Briggs, Sir John Thomas (1781 - 1865) Commissioner and Accountant-General for the Victualling Board and Royal Navy. Document signed, folio, headed departmental paper. Admiralty, 8th March 1836, to Rear-Admiral Sir G.C. Hamond, 2nd Baronet, Commander in Chief of the South America Station [at Rio de Janeiro].

'Sir, the vouchers transmitted with your 4 letters of the 1 only last having been received, I have the honor to request you therewith, and to request that you will have the goodness to address your future letters to the Secretary of the Admiralty. I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient humble servant (signed) J.T. Briggs, Act. General of the Navy'

Notes: Briggs entered civil admiralty service at the age of 25 when he was appointed secretary of the commission for 'revising and digesting the civil affairs of the navy' under the presidency of Lord Barham. When his work on the commission and the voluminous reports published in 1806-09 concluded, he was appointed assistant-secretary of the victualling board and held this post until 1830. Briggs was then selected by Sir James Graham (First Lord of the Admiralty) as his private secretary but soon appointed commissioner and accountant-general of the victualling board. When this board was abolished in 1832, he was appointed accountant-general of the navy and held this post for 22 years. Briggs was responsible for overhauling and improving the navy accounting system, including framing estimates, paying seamen and allowing them to remit part of their pay to their wives and families. He was knighted for his service in 1851.

Admiral Hamond was a Midshipman on Howe's Flagship at the 1794 victory. He commanded H.M.S. Blanche at Copenhagen in 1801 and captured Spanish treasure ships in 1804. He served in the attack on Flushing in 1809's disastrous Walcheren Campaign and, as a senior officer, held the post of Commander of the South American Station from 1834-48, becoming Rear Admiral in 1835, Admiral in 1847, and Admiral of the Fleet in 1862.