Editing Civil service (section)

===Modern civil service===
In the 18th century, in response to economic changes and the growth of the [[British Empire]], the bureaucracy of institutions such as the [[Office of Works]] and the [[Navy Board]] greatly expanded. Each had its own system, but in general, staff were appointed through patronage or outright purchase. By the 19th century, it became increasingly clear that these arrangements were falling short. "The origins of the British civil service are better known. During the eighteenth century a number of Englishmen wrote in praise of the Chinese examination system, some of them going so far as to urge the adoption for England of something similar. The first concrete step in this direction was taken by the British East India Company in 1806."<ref name=Bodde/> In that year, the [[Honourable East India Company]] established a college, the [[East India Company College]], near London to train and examine administrators of the company's territories in India.<ref name=Bodde/> "The proposal for establishing this college came, significantly, from members of the East India Company's trading post in Canton, China."<ref name=Bodde/> Examinations for the Indian "civil service"—a term coined by the Company—were introduced in 1829.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/highercivilservi0000hudd|url-access=registration|title=The Higher Civil Service in the United States: Quest for Reform|author=Mark W. Huddleston, William W. Boyer|year=1996|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|isbn=978-0822974734}}</ref>

British efforts at reform were influenced by the [[imperial examination]]s system and [[Meritocracy|meritocratic system]] of China. Thomas Taylor Meadows, Britain's consul in [[Guangzhou]], China argued in his ''Desultory Notes on the Government and People of China'', published in 1847, that "the long duration of the Chinese empire is solely and altogether owing to the good government which consists in the advancement of men of talent and merit only", and that the British must reform their civil service by making the institution meritocratic.<ref name=Bodde>{{cite web|last=Bodde|first=Derke|title=China: A Teaching Workbook|url=http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/readings/inventions_ideas.htm|publisher=Columbia University|access-date=2012-08-05|archive-date=2012-01-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104040501/http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/readings/inventions_ideas.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> On the other hand, John Browne, in the 1854 debate mentioned above, 'argued that elegant writing had become an end in itself, and the stultifying effect of this on the Chinese civil service had contributed in no small measure to China's failure to develop its early lead over Western civilisations': Coolican, p. 107.

[[File:Charles Edward Trevelyan.jpg|right|thumb|upright|[[Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet|Charles Trevelyan]], an architect of [[Her Majesty's Civil Service]], established in 1855 on his recommendations.]]
In 1853 the [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] [[William Ewart Gladstone|William Gladstone]], commissioned Sir [[Stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh|Stafford Northcote]] and [[Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet|Charles Trevelyan]] to look into the operation and organisation of the Civil Service. Influenced by the Chinese imperial examinations, the [[Northcote–Trevelyan Report]] of 1854 made four principal recommendations: that recruitment should be on the basis of merit determined through competitive examination, that candidates should have a solid general education to enable inter-departmental transfers, that recruits should be graded into a hierarchy and that promotion should be through achievement, rather than "preferment, patronage or purchase". It also recommended a clear division between staff responsible for routine ("mechanical") work, and those engaged in policy formulation and implementation in an "administrative" class.<ref name= "APH">{{cite book|editor1-last=Kazin|editor2-last= Edwards|editor3-last= Rothman |date=2010|page= 142|title = The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History|publisher= Princeton University Press|isbn = 9780691129716}}</ref>

The report was well-timed, because bureaucratic chaos during the [[Crimean War]] was causing a clamour for the change. The report's conclusions were immediately implemented, and a permanent, unified and politically neutral civil service was introduced as [[Her Majesty's Civil Service]]. A [[Civil Service Commission (United Kingdom)|Civil Service Commission]] was also set up in 1855 to oversee open recruitment and end patronage, and most of the other Northcote–Trevelyan recommendations were implemented over some years.<ref>{{cite news|last=Walker|first=David|title=Fair game|newspaper=The Guardian|date=2003-07-09|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2003/jul/09/publicsector.guardiansocietysupplement|access-date=2003-07-09|location=London|archive-date=2013-12-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228032309/http://www.theguardian.com/society/2003/jul/09/publicsector.guardiansocietysupplement|url-status=live}}</ref> 

The same model, the [[Imperial Civil Service]], was implemented in [[British India]] from 1858, after the demise of the [[East India Company]]'s rule in India through the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]] which came close to toppling British rule in the country.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DmyVKwxmeyUC |title=In quest of Indian folktales: Pandit Ram Gharib Chaube and William Crooke |first=Sadhana |last=Naithani |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2006 |page=6 |isbn=978-0-253-34544-8 |access-date=2015-10-14 |archive-date=2016-05-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512113605/https://books.google.com/books?id=DmyVKwxmeyUC |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Northcote–Trevelyan model remained essentially stable for a hundred years. This was a tribute to its success in removing corruption, delivering public services (even under the stress of two world wars), and responding effectively to political change. It also had a great international influence and was adapted by members of the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]]. The [[Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act]] established a modern civil service in the United States, and by the turn of the 20th century almost all Western governments had implemented similar reforms.