This vellum-bound volume, titled Establishment of His Majestys Forces & Garrisons, Vizt.: In Great Britain, Minorca, Gibraltar & the Plantations for the Year 1737 (67 pages), contains financial reports and additional information about the cost of maintaining Great Britain's troops stationed throughout Great Britain, as well as in Minorca, Gibraltar, and North America, for the year 1737. Lord High Treasurers George Dodington, 1st Baron Melcombe; William Clayton, 1st Baron Sundon; and Thomas Winnington presented the report to King George II on June 24, 1737.
The report is organized geographically. Individual sections list officers' and privates' pay rates within each regiment, including per diem and annual rates, as well as "off-reckonings" (a specific account dedicated to clothing the soldiers). A few high-ranking officers are listed individually. Also documented are the numbers of men in each unit, as well as expenses for horse guards, dragoons, foot guards, and regiments of foot. These unit-based figures are followed by reports reflecting the maintenance of various garrisons around the country, including the Tower of London; a chart of the cost of fire and candles; and letters addressed to King George that suggest salary deductions to pay for the Royal Hospital and other expenses.
Figures for military outposts (1-4 pages for each location) represent garrisons stationed at Minorca, Gibraltar, Leeward Islands, Annapolis Royal, New York, Jamaica, Bermuda, Providence, and Georgia. The data include the number of privates at each post, officer allowances for different types of regiments, and off-reckoning totals. The final two pages of the volume contain the total charges for garrisons in Great Britain for the year 1737, including the number of men employed and amount of pay owed them.
George Bubb Dodington, Baron Melcombe, was born around 1690. Following the death of his father, he was raised by his maternal uncle, George Dodington (ca. 1658-1720). George Bubb Dodington attended Winchester College and Oxford's Exeter College, and entered Parliament in 1715 as a representative for Winchelsea. He served as an envoy to Spain between 1715 and 1717, and became lord lieutenant of Somerset after inheriting his uncle's estate in 1720. Between 1722 and 1754, he served as a parliamentary representative for Bridgewater, and became a lord commissioner of the Treasury in 1724, under Robert Walpole; he continued his political career until the end of his life. Throughout much of his adult life, he was a close acquaintance of Frederick, Prince of Wales. Dodington and his wife, Katherine Beaghan, had no children. He died on July 28, 1762.
William Clayton (1671-1752) served as Deputy Auditor of the Exchequer and as a parliamentary representative for Westminster and St. Mawes. In 1735, he became Lord Sundon of Ardagh, in the Irish peerage. His wife was Charlotte Dyves (d. 1742), who was Mistress of the Robes for Queen Caroline.
Thomas Winnington was born on December 31, 1696, and attended Christ Church College, Oxford. In 1726, he entered Parliament as a representative for Droitwich. He also served as Lord of the Admiralty (1730-1736), as a member of the Treasury (1736-1741), and as a member of the Privy Council (1741-1746). He and his wife, Love Reade, had one son, Francis, who died in infancy. Thomas Winnington died on April 23, 1746, after undergoing medical treatment for a fever.
