Trace your Family Tree from the Hearth Tax
Tax records have always proved to be a useful source of information for family historians and genealogists, and the Hearth Tax records are no exception. They date from the late 17th century and were in operation between 1662 when they were brought in by Charles II and 1689 when they were repealed by William and Mary. Some of the returns provide significant information 150 years before the first really useful Census took place in 1841.
They provide a unique snapshot of domestic occupancy during the Restoration period. If your ancestors occupied a substantial property there is very fair chance their names will be recorded provided they lived in one of those counties where records are extant and reasonably complete, such as Kent or Yorkshire. Here are some of the frequently asked questions about the Hearth Tax.
1 What was the Hearth Tax?
The Hearth Tax was an emergency measure, and was introduced at a time of severe fiscal shortfall. King Charles had to find a quick way to boost the coffers of the Exchequer, so he introduced a tax on households to be paid every six months at Michaelmas in the autumn and on Lady Day in the spring. The amount due was based on the number of hearths in a house, the value of the house and the income of the occupiers.
2 How was it administered?
Because it was levied on people as well as on property, it was inherently complicated, and the administration was both complex and confusing. At one period government officials administered the tax directly from the centre. At other times the collection was farmed out to private tax collectors. Under this latter arrangement they paid a fixed sum for the privilege of extracting the taxes from those who were deemed to be eligible. Strangely enough these ‘farmers’ were not required to send in regular returns to the Exchequer.
3 Who had to pay the tax?
Everyone had to pay the Hearth Tax unless they were exempted. You paid if your house was worth more than 20 shillings a year and you contributed to the local church and poor rates.
However, bearing in mind the two disparate methods of collection mentioned above it is not surprising if there was a degree of uncertainty amongst local officials about the criteria to be applied in all circumstances. The very poorest members of society were consistently exempted, but there may have been borderline cases that could have gone either way.
4 Where do we find the records?
At the National Archives in Kew the E179 database is the main portal for medieval and early modern taxation demands on the population. The majority of Hearth Tax documents can now be found there. However the picture is still far from complete. To remedy this gap in the data the Centre for Hearth Tax Research was established in 1995 under the direction of Professor Margaret Spufford, FBA, and supported by Roehampton University Two major projects are now under way. One concerns the fresh analysis of the situation in London during the Great Fire (1666) and the other is concerned with the publication of records county by county.
5 What can we gain from the records?
When researching we do need to remember that the administrative units were very different in the late 17th century. There were counties, hundreds, boroughs and parishes, and of course in any instances place names will have changed as well. Officially everyone should have been listed, either as having to pay the tax or as being exempted. In some cases the list of the exempted became a simple number and no lists of names of the poorer inhabitants survive.
However, once one has negotiated these potential pitfalls and found the right list of householders it can be very rewarding to be able to confirm who belonged to the family tree at that time. Sometimes comments made by the officials who were compiling the returns added interesting points of detail serving to enrich and fill out the story of your family chronicle in that period of time.
Build your Family Tree from Census Returns
1 When did the Census begin?
A Census is a complete population count for a given area or place taken on a specific date. The first National Census held in the United Kingdom was in 1801, the year when the Act of Union of Great Britain and Ireland was passed, and also the year when the Union Jack was newly authorized. This first Census was a useful but rather limited start.
The first Census of particular value to genealogists was held on 6 June 1841, when names were systematically recorded for the first time. It was held on a Sunday when most people could be expected to be at home. Whereas the population was a little over 10 million in 1801, by 1841 it had risen to 18.5 million in Great Britain and 8 million in Ireland mainly as a result of the phenomenal growth of the Industrial Revolution in parts of England. The population of the United States was a modest 17 million at that time.
2 Where are they found?
For many years researchers had to physically visit a library or record office for the information they needed. Since the dawn of the Internet all that has changed. The Family Records Centre is located at 1, Myddelton Street, London. It’s the new home for all material once held at St. Catherine’s House and the Census Reading Rooms. The National Archives are housed at Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU, a short distance from Kew Gardens. Check out their website at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
The Census Records from 1841 through to 1891 are available on microfilm, and the records for 1901 are now available on microfiche.
The 1911 Census Records can now be accessed online at www.1911census.co.uk Their sister site is at www.findmypast.co.uk There is a two-stage entry procedure. You can search for free the whole census, and once you have located the person or persons you are researching you can pay to view the detailed information, at the rate of £6.95 for 60 credits valid for a period of 90 days. Other sites offering this service will be similar in cost and presentation.
3 How did they develop?
In 1841 we only find limited information about the family unit, namely the name, age, gender, occupation and address of those listed at a certain address. From 1851 right through to 1881 we have the extra information about place of birth, relationship to the head of the household and marital status. In the Census Returns of 1891 and 1901 we also find the employment status given. In 1911, which is the latest Census to be released to the public, we also discover the nationality, duration of current marriage, and details of children both living and deceased. While we expect to find comprehensive data in recent Census Returns, we have to remember that we will find fewer entries and less information as we work back through these ten-yearly returns.
4 What benefits do they provide?
Because these population counts were taken every ten years, we can usefully scan the entries for significant changes in our family history over time. It is recommended that those who are starting out with little information about their ancestors should begin with the 1901Census. Then you only need to know your forbear’s name, with a guess at the ‘Birth Year’ and ‘Lived in Location’.
Having found the right person you can click on ‘View Image’ and check the address and occupation. Assuming that you have located the right household you will now have the names of other family members listed according to age. Then go back a decade to 1891 and find young adults as children still living with their parents. The further you go back, the more names you acquire and by the same token you will be adding yet more generations to your rapidly expanding tree.
5 What problems may emerge?
Finally you will want to check over all the collateral information possible from certificates of Births, Marriages and Deaths. Some of these will be in your possession, but many others will have to be paid for. These primary sources are very important as errors will have crept into the Census Returns here and there. In the first place, there will be those who deliberately or accidentally missed the encounter with the enumerator on the day, and so weren’t included.
Then there will be the inevitable clerical errors, such as omission of a name altogether from the list, or repetition of the same name, or the misspelling of a name so that a ‘winifred’ becomes a ‘wilfred’ thereby unwittingly changing the gender of the person listed. However, by and large, you will find the Census Returns to be a very useful resource, often providing those key pieces of information that are unavailable anywhere else.
