Her Majesty's Civil Service
Thursday, May 1st, 2008 05:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caddymanI don’t know if I have ever mentioned this before, but I have in my possession at work, a Guide to Employment in the Civil Service published, I assume, sometime after 1876 (the latest date I can find in it refers to The Order in Council of February, 1876), but probably before 1880. The latter is a complete guess, but since the book purports to be a guide and gives pay scales for the different civil service jobs open to competition at the time of publication, I would assume they would be updated regularly and the longer it was in print, the greater the need for a date explaining the validity of the scales.
I have learnt a number of interesting things from this guide: the chief clerk to the Inspector of Lunatic Asylums could expect to receive an annual stipend of between £300 and £450 dependent upon seniority; amongst the recommended books for study for a young gentleman wishing to enter the Indian Civil Service was The Hedaya, a Commentary on Mussulman Law, 4 vols and with questions such as “Given a 1/2 –inch square bar of iron 2 feet long, what force would it take to stretch it ¼ of an inch, taking the modulus of elasticity of wrought iron at 29,000,000 lbs?” I should never have landed a job in the Office of County Surveyor (Ireland).
To be honest, I doubt very much that I could land a decent job in the general civil service looking at a typical examination question:
I might have been able to land a job as an office keeper for the Lunacy Commission, netting me around £100 a year.
Good times.
I have learnt a number of interesting things from this guide: the chief clerk to the Inspector of Lunatic Asylums could expect to receive an annual stipend of between £300 and £450 dependent upon seniority; amongst the recommended books for study for a young gentleman wishing to enter the Indian Civil Service was The Hedaya, a Commentary on Mussulman Law, 4 vols and with questions such as “Given a 1/2 –inch square bar of iron 2 feet long, what force would it take to stretch it ¼ of an inch, taking the modulus of elasticity of wrought iron at 29,000,000 lbs?” I should never have landed a job in the Office of County Surveyor (Ireland).
To be honest, I doubt very much that I could land a decent job in the general civil service looking at a typical examination question:
“Define Emotion. Show the dependence of the Emotions on Sensation and on Intellect; and classify them.
Analyse Sympathy. State what it includes; and give its connection with Tender Feeling.”
I might have been able to land a job as an office keeper for the Lunacy Commission, netting me around £100 a year.
Good times.