Board of Green Cloth

The members of the Board were: • the Lord Steward, head of the board • the Treasurer of the Household • the Comptroller of the Household • the Cofferer of the Household (abolished 1782) • the Master of the Household • the Clerks of the Green Cloth (increased in number from four to six in 1761; abolished in 1782 in favour of two Clerks of the Household, who were themselves abolished in 1815). • the Secretary to the Board (from 1813); assisted by three clerks to the Board from 1815 (who were not themselves members of the Board). In later years the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, though not a member of the Board, was always in attendance (that office was abolished in 2000). ==History==

The origins of the Board are found in the Wardrobe, which had been a powerful financial office of the monarch in the 13th century, but by the 1360s its power had waned: it 'ceased to be the directive force of the Household, and remained simply as the office of Household accounts'; as such it was gradually subsumed into the Household and by the end of the century the Wardrobe's officers (the Treasurer, the Comptroller, the Cofferer and his Clerks) were firmly under the authority of the Lord Steward. The name 'Board of Green Cloth' first appears in the Tudor period. The Board's judicial functions derived from the historic authority of the Lord Steward within the royal Court to dispense the King's justice; it dealt with minor disputes, small debts and breaches of the peace within the Verge. In 1924 the Lord Steward's Department (incorporating the Board of Green Cloth) was redesignated the Master of the Household's Department. The Board continued to supervise the Household accounts, purchase provisions and manage members of staff. this meeting was usually a formality, with the licensees applying jointly and the licences being routinely awarded (unless the Metropolitan Police or the local heath authority raised an objection). The Board of Green Cloth disappeared in the reform of local government licensing in 2004, brought about by the Licensing Act 2003 (section 195). However, royal palaces remained outside the scope of the Act, and do not require a premises licence to serve alcohol. == References ==