Household of James Duke of York
Household of James, Duke of York 1660-1685 The household of James, Duke of York and associated households of family members were paid for out of his vast annual revenue, estimated by contemporaries to have ranged between £100,000 and £150,000. In fact, early in the reign of his brother, in 1663, his annual revenue amounted to only £47,000, which was inadequate to pay for a household costing £75,000 per annum. This forced a retrenchment to an annual establishment of £60,000. But later in the reign, his revenue grew with the national economy. It included over £20,000 per annum (surrendered to the King in exchange for £24,000 per annum in 1663) out of the Wine Licenses and anywhere from £24,000 to £60,000 per annum from the Post Office revenues, plus his profits from the Court of Admiralty (in addition to one tenth of all prize money) as lord admiral, additional occasional grants, and the revenues from lands awarded to him from executed regicides and traitors in England and Ireland.1 1. F. C. Turner, James II (New York, 1948), p. 69n; J. Miller, James II: a Study in Kingship (New Haven, 2,000), p. 42; C. D. Chandaman, The English Public Revenue 1660-1688 (Oxford, 1980), pp. 26n, 117, 120, 121, 261, 336. The Council and Revenue Treasurers and Receivers General 1660-1685 Prior to 1n 1666 the treasurer and receiver general received £20 per annum. In that year he was given an additional £300 per annum for his attendance on the Duke and Duchess of York ‘and for all druggs, medicaments, and compositions whatsoever by him bought, prepared and administered to both their Royal Highnesses, their Highnesses the Duke of Cambridge, Lady Mary, and Lady Ann, and all their Royal Highnesses’ livery servants.’ In 1671 he received £6 13s 4d as treasurer and receiver general to the Duke.
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