The Lord Treasurer or Lords of the Treasury would issue an order authorizing the Exchequer of Receipt to pay a person for named services. The Auditor of the Receipt ordered one of four Tellers of the Receipt to pay it out of a named fund, and the Clerk of the Pells compared the order with the original warrant, entering the payment on his Issue Roll and annotating the order. The order was then endorsed by the payee as a receipt (acquittance), with his signature possibly witnessed, and the money paid. The order was kept with the Teller until his account was examined by the Auditor, who eventually took control of the records.

Each order begins: "Order is taken..." and ends: "...and these together with his Acquittance shall be your Discharge therein." They are on paper; the right-hand margin containing the signatures of 4 Lords of the Treasury, the signature of the Auditor, other clerical signatures, and often the date of the subscription, has been torn away. Some items are near fragments. Most are endorsed by the actual signature of the payee, which should indicate that these are the original orders; but most are struck through as if discarded or recopied. "HM" throughout, depending on the dating of the item, may refer to Queen Anne (1665-1714), King George I (1660-1727), or King George II (1683-1760).

The first 13 orders in the collection were directed to "Lord William Powlet" or "My Lord Onslow." William, Lord Paulet [also spelled Powlett or Poulett] was a Teller from 1714-1739; Thomas, Baron Onslow (1679-1740) was a Teller from 1718-1740.