England Eighteenth Century Taxation (National Institute)

Georgian Assessed Taxes
A number of taxes on consumables, the so-called assessed taxes, were introduced during the reigns of the four Georges who reigned sequentially from 1714-1830. To give the flavour of the times the instructions for carrying out the 1793 Act are reproduced below. Individual manuscript sheets or forms for each tax were used for most of the 18th century, but from 1784 their collection was amalgamated and large columnar forms in.

Chart: 1793 Acts for Taxing Servants, Horses and Carriages Adlington, Cheshire

Carriage Tax 1747-1782
Anyone possessing a horse-drawn conveyance excepting farm vehicles, trade carts and wagons was taxed on it from 1747 until 1782. Charges varied for:

Four-wheeled carriages


 * For private use (£6)
 * Additional bodies, same wheels
 * To let to hire
 * Post chaises
 * Stage Coaches


 * Two-wheeled carriages
 * Basic two-wheel carriage (£3-5)
 * Drawn by eight or more horses or mules
 * Additional bodies, same wheels.

Example are shown by Hawkings (Little Used Sources and New Discoveries. 2. Silver Plate Tax and Carriage Tax. Genealogists’ Magazine Vol. 26 #6, page 212, 1999).

Gold and Silver Plate Tax 1756-1777
Tax was payable by those owning 100 ounces or more of silver plate, that is real silver, not the electro-plated variety invented in the mid-19th century. I have found references to actual taxes for 1756-1777 but Hawkings says it was not repealed until the 19th century, but does not specify a date. In TNA Treasury papers class T 47 there are records of the taxpayers from 1756-1762 arranged by areas of collection, but not by county. It is not surprising that there were some who tried to avoid payment, and defaulters lists are extant for 1757-1768 and 1776 which give names and addresses, date of letter and answer and a summary of the answer such as Will weigh his plate and if he has 100 oz will enter it, or Dead - plate divided among his relations.

Playing Cards and Dice Tax
There was such a tax but I cannot find anything specific about it.

Male Servants Tax 1777-1852
From 1777-1852 a tax was levied on the roughly 25,000 gentlemen employing about 50,000 male servants, although those engaged in husbandry, trade or manufacture were exempted. The rates varied from year to year; in 1779 tax was one guinea (£1 1 shilling) per servant as shown below. Records can be found in various archives. The Society of Genealogists holds a nine-volume collection of records of those paying the Male Servants Tax in 1780, almost a Who’s Who of every town and village in England for that year; however the servants’ names are not recorded in this collection.

Chart: Tax on Male Servants 1779 Rotherham, Yorkshire

Stamp Act Tax 1783-1794
This was another government-imposed tax of 3d on all entries in parish registers except those of paupers who were exempt. The incumbente was allowed to collect 10% for his trouble. There was a consequent drop in registrations and a rush to register after its repeal in 1794. A notation of Pd. or Pd. 3d during this period indicate that the tax had been collected; but a large letter P indicates that the parson classed them as paupers (some incumbents were more generous than others in this regard). It may be noted in the registers as stamp duty, but this is not to be confused with the Stamp Duty of 1765 (see under Duties).

Chart: Stamp Act Tax Begins 1783

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