Civil List. Down to the period of the Restoration in 1660, notwithstanding an attempt at negotiation between James I. and the parliament for the commutation of the hereditary revenues of the crown, the whole expenses of the government of England, civil and military, were included in one list, or rather they were defrayed out of what was called the royal revenue. This revenue, which arose partly from crown-lands, partly from the hereditary excise and other hereditary revenues, and partly from the ordinary excise, was for a long period after the Conquest really at the disposal of the crown. Even after the supplies were provided by parliament, the specific mode of their expenditure continued to be free from parliamentary control. But at the Restoration a distinction was made (by statute 12 Charles II.) between the extraordinary expenses occasioned by war, and the ordinary cost of the civil establishments of the country. For the latter the needful funds were provided, partly from such crown-lands as were still unalienated, and partly from taxes which parliament voted for the purpose at the commencement of each reign. These were called the hereditary or civil list revenues, the amount of which was in 1689 fixed at £600,000 per annum. During the reign of William III. the civil list was twice raised, and in 1698, after the war with France, stood at £700,000. To provide the additional sum a new subsidy of customs was granted to the king for life. The branches of expenditure included under this head were the following: (1) The royal household; (2) the privy purse; (3) the royal palaces; (4) the salaries of the chancellor, judges, great officers of state, and ambassadors; (5) the incomes given to the other members of the royal family; (6) the secret-service money, pensions, and other irregular claims. The support of the army and navy was, however, provided for by an annual vote of the House of Commons, and the interest of the national debt was never charged against the civil list. During Queen Anne's reign matters remained nearly on their former footing; the civil list remaining at £700,000, provided for out of the excise on liquors, the new subsidy of customs of 1698, and the land revenues of the crown. This was also the amount during the reign of George I., but on the accession of George II. it was raised to £800,000; and again in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of George III. it had to be further raised to £1,030,000. George III. surrendered some portions of the hereditary revenue of the crown which had been retained by his predecessors, and the annuities to members of the royal family were now paid out of the Consolidated Fund (q.v.) to the amount of £260,000. When George IV. succeeded to the throne, £255,000 of expenditure was transferred to other funds, and the civil list was fixed at £850,000 per annum. The crown enjoyed, in addition, the hereditary revenue of Scotland, amounting to about £110,000, and a separate civil list was kept up for Ireland of £207,000. Against these large sums, however, were still placed many charges which belonged to the nation rather than the crown; and it was not till the 15th November 1830 that Sir Henry Parnell, afterwards Lord Congleton, carried a motion for the appointment of a select committee for the purpose of separating the proper expenses of the crown from all other charges. The result of this measure was the act, 1 Will. IV. c. 25, for the regulation of the civil list. The sum of £510,000 was in 1831 granted to his majesty, and exclusively devoted to the privy purse, the salaries and expenses of the royal household, secret-service money, and pensions. The separate list for Ireland was discontinued, and the Scotch hereditary revenues and other items were directed to be paid into the Exchequer. The change was rather a redistribution, which enabled the country to look more closely into its expenditure, than a real reduction of the civil list.
On the accession of Queen Victoria, the civil list, which had long been of the nature of a permanent compact between the monarch and the parliament, and as such beyond the control of parliament during the life of the sovereign, was settled by 1 and 2 Vict. chap. 2. The Queen surrendered the hereditary revenues of the crown for life, in consideration of a yearly sum of £385,000, charged against the Consolidated Fund, to be devoted solely to the support of Her Majesty's household, and the honour and dignity of the crown. The application of this sum was intrusted to the Lords of the Treasury, who were directed to pay yearly (1) to the Queen's privy purse, £60,000; (2) salaries and expenses of the royal household, £231,260; (3) retiring allowances and pensions to officers, &c. of the household, £44,240; (4) for royal bounties, alms, and special services, £36,300; (5) general expenditure of the court, £13,200. This sum of £385,000 does not include the annuities of £40,000 per annum to the Prince, and £10,000 per annum to the Princess of Wales, nor the other grants made by special acts of parliament to members of the royal family. It is provided that if the civil list charges in any one year shall exceed the total sum of £400,000, an account of the particulars of excess shall be laid before parliament in thirty days. Besides the above sum, Her Majesty was accorded the right of granting new pensions, to the amount of £1200 every year, 'to persons who have just claims on the royal beneficence, or who, by their personal services to the crown, by the performance of duties to the public, or by their useful discoveries in science, and attainments in literature and the arts, have merited the gracious consideration of their sovereign and the gratitude of their country.' These pensions amount to about £25,000 per annum, so that the gross sum allotted to the civil list every year is now about £410,000.