
long standing pay ticket arrangements, the sole difference being that previously the
employee had not been required to sign his or her pay ticket.
The steady increase in take home pay as years passed identified the shortcomings of
the folded notes and banded coin procedure. There were many occurrences of the
banded cash being unwieldy; some cash even becoming loose and disrupting pay
parades. Individual pay packets were therefore introduced to overcome the problems
but their introduction required operational changes and some mechanisation in the pay
office.
The abandonment of the folded notes procedure coincided with there being pressure
on Paymaster to accept used bank notes. The bank accepted that when special
circumstances arose new notes could be requested, but normally used notes would
have to be accepted. The bank did, however, agree to supply new 10/- notes each
week. Previously the consecutive serial numbers on new notes were used when
‘counting’thecashfrombulkforeachpayrollandtheycouldalsobeusedtohelp
track down an error in the laying out of notes for a pay roll. A new procedure was
introduced to cater for the used notes since these needed to be counted when received
from the bullion office. The continued availability of new 10/- notes still provided a
measure of assistance when tracking errors.
The used notes were received in parcels of £5,000. Each parcel contained ten smaller
parcels each containing five bundles off £100. Each Monday morning pay office
clerks began to count and band the used notes. The clerks counted each £100 and
banded the notes into tens using paper bands made in the Royal Arsenal Tailors Shop.
Each batch often tens was returned to the original £100 band and placed in a bulk
cash tray. Each full tray to hold £5,000. Any discrepancies were cleared with the
Woolwich Bank branch on the Tuesday. The pay office count was always accepted.
The new system required the wages staff to write the net pay on each individual’s pay
packet (envelope). These then accompanied the payrolls sent to the pay office. As
previously the Paymaster or his deputy drew the appropriate amounts of cash from
bulk to be passed with each payroll and its packets to the teams of clerks. The count
of the notes from bulk was made easy by the pre-banding of the notes into £lOOs and
£lOs. In each team one clerk would load the coin into a Brandt Cashier cash-
dispensing machine. This machine would deliver at one key depression any amount
between Id and 9s llp, as a combination of ld, 3d, 6d, 1/-, 2/- or 2/6d coins. The
clerk picked up a pay packet, read off the amount of coin required, held the open end
of the packet under the chute of the machine and pressed the button corresponding to
the coinage required. The packet was then passed to the second clerk who put the
correct amount of notes with the packet, using £1 and 10s denominations. Again the
pre-banding of the notes facilitated the counting of notes required for each pay packet.
A third clerk then counted the notes and if correct placed them in the packet. If there
was no discrepancy at the end of the layout of pay then the packets could be sealed
and placed in the pay box for the centre concerned. Any apparent error during
checking necessitated a recount though the packets.
The introduction of pay packets reduced the potential for cash being misplaced at pay
parades and coupled with the use of signed clock cards removed the need for shop
staff to verify unclaimed packets. Otherwise the routine of the pay parade was largely
unchanged. The pay clerk on return to the pay office handed in signed cards plus any
unclaimed packets that together equalled the quantity of packets taken to the pay
parade. The signed cards were then indelibly stained with a mauve dye to prevent any
possible illicit reuse. The unclaimed packets were placed in the holding pool of
unclaimed wages for two weeks. A worker that had missed pay parade could
subsequently collect his pay from the pay office at stated times. Any pay still
unclaimed after two weeks was taken from the pay packets and returned to the bulk
cash holding. The amounts were entered into the unclaimed wages book that was
regularly reconciled with the unclaimed wages account in the Accounts General
Ledger.
The pay process was flexible enough to permit most discrepancies raised by
individuals to be rectified between the time of issue of evaluated clock cards and the
Thursday lunchtime pay parades. If an individual raised a valid query on his or her
pay and it could be quickly resolved then CWO staff would raise a supplementary pay
roll. Pay office staff would extract the relevant pay packet and replace it with a
corrected one.
The pay packet system continued unchanged for many years. Higher denomination
notes were introduced as pay increased. Eventually the workforce was encouraged to
accept direct payment into individual bank or building society accounts.
Payment of Monthly Salaries
The procedure for the monthly payment of salaries was very similar to that set out
above for weekly paid workers. However the smaller number of staff on the monthly
pay rolls coupled with the larger sums of money involved led to pay packets being
used from an early date. Also the issue of the salaries was a far less formal event.
With many salaried staff having personal bank accounts the move to direct payment
of salaries occurred far sooner than for the weekly paid workers.
Royal Ordnance Factories Woolwich, the post was originally responsible for all cash
related activities on behalf of the various War Office or War Department staff on the
Royal Arsenal site. In addition Paymaster was responsible for the financing of sub
accountants at other associated sites; e.g.
The Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield
The Royal Gunpowder Factory, Waltham Abbey
The Royal Clothing Factory, Pimlico
The onset of World War One rapidly increased the responsibilities of Paymaster. He
was soon to be acting on behalf of other Government Departments, such as the
Ministry of Munitions, and his activities in respect of Inspection staffs was greatly
extended. The Directorate of Inspection of Munitions Areas was set up at Sheffield
and the Aeronautical Inspection Department at Clements Inn. However, this extended
role placed an undue strain both on the post of Paymaster and on the antiquated
procedures of the Royal Arsenal.
In 1918 the Ministry of Munitions of War commissioned a report from its Audit staff
aimed at addressing the then current procedures of the Ordnance Factories, Paymaster
Royal Arsenal and the Inspection Departments, identifying areas in need of change
and making recommendations for implementing change.
Changes were eventually introduced in the Financial Year 1921/22. The title
Paymaster Royal Arsenal remained but the post then came totally within the ambit of
the Royal Ordnance Factories Woolwich. Paymaster continued to handle the physical
payment of wages on behalf of certain other Departments located within the Royal
Arsenal together with some at satellite locations, but the provisioning of the non ROF
cash was no longer his responsibility.
The general role of Paymaster then stayed very much the same for the next 45 years
or so. The post was abolished with the final closure of the Royal Ordnance Factories
Woolwich.
Payment of Weekly Paid Employees
As has been stated in the section dealing with the role of Paymaster Royal Arsenal it
fell to Paymaster to provision the cash and then to physically prepare the pay for issue
to employees at the weekly pay parades.
On the Thursday of each week Paymaster received forward estimates of the cash
required for the following week. The consolidated requirement was then ordered
direct from the London bullion office of the Royal Arsenal’s local bankers. The
requirement was funded by a Payable Order drawn on the Government’s Paymaster
General. Each Monday morning the cash was delivered directly to the pay office and
a receipt given to the bank teller accompanying the delivery.
Prior to World War one the bulk cash was all in coin, gold, silver and bronze. All the
coin was delivered in bags; e.g. silver in bags of £1OO and bronze in bags of £2O. The
clerks had then to count the coin and place it in compartmented trays for storage in the
bulk cash safes. The subsequent laying out of cash for each pay roll was facilitated by
the ready availability of coin in handy prescribed amounts. When £1 notes replaced
gold sovereigns, Paymaster was able to insist that new notes were delivered each
Monday. At that time there were several thousands of workers to be paid each week
and the availability of new notes left only the coin to be counted on arrival each week.
Staff of the Chief Wages Officer (CWO) prepared the payrolls for each production
centre using basic data provided by the Worktakers and/or shop management. The
payrolls were sent to the Pay Office where the make up of the pay for each pay centre
was carried out, but quite separately individual pay tickets for each worker were sent
to shop management for distribution. The pay tickets advised each employee of the
amount of pay to be received. As each pay ticket was handed out the recipient was
required to produce his ‘metal check’ for identification purposes. The metal check
was stamped with the pay number and the section letter of the worker. The check was
collected as the person passed through the ‘ticket station’ at start of work and handed
back to the timekeeper at the close of work.
On receipt of the payrolls the Paymaster or his deputy would take the appropriate
amount of notes and coin from the Bulk Cash and place with each payroll. A small
team of clerks would then lay out the cash in the amounts for each person on the
payroll. One clerk would then take the note(s) — which had to be new - for each
person and put them through a manually powered folding machine. The machine
folded the notes so that they would readily fit into the numbered compartments in the
Pay Centre tray, but before being placed in each compartment the coin and the folded
notes had to be secured together with a rubber band. The accuracy of the laying out
of pay was secured by the initial allocation to individual amounts being then subject
to a second check as the notes and coin were re-counted as part of the note folding and
banding process.
Pay parades were held in the workers own time. A deputed pay clerk collected the
made up pay from the Pay Office and had the services of a bearer to carry the Pay
Centre tray to the production or services shop. There the staff would be required to
line up in pay number order and then present themselves one at a time for recognition!
identification by a member of the shop management. The pay clerk would then take
the banded pay from the appropriate compartment and issue it to the individual in
return for a pay ticket. Any unclaimed pay would be noted and verified by both the
pay clerk and the shop management representative. Back at the pay office the pay
clerk would hand in the unclaimed pay together with the collected pay tickets. The
unclaimed wages would be set to one side for subsequent payment. If unclaimed for
more than two weeks the money was broken down and returned to the bulk cash. The
unclaimed wages were entered in the unclaimed register and regularly reconciled with
the Unclaimed Wages Account in the factory accounts.
In 1921 time clocks and clock cards were introduced for all non-management grades
in the Royal Ordnance Factories. Evaluated clock cards replaced pay tickets as the
medium for advising staff of their pay. From this time the signed clock card was used
to acknowledge receipt of the pay. In 1921, of course, there was still a statutory
requirement for a receipt covering any amount of forty shillings or more to be signed
over a 2d Postage & Revenue stamp. HM Treasury, when approving the purchase of
the time clocks for use in the Woolwich Arsenal, stated that any worker about to sign
for a wage of £2 or more would have to affix a 2d stamp prior to signature. In the
event the Chief Superintendent of Ordnance Factories was able to successfully argue
that the clock card was not a receipt for cash, in the accepted sense, but rather an
acknowledgement of the completion of the weekly pay cycle. The witnesses present
at the pay parade satisfied the factory requirement of evidence of issue of pay to the
correct individuals. It was further noted that the clock card would replace the very
long standing pay ticket arrangements, the sole difference being that previously the
employee had not been required to sign his or her pay ticket.
The steady increase in take home pay as years passed identified the shortcomings of
the folded notes and banded coin procedure. There were many occurrences of the
banded cash being unwieldy; some cash even becoming loose and disrupting pay
parades. Individual pay packets were therefore introduced to overcome the problems
but their introduction required operational changes and some mechanisation in the pay
office.
The abandonment of the folded notes procedure coincided with there being pressure
on Paymaster to accept used bank notes. The bank accepted that when special
circumstances arose new notes could be requested, but normally used notes would
have to be accepted. The bank did, however, agree to supply new 10/- notes each
week. Previously the consecutive serial numbers on new notes were used when
‘counting’thecashfrombulkforeachpayrollandtheycouldalsobeusedtohelp
track down an error in the laying out of notes for a pay roll. A new procedure was
introduced to cater for the used notes since these needed to be counted when received
from the bullion office. The continued availability of new 10/- notes still provided a
measure of assistance when tracking errors.
The used notes were received in parcels of £5,000. Each parcel contained ten smaller
parcels each containing five bundles off £100. Each Monday morning pay office
clerks began to count and band the used notes. The clerks counted each £100 and
banded the notes into tens using paper bands made in the Royal Arsenal Tailors Shop.
Each batch often tens was returned to the original £100 band and placed in a bulk
cash tray. Each full tray to hold £5,000. Any discrepancies were cleared with the
Woolwich Bank branch on the Tuesday. The pay office count was always accepted.
The new system required the wages staff to write the net pay on each individual’s pay
packet (envelope). These then accompanied the payrolls sent to the pay office. As
previously the Paymaster or his deputy drew the appropriate amounts of cash from
bulk to be passed with each payroll and its packets to the teams of clerks. The count
of the notes from bulk was made easy by the pre-banding of the notes into £lOOs and
£lOs. In each team one clerk would load the coin into a Brandt Cashier cash-
dispensing machine. This machine would deliver at one key depression any amount
between Id and 9s llp, as a combination of ld, 3d, 6d, 1/-, 2/- or 2/6d coins. The
clerk picked up a pay packet, read off the amount of coin required, held the open end
of the packet under the chute of the machine and pressed the button corresponding to
the coinage required. The packet was then passed to the second clerk who put the
correct amount of notes with the packet, using £1 and 10s denominations. Again the
pre-banding of the notes facilitated the counting of notes required for each pay packet.
A third clerk then counted the notes and if correct placed them in the packet. If there
was no discrepancy at the end of the layout of pay then the packets could be sealed
and placed in the pay box for the centre concerned. Any apparent error during
checking necessitated a recount though the packets.
The introduction of pay packets reduced the potential for cash being misplaced at pay
parades and coupled with the use of signed clock cards removed the need for shop
staff to verify unclaimed packets. Otherwise the routine of the pay parade was largely
unchanged. The pay clerk on return to the pay office handed in signed cards plus any
unclaimed packets that together equalled the quantity of packets taken to the pay
parade. The signed cards were then indelibly stained with a mauve dye to prevent any
possible illicit reuse. The unclaimed packets were placed in the holding pool of
unclaimed wages for two weeks. A worker that had missed pay parade could
subsequently collect his pay from the pay office at stated times. Any pay still
unclaimed after two weeks was taken from the pay packets and returned to the bulk
cash holding. The amounts were entered into the unclaimed wages book that was
regularly reconciled with the unclaimed wages account in the Accounts General
Ledger.
The pay process was flexible enough to permit most discrepancies raised by
individuals to be rectified between the time of issue of evaluated clock cards and the
Thursday lunchtime pay parades. If an individual raised a valid query on his or her
pay and it could be quickly resolved then CWO staff would raise a supplementary pay
roll. Pay office staff would extract the relevant pay packet and replace it with a
corrected one.
The pay packet system continued unchanged for many years. Higher denomination
notes were introduced as pay increased. Eventually the workforce was encouraged to
accept direct payment into individual bank or building society accounts.
Payment of Monthly Salaries
The procedure for the monthly payment of salaries was very similar to that set out
above for weekly paid workers. However the smaller number of staff on the monthly
pay rolls coupled with the larger sums of money involved led to pay packets being
used from an early date. Also the issue of the salaries was a far less formal event.
With many salaried staff having personal bank accounts the move to direct payment
of salaries occurred far sooner than for the weekly paid workers.