England Tontine and Annuity Records (National Institute)

Tontines and Annuities
These are investments used to raise money for various government expenses, such as paying for 18th century wars against France, or local schemes such as building a village hall. Each consisted of an investment which provided an annuity for the proprietor (investor) but they differed as follows:

A Tontine (more formerly a Tontine Annuity) consisted of the purchase of a share in a scheme with a fixed number of nominees. They nominated a person, usually their youngest relative, during whose lifetime an annuity would be paid to the proprietor. As each nominee died, so the annuity for the remaining proprietors increased, until no nominees remained. Tontines could be assigned by deed or will, and passed to the next of kin at death if they had not been so assigned.

An Annuity could be bought and a life nominated, and payments were made at half-yearly intervals to the proprietor during the lifetime of his or her nominee. The nominee was often also the proprietor. When the nominee died so did the annuity, the remaining proprietors receiving the same sum as before. There may have been one proprietor or several contributors could combine to purchase one annuity.

Proprietors were those that could afford them, typically the upper middle class and above, but nominees may have been employees or servants if they were young and healthy, so more humble people do feature in these records. About 15,000 people are named in the Tontine records (Bevan 1999).

State Tontines and Annuities
The first of the six state tontines appeared in 1693 and the last in 1789, whilst the five state annuities commenced between these dates. The records continue long after the date of original issue and include:


 * Notations to the original records.
 * Publication of periodical lists of surviving nominees, for example the 440 survivors for the 1789 tontine still alive in 1868.

The last surviving nominee for the 1766 tontine died in 1859; and the last of the 3,495 nominees for the 1789 tontine died in 1887 (Bevan 1999). Thus the genealogically-useful range of years is almost two centuries—1693 to1887. The dates and TNA record classes are noted below.

Chart: State Tontines and Annuities

* Irish nominees only published by ffolliott.

Tontine and Annuity Records
Records of tontines and annuities supply much reliable and accurate information:


 * Names of proprietors—investors included many from Continental Europe, especially the Low Countries.
 * Addresses of proprietors.
 * Rank, profession or occupation.
 * Age of nominees.
 * Parentage of nominees.
 * Updates on marital status.
 * Death dates of nominees.
 * Who was still alive at certain dates.

Documents filed as authority to assign payments of annuities to their appointed successors include:


 * Certified copies of marriage, death and burial records.
 * Copies of wills and administrations.
 * Half-yearly certificates of existence for the 1789 Tontine.

The chart below gives statistics for the state tontines and annuities and the one after that has examples from Leeson’s Index.

Chart: Numbers of People Named in Tontines and Annuities * Other = proprietors, contributors and others

Chart: Leeson’s Index to the British State Tontine 1776 [SIC 1766] and Annuities 1745-1779 The 8 columns of information give surname, first name, position, abode, age, death year, debenture # and year. Examples follow:

The Report on Irish Tontines on, includes a printed list of the nominees for 1773 by first letter of surname, but not alphabetical, as shown here. Saul and Markwell (The Family Historian’s Enquire Within, 2002), and Herber (Ancestral Trails, 2003) have a useful sections on annuities and tontines. The unfolding story of the discovery and indexing of tontines can be found in Francis Leeson’s writings (1964, 1965, his 1968 guide, 1987) and Groom [Review of Book by Frank LEESON] A Guide to the Records of British State Tontines and Life Annuities of the 17th and 18th Centuries. Genealogists’ Magazine Vol. 6 #3, page 105-106). Silver tontines, possibly made for an 18th century commercial tontine, are described in Genealogists’ Magazine Vol. 19 #1, page 4.

Chart: Nominees of Irish Tontine 1773



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