The Dalton Land Tax bill for 1815

The Dalton Land Tax Bill for 1815

Family Historians tend not to know about potentially rewarding sources of family information tucked away in the archives of County Record Offices, or, if they are aware, they tend to ignore them! Land Tax returns can be a useful resource for genealogists to locate an ancestor in that difficult period before the advent of censuses and civil registration, especially at a time when parish registers were at their most unreliable.

First imposed in 1693 and abolished in 1963, the Land Tax evolved into a true land tax assessed on land, buildings and various forms of rates. From 1780 until 1832, annual copies (termed duplicates) of the assessments owed by each owner of real property, and by each of his tenants, were lodged at Quarter Sessions in order to establish qualifications for the vote at county elections. The main problem associated with the returns, however, is that large proportions of smallholders were commonly and continually unspecified.

When using the Land Tax returns, it should be noted that the tax values cannot be used for comparative analysis, nor can they be reliably transformed into the acreage of holdings. For those interested in local history, the study of Land Tax returns may generate a lot of information about the changing physical structure of a town, the rate and causes of change, and who was responsible for them.

As an example of what you might expect to find, the Dalton Land Tax bill for 1815 is set out below. Good hunting!

Exonerated Tax

The names of the proprietors	By whom occupied	£ - s - d
Thomas Thompson	Himself	5d
Poor of Dalton	Wm Creary	10d
Mrs S Boulton	Various persons	1 – 0 - 9
Mr John Postlethwaite	George Atkinson	18s – 0d
Richard Cleator’s trustees	Agnes Cleaton and others	4s – 9d
Mr William Atkinson	Himself	3s - 11½d
George Romney’s trustees	Various tenants	10s - 4½d
James Fisher	Himself	4s – 8d
Matthew Denney	Do	1s – 6d
Thomas Ashburner	Do	7s – 10d
John Jackson, Leece	Abraham Thompson and others	2s – 0d
Rev M Lamb	Thomas Fisher	1s – 3d
Philip Hartley	Ann Hartley	8d
Thomas Turner	Himself	5d
John Lowther Sen	John Lowther Jun	2s – 8d
Wm Postlethwaite	Abraham Thompson	6s – 2d
Edward Butcher’s trustees	George Steel	1s – 5d
George Hool ………	Himself	4d
Mr James Boulton	Himself	6d
Wm Atkinson, joiner	Do	4s – 1d
Thomas Helme	Do	2s – 0
John Gardner Sen	John Gardner Jun	6s – 8d
James Slater Jun	Himself	4s – 1d
Rev Thomas Caddy	James Fisher and others	6s – 4d
Rev John Troughton	Matthew Coward	2s – 2d
Excise Office	Mr Jos Wilson	1 – 8 – 0
Mr William Atkinson	Himself	3s – 7d
Mr Postlethwaite		2s – 6s

Total £7 – 13 – 3d

Land Tax not exonerated

The names of the proprietors	By whom occupied	£ - s - d
Duchess of Buccleuch	Herself	20 – 0 – 0
Lord GH Cavendish	Himself	5s 0 6d
Do	Thomas Ashburner	1 – 4 – 0
Do	Dorethy Atkinson	14s – 0
Do	John Hartley	1 – 2 – 6
Joshua Towers	Himself	1½d
John Stables	Do	9d
Thomas Towers	Do	4½d
Mary Jackson	Herself	1½d
Thomas Wardley	Himself	2½d
Samuel Lowrance	Do	4d
William Smith	Do	4d
John Close	Dr Huddleston	11d
Wm Farrer	Himself	4½d
Robert Parker	Do	2½d
Thomas Turner	Do	4d
Wm Hool	Sarah Hool	2d
Henry Quail	Wm Bleasdale	4d
George Wainman	Himself	1½d
James Parke	Do	4d
Dorethy Whillingham	Herself	4d
John Addison	Himself	4d
JohnEvans	Do	1½d
Roger Parker	Do	1d
Richard Steward	R Robinson and others	5d
Rev W Wayles Thornton	Sarah Thornton and others	5d
Matthew Coward Jun	T Barwick	8d
Joseph Fisher trustees	James Fisher	2s – 4d
John Gawith	Himself	2d
Mary Thompson	James Nicholson	2½d
Thomas Fisher	Himself	2s – 11d
Matthew Hunter	Do	2d
Thomas Fisher (T Hall)	Ann Collinson	4d
Bridget Naylor	Herself	5d
Margaret Kendall	Wm Denny	8d
Abraham Slater Park	John Turner	4d
Richard Simpson	Himself	1s – 1d
Wm Hool	Thomas Garnett	1s – 6d
George Slater	Robert Woodend	1s – 8d
James Walker	Jonathan Sumpton	4d
Robert Pearson	Isaac Morrison	9d
Wm Bell Jun	Ellen Bell	3d
Ruth Mollineux	John Spencer	5d
Margaret Thompson	Margaret Dixon	5d
Thomas Minikin	Himself	6d
Wm Minikin’s trustees	John Lowther	1s – 8d
Rev Thomas Postlethwaite	John Hartley	1 – 5 – 6
Betty Fox	Herself	8d
Thomas Woodend	Robert Woodend	5s – 9d
Elizabeth Sloan	Thomas Gibson	1d
James Case	John Case	1s – 10d
John Case	Same	3d
Robert Fell	Himself	2½d
James Warriner	Do	2s – 6d
Widow Slater	Wm ………..	6s – 10d
Jane Brunlow	Herself	1½d
William Ormandy	Himself	3d
William Bell Sen	Do	6d
John Stevenson	Do	2d
George Romney	Do	5d
James Gibson	Do	4d
Thomas Towers	William Towers	1d
Elizabeth Thompson	Herself	3½d
Elizabeth Pickthall	Do	1s – 5d
Mr Postlethwaite (M’port)		8s – 8d
Mary Thompson	Herself	10d
Mrs Smith	Do	8d
Rev CW Couperthwaite	Himself	4½d
Joseph Fisher	John Pearson	3d
Wm Atkinson, joiner	Himself	6½d
Matthew Coward Sen	Do	2s – 1d
Richard Bell	Ellen Bell	2s - 3½d
Capt Wm Hart	James Slater	1s – 0d
John Park, Gentleman	William Shaw	1s – 8d
James Fisher	Himself	8½d
John Atkinson’s trustees	His widow	1s - 3½d
Sylvester Farrer	Himself	2½d
William Lesh	Do	1d
James Kellet and others	Themselves	1½d
Richard Gardner	Himself	1d
Agnes Richardson		1d
Thomas Casson	Himself	2d

Land Tax not exonerated £27 – 17 - 10½d

Land Tax exonerated £7 – 13 – 3d

Total £35 – 11 - 1½d

[Signed] Andrew Atkinson)

William Bell ) Assessors

Mr John Postlethwaite)

William Shaw ) Collectors

Lancaster Seen and allowed by us Commissioners of all the duties on Lands windows houses servants carriages horses dogs etc for the said County.

[Signed and sealed] Jas Stockdale

Jas Crosfield

Rich^d Towers

NOTE:

1.	Carriage Tax was levied 1747-82 on the possession of a carriage
2.	Dogs (possession of) taxed 1796-1882
3.	Female servants tax imposed on households employing them 1785-92
4.	Male servant tax imposed on households employing them 1777-1852
5.	Horse tax levied on possession 1784-1874
6.	House Duty levied on inhabited houses 1851-1924 (replaced Window Tax)
7.	Window Tax post 1792 – houses with 7 to 9 windows taxed at 2/-; 10 to 19 windows taxed at 4/-. In 1825, houses with less than eight windows exempt.
8.	Land Tax – usual rate 4/- in the pound

REFERENCES

David Hey (Ed), The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History, OUP, 1996, pp 273-74

John Richardson, The Local Historian’s Encyclopaedia, 1974, pp 67-69.

This was kindly sent in by Neil, and you can

The copies of Documents submitted to these pages remain the property of the submitters,

they are not to be copied, reproduced on any web-site without the consent of the submitters or used for any commercial purpose.

Home Search By Surname Search By County This Months Listings Last Months Listings

Miscellaneous Documents Apprenticeship Indentures Probate Registries Links

The copies of Documents submitted to these pages remain the property of the submitters,

they are not to be copied, reproduced on any web-site without the consent of the submitters or used for any commercial purpose.

Website Created & Maintained by Peter Ward -