Payroll Account of Serjeant James Robertson, 1758

An accountant at the War Office in Westminster, London, was ultimately responsible for the tracking of hundreds of millions of pounds being spent on funding British armies on multiple fronts around the world. At the regimental level, paymasters were charged with accounting for the income and expenses of every soldier, ensuring assets were properly tracked down to the very last pence. (Jeffrey Campbell, Accountability, 2025. Artist's rendition created with Perchance AI Image Generator) 

Payroll Account of Serjeant James Robertson, 1758

Much like today, accounting books were used in the eighteenth century for documenting military pay and other related expenses accrued over periods of time. The payroll account of Serjeant James Robertson, 78th Regiment, covers the period of July 5, 1757, through April 24, 1758.

Note: Category headers and bracketed script have been added for clarification and do not appear in the original document. Additionally, it would not be uncommon to discover accounting errors as these were gentlemen who created inaccuracies the same as you and I.

[Page 1 - Serjeant James Robertson]

Income

To 9 Weeks Pay w/ arrears & 2 weeks arrears in Ireland Due him

     £3. 3. 2

To 6 Weeks arrears at Halifax

     £0. 5. 10

To 6 Weeks Pay & arrears from y'e. 17th Oct'r. to y'e. 28th Nov.

     £2. 1. 0

To 21 Weeks arrears from y'e. 28th Nov. 1757 to y'e. 24th Apr'l. 1758

     £1. 1. 0

To Cash Due for paying 90 Effectives of Major Clephane's Comp'y.
for 10 months

     £3. 16. 3

To Cash Due for paying 14 Men of s'd. Comp'y. for 4 months

£0. 4. 8

[Total]  £10. 11. 11

Expenses

To 1 Pair Shoes & 1 Nap Sack

     £0. 6. 6

To 1 Haversack & 1 Cocade

     £0. 1. 8

To 1 Kilt & 1 Small belt

     £0. 1. 4

Provision at Glasgow

     £0. 4. 8

Spruce Beer at Halifax

     £0. 2. 8

To 2 Cheq'd. Shirts

     £0. 7. 0

To Y'e. Proportion of a Cook's Frock

£0. 0. 8

To 7 Months stopages for y'e. Barber

     £0. 1. 2

To Cash given at Fairf'd. & advance

     £0. 18. 8

  [Total]  £2. 4. 4

 [Income minus Expenses equals Cash Paid]

To Cash Paid as Ball'ce. of y'e. above

       £8. 7. 7

Halifax 17th May 1758 Rec'd. the above Ball'ce. in full of all my Pay & arrears of Pay from the Date of my Attestation to the 24th Apr. last as witness of my hand.     
                                                                                                  [signed]  Jas Robertson Serjt.

Source:

Major James Clephane, "Payroll account of Serjeant James Robertson, 1758." Military Account Book at Halifax, NAS GD125-34-5, pp. 6-7.

©  Jeffrey Campbell, Fraser's 78th Regiment of Foot, 2017.