A Civil Servant's Diary, 1841–46
| Author | Henry Parris |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1960.tb01277.x |
| Date | 01 December 1960 |
| Published date | 01 December 1960 |
A
Civil Servant’s Diary,
1841-46
By HENRY
PARRIS
Dr
Parris
is
Hallsworth Research Fellow at the University
of
Manchester.
AJOR-GENERAL SIR CHARLES PASLEY (1780-1861) was a
M
distinguished officer of the Royal Engineers who passed the last few
years
of
his working life in the Civil Service. Educated at the Royal Military
Academy, Woolwich, he was commissioned in 1797. From 1799 he saw
much active service in the wars against Napoleon. In 1812 he became the
first Director of the Royal Engineers Establishment at Chatham, a post he
continued to hold until 1841.* The man appointed to succeed him-
Lt.-Col. Sir Frederic Smith-was Inspector-General of Railways at the
Board of Trade. Pasley, reluctant to retire on half-pay, applied for Smith’s
post and got
it.
From the present point of view, the important thing about
Pasley is that he kept a diary,l which gives a detailed picture of life in the
Civil Service in the early Victorian age.
HIS
WORK
How hard did Pasley have to work
?
Was he like the fountains in Trafalgar
Square
?
In one sense, he was not hard pressed. He acted as Public Examiner
to the East India Company’s School at Addiscombe throughout his time in
the Railway Department of the Board of Trade. Sometimes he was away
from London for weeks at a time supervising an important salvage operation
for the Admiralty, namely, the raising of the wreck of the
Royal
George
at
Spithead. But he was ready to work extremely hard when necessary, as
it
often was. On 14th December 1845, for instance, he was “obliged after
writing dl day to go to York by the night mail.” He returned to London the
next day, and on the 16th, attended important speed trials on the Great
Western. On 11th May 1846, he was on duty in Devonshire. He spent the
night at Exeter and went next day to Liverpool. After carrying out various
inspections there, he went on the 13th to Manchester and the next day,
by rail, coach and chaise, to Berwick-upon-Tweed via York. Thence he
went to Edinburgh, returning to Newcastle by the mail-coach seated beside
the driver. After sleeping at Derby, he got home on the 17th. On 31st July
1846, he went to Nottingham for an inspection. The following day he was
in Sheffield and Manchester, where there were lines to inspect. Although he
got wet through in a thunderstorm, official callers at his hotel
in
the evening
prevented him getting to bed. The next day was a Sunday, but he managed
to fit in another inspection between church and bathing at Fleetwood. On
the Monday he went by boat to inspect lines in Furness. After one more
inspection, he returned to London on the Tuesday. On 2nd October 1846,
*For Pasley’s career, see
D.N.B.
There
is
an unpublished biography
of
him
in
the
British Museum
(Add.
M.S.
41766)
;
but
its
account
of
his
career
ends
in
1841.
369
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