1. Records not in The National Archives
The departments of Customs, Excise and Revenue were at one time separated. After the Act of Union in 1707 a separate board for Scotland was established which ran until the 1823 when a United Kingdom board was established. Similarly in 1807 a separate board for Ireland was established which also lasted until 1823. As a result not all the records are held at The National Archives, Kew. The records for Scotland can be found at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh with some outport and excise records now held in local archives. Records about Scottish Customs staff following the Act of Union and up to 1822 can be found in the Scottish Customs Establishment Books (CE 3 and CE 12) as well as in some of the records at the National Archives, Kew. A research guide on Customs and Excise records as well as one on taxation is available online at the National Archives of Scotland.
The surviving Irish records can be found at the National Archives of Ireland, Dublin and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Belfast. Some of the records concerning places which are now part of the Irish Republic can be found in Belfast and some records for Northern Ireland can be found in Dublin, so a check of both archive offices is advisable. The National Archives of Ireland has, for example, an individual case from 1923 (FIN 1/3043) concerning the loss of a bicycle and trench coat during National Army service, but there may be others that are not yet available in their on-line catalogue. Records about Customs, Excise and Revenue men in Cornwall may be found in the Courtney Library at the Royal Institution of Cornwall in Truro or at the Cornwall Record Office, Truro, or from local newspapers.
2. Customs officers
The first Customs officers to be appointed go back to 1294. Later, they include Geoffrey Chaucer (author of The Canterbury Tales) and you can find further information in the The National Archives research guide Medieval Customs' Accounts. A published list can be found in The English Customs Service 1307-43, A Study of Medieval Administration (Robert L Baker, The American Philosophical Society, 1961). In addition, HM Stationery Office published (1913) An Account of the Commissioners of Customs, Excise, Hearthmoney, and Inland Revenue, 1642-1913, with similar information. Both of these books are available in The National Archives' library, Kew.
Warrants appointing Customs officers, 1714-1797, are to be found in series C 208, indexed by C 202/267-269. The Customs Officers Patent Rolls can be found in series C 209 (1722-1798), with copies for the period 1816-1856 in CUST 39/186-187. The Customs Board minute books, in CUST 28, contain information on the first and later postings of Customs officers, with details of any praise or censure.
For Customs officials, there are pay lists and staff lists, arranged by place, in PRO 30/32/15-29 (1673-1689), CUST 18 (1675-1813) and CUST 19 (1814-1829), CUST 39 (1671-1970) and T 42 1747-1847). There is a separate series within CUST 39 (pieces CUST 39/104-121 for 1860-1885) for Scotland (which is then continued in the Scotland and Ireland set in CUST 39/141-144 for 1885-1894. Additional records for 1714-1829 can be found in series T 43. Similar records for Ireland are to be found in CUST 20 (1684-1826) and CUST 39/122-140 for 1840; 1860-1885) then as part of the Scotland and Ireland set in CUST 39/141-144 for 1885-1894. (but this also includes some Excise men) However, in general these give little personal detail, although very occasionally details of marriage might be given. Some family details can be found in the pension records in CUST 39/145-151 which cover 1803 to 1922. For Ireland, there are pension records covering 1785-1898 in CUST 39/161 and CUST 39/162. The Scottish pension records can be found in CUST 39/160. The most useful for family historians are, as always, the sections relating to widows' pensions, which give details of any children. Applications for pensions (as well as appointments and other material) can be found in series T 1. These records can be found by using the Calendars of Treasury Books, Calendars of Treasury Papers and the Calendars of Treasury Books and Papers (up to 1745), with the records going back to 1660. There are also indexes in series T 2 (1777-1920), T 4 (1680-1819) and T 108 (1789-1920). T 2, T 4 and T 108 all need to be ordered as original documents. For more information on these records see the Research Guide Treasury Board: letters and papers 1557-1920. Additionally records about appointments, pay and discipline matters for the United Kingdom and Ireland can be found in series CUST 119. Other family details can be found among the correspondence of the individual ports ('outports' in the Customs service) with the Customs Board. In addition Ham's Customs Year Book contain details of officers and are available in The National Archives library, although it is not a complete collection.
Smuggling cases may mention individual officers and an indication of date and place would be needed. Some of the cases may be held locally, rather than at The National Archives.
For details of disciplinary offences, promotion, leave and pensions of staff for the period 1831-1921 see series CUST 40.
3. Excise officers
Many of the sources for tracing Excise men are similar to the Customs records. There are pay lists for the English Excise, 1705-1835 (T 44) and the Scottish Excise, 1708-1832 (T 45). There are virtually no pre-19th century staff records at The National Archives of Scotland for Excise Officers there (including the poet Robert Burns) as they were lost in a fire in the 19th century. There is an index there covering the surviving records from the period 1707-1830. However, some documents at The National Archives are available for the period 1820-1829 in CUST 116/74-80, these are searchable by name on the Catalogue.
The Excise Board minute books, 1695-1867 (CUST 47), contain the same kinds of information as those of the Customs Board, as do the Excise pension records 1856-1922 in CUST 39/157-159. However, there are also the Excise Entry Papers, 1820-1870 in CUST 116, these are searchable by name on the Catalogue. The Entry Papers usually consist of two letters, folded together. The first is a letter of recommendation, giving the name of the applicant, his age, place of birth, marital status (but no details of his wife), and a character reference. The second letter is from the Excise officer responsible for the applicant's training: this states whether he is proficient in writing, spelling and arithmetic. The Irish Excise records can be found in CUST 110 and CUST 119.
There is a list of excise officers in 1692 (CUST 109/9) which is arranged by county and then London with details of name, location and annual salary. Other documents on appointments can be found in CUST 109 but they are currently retained by HM Customs and Excise. Staff lists between 1870 and 1937 are available in CUST 39 (CUST 39/225-234 and CUST 39/249) for the periods 1870-1909, which appear to have been selected on a basis of one document for every three years. CUST 39/249 was created in the 1830s but includes information going back to 1760. Ham's Year Books are of help to discover the history of an officer's postings (see the Further reading section of this guide for details of The National Archives' library holdings of these books). However Excise Officers may be listed as officers of the Inland Revenue until about 1910 or 1911 when the new Board of Customs and Excise was established. The Year Books are available in The National Archives library, although they are not a complete collection.
4. Tax collectors
Tax Collectors have existed since the beginning of time, but it was from 1665 that a Board of Taxes originated following the voting of special taxation introduced to pay for the Dutch War and a central organisation to supervise the collection was required. Very little information about individuals exists from this period, except that three new tax agents were appointed . In 1667 an Exchange Office was established for receiving cash by exchange, developing into a Tax Office. The main tax they administered was the Land Tax, first levied in 1692 along with an assortment of other assessed taxes, including those taxes on houses, windows and dogs. Income Tax was introduced in various forms in 1797, 1799, 1803 until 1816 and then in reintroduced in 1842 and is agreed annually in the Finance Act as part of the Budget presented to Parliament by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. For details of taxation records before 1660 see the Research Guide on taxation records before 1689. The position in Scotland was different and The National Archives of Scotland has a Factsheet.
5. Inland Revenue
The Inland Revenue was created under the Inland Revenue Board Act 1849, after the Board of Excise and Board of Stamps and Taxes were amalgamated, although the excise responsibilities were transferred to the Board of Customs and Excise in 1909. Consequently the Excise and Inland Revenue records are to be found amongst the CUST and IR series of records, sometimes intermixed. Details of officials of the Inland Revenue can be found by looking at the series of establishment lists in series IR 147, which commences in December 1869 and ends on 1 April 1920. They contain details of staff (including those in Scotland and Ireland) including information about where they were employed, their salary, dates of appointment and promotion and also the date they were appointed to their then current position. In some cases their date of birth is also included. This list also includes the Collectors of Excise. The collection is not complete, but an additional collection of records can be found in CUST 39/235-248, CUST 39/259, and CUST 262-269 for the period 1870-1937, but which appears to have been selected on the basis of a document for every three years.
Personnel files seem to have existed at one time, but currently none are available at The National Archives, Kew. The establishment list for 1 April 1919 (IR 147/13) includes the Personal file numbers of staff. However, a search has found document T 1/11391 (file 3907/12 - from 1912) of an officer in the Stamps and Income Tax Department in Dublin concerning his appointment and salary and other documents exist in series T 1 (Treasury Board Papers 1557-May 1920). Another document (IR 81/116) concerns an individual who worked in the Office of Collector of Income Tax in Belfast, Northern Ireland. There may be other records at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland in Belfast. Finally the records of the Inland Revenue Benevolent Association in IR 92 could possibly include an individual's name and history.
A number of policy files for the Inland Revenue can be found in class IR 81 (although not all pieces are open and the access conditions should be checked on The Catalogue) and these include inquiries, staffing requirements, promotions and the employment of coloured people and women.
There is a fair amount of material for the employees of the separate Boards of Customs, Excise and Inland Revenue. For indexed directories of customs officers, excise men and other tax officials 1875-1930, see Ham's Customs Year Book (Customs, Excise and Inland Revenue) available in The National Archives' library. However, as has already been stated, some of the Inland Revenue staff were Excise Officers.
7. Useful addresses
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, 66 Balmoral Avenue, Belfast, BT 9 6NY, Northern Ireland , tel: +44 (0)28 9025 1318
National Archives of Ireland, Bishop Street, Dublin 8, Ireland, tel: +353 (1)407 2300
The Courtney Library, Royal Institution of Cornwall, River Street, Truro, Cornwall, UK, tel: 01872 272205
Cornwall Record Office, County Hall, Truro, Cornwall, TR1 3AY, UK, tel: +44 (0)1872 323127
6. Further reading
Ham's Customs Year Book (annual: National Archives' library holds copies for 1875-1930)
Ham's Inland Revenue (and Customs) Year Book (annual: National Archives' library has copies for 1875-1930)
G Smith, Something to Declare! 1000 years of Customs and Excise (London, 1980)
Sidney Knox Mitchell, Taxation in Medieval England (Yale University Press, 1951)
Elizabeth Evelynola Hoon, The Organization of the English Customs System 1696-1786 (1938, reprinted 1968)
Cecil Sinclair, Tracing Your Scottish Ancestors (HMSO, 1990)
Frances Wilkins, Family Histories in Scottish Customs Records (Kidderminster, Wyre Forest Press, 1993)
Francis Wilkins, Scottish and Excise Records with Particular Reference to Strathclyde. From 1707 onwards (Kidderminster, Wyre Forest Press, 1992)
