Board of Trade
British Government Department

The Board was established in 1765, but had its origins in a committee appointed by Cromwell in 1655. As well as trade it also has responsibility for fuel and power.

Board of Trade Council: The council comprises the president of the Board, the secretaries and the heads of the principal departments. It meets to settle board policy in what are known as 'morning meetings'.

Personnel: The Board of Trade employs 5,410 people on 1 April 1920, shrinking to 4,398 by 1st April 1930.

Bankruptcy Department: The department has a number of different functions. It is responsible for administrative work relating to bankruptcy; it regulates, investigates and administers all insolvencies of individuals and firms when receiving orders have been made by courts in England and Wales; it supervises the official receivers appointed to carry out investigations into the affairs of bankrupts; and it supervises trustees appointed to take over the realisation and distribution of bankrupts' estates. On 1 October 1925, the department also assumes responsibility for the registration and custody of deeds of arrangements from the Bills of Sale Office of the Supreme Court and also the accounts of trustees appointed under the deeds.

Coal Mines Department: Established in 1917 to take over the coalfields during the Great War, the department is headed by a coal controller. It is wound up in 1920 and its remaining functions pass to the Mines Department.

Commercial Relations and Treaties Department: The department has several functions. It advises the Foreign Office on commercial agreements with foreign countries; it protects British trading interests abroad; it controls imports and exports, via the Imports and Exports Licensing Section; and it is responsible for merchandise marks until 1928, when control of these passes to the General Department.

Companies Department: Another department with various functions. It is responsible for carrying out the Board's duties under the Companies (Winding-Up) Act 1890 and other duties concerning companies, charters, newspaper libels and registrations, art unions and assurance companies; it maintains ledgers of the estates of companies in liquidation; it carries out duties under the Registration of Business Names Act 1916; it supervises the Companies Registration Office and has various other responsibilities under the Companies Acts; and it is concerned with changes in company law, investigations into firms' affairs, international insurance and company law negotiations, and moneylending.

• Companies Registration Office: Responsible for the registration of joint stock companies, the Companies Registration Office is headed by the registrar of companies. There is a separate registry for Ireland in Dublin.

Enemy Debts Clearing Office: Established on 12 January 1920 under the Treaty of Peace Order of 1919 to deal with debts owed to Britain by enemy nationals, the office absorbs the Trading with the Enemy Branch of the Public Trustee Office in January 1925 and the Russian Claims Department of the Board on 1 April 1927.

Establishment Department: The department is responsible for the staffing, pay and other administrative functions of the Board. It also runs the Board's Library and produces the Board of Trade Journal.

Finance and General Department/Finance Department: Usually just referred to as the Finance Department, this becomes its sole name after the General Department is split off in 1928. It is responsible for the general supervision of the financial affairs of the board, including estimates, accounts of bankrupts' estates and liquidated companies.

Food Department: Established in 1921 to take over the residual functions of the Ministry of Food, the department runs the Civil Emergency Food Organisation, made up of the remaining staff of the Ministry of Food and charged with ensuring the provision of food supplies during emergencies (major strikes etc). After 1928, The Food Department becomes a branch of the General Department.

General Department: Established in 1928, the department takes over control of merchandise marks from the Commercial Relations and Treaties Department, supervises the Standards Department, and takes over the responsibilities of the Industries and Manufactures Department regarding water power.

Industries and Manufactures Department: The department's main responsibilities are in the field of the post-war reconstruction of industry. In 1920, it takes over supervision of the Standards Department. In 1922, it takes over all remaining functions of the Power, Transport and Economic Department. Control over water power and standards passes to the General Department in 1928. It has responsibilities under the Gas Acts concerning private gas undertakings, and also over local authority undertakings after their transferral from the Ministry of Health in 1920.

• Scientific Instruments, Glassware and Potash Production Section: Transferred from the Ministry of Munitions to the Industries and Manufactures Department in 1919, the section ceases to exist in 1923.
• Standards Department: The department is part of the Industries and Manufactures Department until 1928 and the General Department thereafter. It is based in the fourteenth century Jewel Tower in the precincts of Westminster Abbey, SW1, a surviving part of the old Palace of Westminster. Its responsibilities include: it is the official custodian of imperial standards; it is responsible for the verification of inspection standards for gas meters; it examines candidates for inspection posts under the Sale of Gas Acts and the Gas Regulation Act 1920; it formulates regulations for the guidance of gas inspectors; it has various responsibilities relating to byelaws concerning the sale of coal and the hallmarking of plate; it supervises petrol testing; and it examines and appoints Inspectors of Weights and Measures under the Weights and Measures Act 1878. Inspectors have to submit annual reports to the department.

Mercantile Marine Department: Established in 1850, this department supervises merchant shipping and has various responsibilities concerning foreshores, lighthouses, wrecks, salvage, pilotage and navigation in tidal waters, the registry of ships, general averages, the liability of shipowners, and freight. In 1921, it also acquires responsibility for shipping liquidation and the Government's peacetime shipping needs from the Ministry of Shipping. The department appoints Receivers of Wrecks, whose duties include the supervision of coastal rescue operations. In 1923, it acquires responsibility for the supervision of HM Coastguard from the Admiralty.

Parliamentary Branch: Established in 1920 as a channel for the Board's parliamentary work, it monitors proposed legislation, briefs ministers and prepares replies to parliamentary questions.

Parliamentary Secretary's Office: The parliamentary secretary is a non-Cabinet minister.
Parliamentary Secretaries to the Board of Trade: William Bridgeman MP (Con), 1919-22 Aug 1920; Sir Philip Lloyd-Greame MP (Con), 22 Aug 1920-1 Apr 1921; Sir William Mitchell-Thomson MP (Con), 1 Apr 1921-19 Oct 1922; Lord Wolmer MP (Con), 31 Oct 1922-22 Jan 1924; Albert Alexander MP (Lab), 23 Jan-3 Nov 1924; Sir Robert Barton-Chadwick MP (Con), 11 Nov 1924-13 Jan 1928; Herbert Williams MP (Con), 13 Jan 1928-4 Jun 1929; Walter Smith MP (Lab), 11 Jun 1929-1931.

Patent Office and Industrial Property Department: The department supervises the Patent Office and also discharges the Board's responsibilities under the Copyright Act 1911.

Petrol Control Department: Responsible for controlling the consumption of petrol as a wartime measure, this department is dissolved in 1920.

Petroleum Department: Established in 1917 as part of the Ministry of Munitions, this department is transferred to the Board in 1922. It deals with the importation and supply of petrol to munitions firms. The Petroleum Department becomes part of the Mines Department in January 1929.

Power, Transport and Economic Department: After 1919, when most of its responsibilities were transferred to other departments, this department retains various residual responsibilities, largely concerning water power, but also acts as the general 'odd job' department of the Board. It also deals with economic intelligence, but this role is in decline as the Government becomes less concerned with the regulation of industry. The department is dissolved in March 1922.

President's Office: The president of the Board of Trade is the Cabinet minister in charge of the department.
Presidents of the Board of Trade: Sir Auckland Geddes MP (Con), 1919-19 Mar 1920; Sir Robert Horne MP (Con), 19 Mar 1920-1 Apr 1921; Stanley Baldwin MP (Con), 1 Apr 1921-19 Oct 1922; Sir Philip Lloyd-Greame MP (Con), 24 Oct 1922-22 Jan 1924; Sidney Webb MP (Lab), 22 Jan-3 Nov 1924; Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister MP (Con), 6 Nov 1924-4 Jun 1929; William Graham MP (Lab), 7 Jun 1929-1931.

Profiteering Act Department: Established in 1919 to administer the Profiteering Act 1919 and its two succeeding acts, the department is dissolved in May 1921.

Reparation Claims Department: Established in January 1920 to prepare British reparation claims against Germany and administer the release of Turkish property in the UK, the department works in conjunction with the Royal Commission on Compensation for Suffering and Damage by Enemy Action (which exists from 15th August 1921 until 1923). It is wound up in 1926.

Russian Claims Department: The Board acquires this department from the Foreign Office in August 1920. On 1 April 1927, it becomes part of the Enemy Debts Clearing Office.

Secretary's Office: The permanent secretary is the senior civil servant of the Board of Trade.
Permanent Secretaries to the Board of Trade: Sir Sydney Chapman, 1919-1927; Sir Horace Hamilton, 1927-1937.
Second Permanent Secretary to the Board of Trade: (Sir) Henry Payne, 1919-1929.

Solicitor's Department: Responsible for the conduct of the Board's legal business.

Statistical Department: Responsible for the collection and publication of statistics of trade and industry in the UK and abroad and the publication of trade accounts compiled by the Board of Customs and Excise. The department also becomes responsible for economic intelligence in 1922.

Timber Disposal Department:Established in 1917 as the Timber Supply Department, it is now responsible for the disposal of stocks and equipment relating to Great War timber supply operations. It is wound up in 1922.

Board of Trade Supply Organisation: The formation of this organisation results from the December 1926 report of the Principal Supply Officers' Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence (CID), which provides for a nucleus of an emergency supply organisation within the Board. The Organisation estimates requirements, collects information about the production, sources and movement of supplies and formulates proposals for remedying likely shortages. It is not run by a formal organisation as such, but by standing conference of heads of department and others, chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the Board.

Board of Trade Advisory Council: Established in 1918 to advise the commerce and industry departments on a wide range of matters, the council's membership includes representatives of various committees of the board, the Association of Chambers of Commerce, the Federation of British Industries, labour interests, the Foreign Office, the A HREF="colonialoffice.htm">Colonial Office, the India Office, and Dominion governments.