What was the purpose of the Board of Control on which Thomas Babington Macaulay served?

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Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay Thomas Babington Macaulay, detail of an oil painting by J. Partridge, 1840; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

The Board of Control was established by William Pitt the Younger’s India Act of 1784 to provide political oversight of the East India Company.1

While the company’s directors remained responsible for commerce and served as political executants, the Board of Control acted as a supervisory body that ensured the British government maintained authority over policy. The board held the power to dictate, alter, or veto the company's dispatches to India, effectively serving as the government's instrument to manage the company's political affairs without assuming direct control of its patronage. Thomas Babington Macaulay served as a member and later as secretary of this board, where he was responsible for supervising the administration of India.12