Records of the Admiralty Registrar and Admiralty Marshal

Division within HCA

c1450-1987

Records of the Admiralty Registrar and Admiralty Marshal relating to the administrative work of the High Court of Admiralty and its successors, and its duties concerning the arrest of ships and cargoes and any subsequent action.

The records fall into the following series:

• black book of the Admiralty, in HCA 12
• correspondence and papers, in HCA 52 and HCA 53
• instance causes, in HCA 56
• letter books, in HCA 58
• minute books, in HCA 57 and HCA 60
• miscellaneous documents, in HCA 30, HCA 61 and HCA 62
• muniment books, in HCA 50 and HCA 51
• reports, in HCA 54
• ships' files, in HCA 64
• warrants, in HCA 63

Public Record(s)

English

15 series

Topics

Navy

Armed Forces (General Administration)

By the terms of the Judicial Committee Act 1843, the existing Admiralty Registrar was appointed as registrar to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in respect of appeals in ecclesiastical and maritime causes. This post was held by the Admiralty Registrar until 1904, when it was merged with that of the registrar to the Judicial Committee itself. It was a post he had previously held in the High Court of Delegates and the High Court of Appeals for Prizes.

The Admiralty Marshal's principal duty concerned the arrest and custody of ships and cargoes and, if condemned, their appraisement and sale. These latter duties initially applied to instance cases only, but from the early 19th century also included prize cases.