A remarkable and unusually complete four-page British military accounting file documenting the transport of Royal Artillery guns and ammunition within wartime Halifax, Nova Scotia, during the French Revolutionary Wars.
Dated November-December 1798, the archive traces an entire government transaction from work performed, through military certification and audit, to payment and final archival filing.
In November 1798, Halifax contractor John Harwood supplied teams of horses for moving Royal Artillery guns and shot between the Artillery Park and His Majesty’s Careening Yard, linking the principal Army and Royal Navy establishments in Halifax. The account totals £6 10s Halifax Currency.
Historical Context
This document was created during an active phase of the French Revolutionary Wars, when Halifax served as Britain’s principal North American naval and military base. Britain remained at war with Revolutionary France, while Halifax’s harbour defences were simultaneously being strengthened under Prince Edward Augustus, later Duke of Kent and father of Queen Victoria. The harbour’s strategic importance was such that major improvements to its fortifications were completed during 1798.
Although the document does not state the precise purpose of the ordnance movement, it provides direct evidence of the logistical operations supporting Britain’s wartime military establishment in North America.
Page 1 – Original Account
John Harwood’s invoice records the provision of horse teams on 14-17 November 1798 for:
- Drawing guns from the Artillery Park to His Majesty’s Careening Yard.
- Drawing shot (ammunition).
- Additional artillery transport.
Signed by:
John Harwood
Certified by:
Lt.-Col. Thomas Desbrisay
Commanding Royal Artillery at Halifax
Examined and approved by:
Thomas Beckwith
Assistant Commissary General
Page 2 – Board Approval & Payment Warrant
The account was subsequently approved by the Halifax Board of Accounts.
The approval is endorsed by:
Lt.-Col. Anthony Lewis Layard
Royal Fusiliers (7th Regiment of Foot)
A formal payment warrant then directs:
Alexander Brymer Esq.
Deputy Paymaster General
to pay the amount due.
Signed:
Brigadier-General John Murray
Commanding in the Peninsula of Nova Scotia
This is the stage at which the claim became an authorised charge upon the British military treasury.
Page 3 – Receipt of Payment
On 31 December 1798, Harwood acknowledged receipt of:
£6 10s Halifax Currency
“in full of the foregoing Account and Order.”
Signed:
John Harwood
Witnessed by:
W. Atkins
This final receipt proves that the account was actually settled and paid.
Page 4 – Original Docket
The outer filing panel is endorsed:
“Duplicate”
and records:
- John Harwood
- £6 10s Currency
- 31 December 1798
- Sterling equivalent: £6 1s 4d Stlg
The docket demonstrates the conversion of local Halifax Currency into British Sterling for imperial accounting purposes and confirms that this survivor was one of the official retained copies preserved within the military accounting system.
Signatures Present
The document contains signatures or endorsements of:
- John Harwood (twice)
- Lt.-Col. Thomas Desbrisay, Royal Artillery
- Thomas Beckwith, Assistant Commissary General
- Lt.-Col. Anthony Lewis Layard, Royal Fusiliers
- Brigadier-General John Murray
- W. Atkins, witness
with Alexander Brymer, Deputy Paymaster General, named throughout the payment process.
Why This Archive Matters
Most surviving military vouchers preserve only a bill, approval or receipt.
This four-page file preserves the entire chain of administration:
Service Rendered → Royal Artillery Certification → Commissariat Examination → Board of Accounts Approval → Brigadier-General’s Payment Warrant → Treasury Disbursement → Signed Receipt → Archival Docketing
It therefore provides a rare and unusually complete insight into how the British Army contracted, audited, paid and archived military expenditure in Nova Scotia during the French Revolutionary Wars.
Condition
Complete four-page folded document.
As expected, the archive is in well-used and somewhat tatty condition, showing folds, age toning, creasing, edge wear and archival handling marks accumulated over more than two centuries.
Importantly, the file remains complete, historically coherent and fully legible throughout, retaining all significant signatures, endorsements, accounting entries and docketing.
An outstanding survival from wartime Halifax, bringing together civilian contractors, the Royal Artillery, the Royal Fusiliers, the Commissariat, the military treasury and the senior command structure of Nova Scotia in a single complete administrative file.
Provenance:
One of c.2,500+ items once from the collection or dealer stock of Winifred A Myers (Autographs) Ltd, St Martins Lane, London, evidenced by the quantity of Myers pre-printed envelopes and paper folders and the general ‘presentation’ of the items, many having Myers identification notes in pencil.
Winifred Alice Myers (1909 – 1985) served as ABA (Antiquarian Booksellers Assoc) president, 1950-1952. See the ABA website for an extended article on Myers. Myers left her business, in 1985, to Ruth Shepherd, who traded from home until 2004.
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