Taxes

Taxes have always been with us, and many lists identifying taxpayers survive among the records. There are also records of people in arrears and sometimes of those exempted from payment. Taxes were collected locally and some tax lists may survive locally in county record offices, use www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a to locate material. Money was accounted for in the Exchequer, and later the Treasury, and other lists of taxpayers can be found here in The National Archives.

Early tax assessments are one way of tracing the origins and the distribution of surnames. Tax lists are also a useful resource to use in conjunction with parish registers and manorial court rolls. They can help to trace people´s movements and enable you to find an ancestor or their family if they move from one area to another.

For records of taxation and to identify which documents will contain names of taxpayers in England and Wales from the late twelfth century to 1698 you can search the E 179 database.  E 179 is the main series of subsidy records and the database identifies the surviving returns for each form of taxation. You can specify the tax, grant and type of document you are seeking. You can also search by township, parish, hundred and county. To consult the documents you will need to visit. If, as in a few cases, documents have been transcribed and published, details will be given on the database.

Poll Taxes

Poll taxes were taxes on individuals, ´poll´ meaning head. The medieval poll taxes of 1377, 1379 and 1381, during the reign of Richard II, were partly responsible for the peasants´ revolt of 1381. Later poll taxes were authorized and surviving returns are in E 179. Search the database.

Seven were raised after the Restoration in 1660, 1667, 1678, 1689, 1691, 1694 and 1697. Returns for these last four years are in county bundles in E 182. Money was collected as a levy based on a person´s social rank, occupation or office. The amounts varied over the years with each grant of the tax. Single people had to contribute and also children in some grants. Only paupers were exempted. Parish lists of assessed persons and those who paid are arranged by county then by administrative division, usually hundred.

Hearth Tax

In 1662 the government introduced a twice-yearly charge of a shilling for every fire, hearth or stove in domestic dwellings. The tax was due at Michaelmas (29 September) and Lady Day (25 March). Houses rented at less than one pound a year or containing less than ten pounds worth of goods were exempt, as were hospitals and almshouses. Paupers were excused, provided they produced an exemption certificate signed by their parish priest and a churchwarden. The tax was unpopular and difficult to administer and was abolished in 1689.

The lists record the householders and the number of hearths in each property, and the amount payable. Properties are not described and so cannot usually be identified. Not every householder is listed, as there was widespread evasion. Some who could have paid secured exemption certificates instead. At times the tax was farmed out and when this was the case surviving lists will be found in local record offices. From 1662 to 1666 and 1669 to 1674 it was collected directly and returns survive here in the series E 179. Search the database www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/e179 by place and specify hearth tax.

Land Tax

From 1692 a Land Tax was imposed on all landowners, which was not abolished until 1963. Most surviving assessment lists are held locally in county record offices. Some related material can be found in E 182 and E 183, but these do not contain any assessment lists. In 1798 it became possible for landowners to pay a lump sum or purchase government stock releasing them from future liability. As a result of this the 1798 assessments were held centrally and are now in the series IR 23. They show the names of landed proprietors and their tenants, tax assessment and contract numbers where future liability was redeemed. The registers are arranged by county, divided into administrative divisions and parishes.

The contracts of landowners redeeming their liability are in the series IR 24 arranged by number. The contracts should tell you where each owner lived, and the acreages of land involved, though there are no precise descriptions of property. The Parish Books of Redemptions from 1905 to 1950 in IR 22 include plans of the properties concerned.

Other taxes

There are a number of other surviving tax returns, many of which can be searched for in the E 179 database. The online catalogue should also be searched to find material in other series.