These rolls are presumed to be personal copies of Edward Russell (1653-1727). They are formal documents, written with iron gall ink in a court hand onto parchment membranes. Each roll consists of many membranes that are sewn together. The width of the rolls is consistent, at around 330mm, though the unfurled length of each varies from 6-12m (19-41ft).
The accounts were submitted by Russell in his role as head of the Navy Pay Office. The Treasurer was a political appointment, responsible for agreeing expenditure on the Navy and ensuring bills were paid. His accounts were presented for audit purposes to the Lord High Treasurer, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer.
Each presentation covers one financial year, from April to March, though was typically made some years afterwards. The accounts are written as a piece of continuous text, consisting of the itemised list of individual payments made by each branch of the Pay Office. Additionally, one roll is dedicated to the accounts for building 27 named ships across the period 1691-1699.
Russell died without heir. The rolls passed into the family of his mother, Penelope Hill, who was daughter of Sir Moyses Hill of Hillsborough, County Down. The Hills subsequently became Marquesses of Downshire, married into the Trumbull family, and lived at Easthampstead Park near Bracknell. And it was from Easthampstead that the rolls were first deposited in the Berkshire Record Office, in 1954, by the 7th Marquess.
There were 13 of them. In 1989, together with many other Trumbull papers, they were withdrawn from the Record Office and sold through Sotheby’s. Although the diplomatic material was purchased by the British Library the remaining papers, including the rolls, were auctioned in London and acquired privately. In 2012, one of the rolls, probably number 3, fetched $2,400 in New York.
