The Transport Board was a British government organisation responsible periodically between the late 17th and early 19th centuries for the overseas transport of troops and horses, arms and ammunition, naval and military supplies, provisions and other items.
It is also referred to as the Board of Transport and the Transport Office. The Board existed between and , and again between and In both these periods it was constituted and functioned as a subsidiary board of HM Treasury , but at the same time it had a necessarily close working relationship with the Admiralty , being staffed by naval officers and funded through the Naval Estimate.
Latterly the Board took on additional responsibilities: for the transportation of convicts , for the care and custody of prisoners of war and for the care of sick and wounded seamen. Responsibility for the transportation of troops rested with the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury , who in were required promptly to ship over 23, men and 4, horses to be mustered in Liverpool across the Irish Sea. They hired flyboats and fitted them up with cabins for the higher ranks and hammocks for the rest; the owners of the vessels provided the crew.
In the board was formally dissolved; nevertheless, two of its commissioners were retained in order to address the needs for transportation during the ongoing War of the Spanish Succession. A third Commissioner was engaged in , before the board was fully reconstituted by letters patent in In the board was reduced in size, before being abolished in The Board was not again reconstituted until the mids.
In the meantime, during periods of conflict the Navy Board , the Victualling Commissioners and the Board of Ordnance would all hire merchant ships to convey supplies to theatres of war as required; while the conveyance of troops remained in the hands of the Treasury commissioners until at which point they delegated this responsibility to the Navy Board.
