Thanks go to Alan Sutton who sent us this research on his 4th great-grandfather, William Milner, who was stationed at Scarborough from 1821 to 1826. The attached outlines of his career (which ended in Ireland in 1846) explains how Alan came by the information relating to it, a good part of which relates to Scarborough.
William Milner, Preventive Officer
A brief history of the Coastguards
The Preventive Waterguard was instituted in 1809 under three inspecting commanders. In 1816 the
Preventive Waterguard passed to the direct control of the Treasury. It was then considerably altered
and extended, becoming the principal force for protection of the revenue on the coast. In 1817 and
1818 the preventive waterguard was withdrawn from Kent and Sussex coasts and replaced there by
the Coast Blockade under the Admiralty. By Treasury minute of 15 January 1822 the Comptroller-
General of the Preventive Waterguard and his staff, and the Admiralty and Excise revenue cruisers,
were transferred to the Board of Customs. The Preventive Waterguard, renamed the Coastguard in
1822, was thereafter extended to the whole of the United Kingdom.
The establishment for the prevention of smuggling thereafter consisted of the revenue cruisers, the
Coastguard at the several stations along the coast, and the riding officers or land guard, all under
the orders and superintendence of the Controller-General of the Coastguard.
In 1856 superintendence of the Controller-General of the Coastguard was transferred from the Board
of Customs to the Admiralty. In 1869 the office of Controller-General was abolished, control of the
Coastguard passing to chief of the staff and then in 1874 to the admiral superintendent of Naval
Reserves (from 1903 admiral commanding Coastguard and Reserves), both of whom were
responsible to the First Sea Lord. In April 1923 control of the Coastguard Service passed to the
Mercantile Marine Department of the Board of Trade.
The Preventive Waterguard, which had been founded under the Board of Customs in 1809, was
transferred in 1816 to the immediate supervision of the Treasury, executive control being vested in a
comptroller general. A separate comptroller general and his staff were transferred to the Board of
customs, under which the preventive waterguard was soon renamed the Coastguard.
(Courtesy of the National Archive)
