LX

Bedfordshire Land Tax Assessments

1799 - 1951

From: 1799 To: 1951

For Land Tax Assessments 1799 - 1832 see QDL. This introduction to the collection is followed by two sets of notes made by the Society of Archivists and further notes by the Bedfordshire Records Office made when the assessments were transferred to local records offices. Land tax assessments list the names of the owners of land in each parish on a yearly basis, and also the names of the occupiers. Land tax was introduced in 1692, in the reign of William III and Mary, and finally abolished in 1963. From 1780, payment of land tax on freehold property worth £2 or more a year qualified a man to vote. Clerks of the Peace often used them to establish electoral rights and duplicate copies were kept among County Quarter Sessions records. From 1798, common printed forms were introduced, although some parishes still drew up their own hand-written version of the form. The land tax assessors were often parish office holders – overseers of the poor for example, who collected the poor rates - and they often acted as collectors of the tax as well. Comparison of amounts within a list gives an idea of the size and value of the property. From 1798, the tax could be redeemed or exonerated with a lump sum payment equivalent to 15 years' annual tax. These properties and their owners were listed separately at the end of the assessment. From 1832, reform of the voting franchise meant that duplicates no longer had to be collected or retained in Quarter Sessions records. Those from 1832 onwards contain incomplete lists of owners and occupiers, as those redeeming the land tax with a lump sum no longer had to be included on the lists. The records themselves were mostly arranged in yearly bundles by Land Tax division. It was decided, however, that they should be rearranged in parish order and that all hamlets should be treated as subdivisions of the civil parishes in which they are situated. The records are thus grouped in date order in parish bundles, and each item includes a note of the Land Tax division in which each parish was situated. Originally some of the assessments were accompanied by collectors' duplicates. Where the original assessments survive the duplicates have now been destroyed. The duplicates have been retained where the originals are missing, and duplicates and missing years and are identified within each item. The Land Tax Redemption Records (LX 129-139) comprise two collections received from the Clerk to the Commissioners, R B Hobourn, 12 Bedford Street, Woburn. (a) Land Tax redemption registers for Flitt, Manshead and Redbornstoke (1799 - 1950, 3 volumes) and redemption contracts (1877 - 1950) received from R B Hobourn in March 1964 (official accession no. 10,670-5). (b) Redemption contracts for Flitt, Manshead and Redbornstoke (1882 - 1898) received from R B Hobourn in August 1977. This collection includes some miscellaneous documents which are listed at the end of the catalogue (accession no. 4340). The land tax redemption contracts were originally arranged in parish order for each division. This order has been kept. In some cases the information contained in the redemption contracts was repeated in the registers. These contracts were destroyed. The remaining contracts in the catalogue have maps of the property to be redeemed attached and/or provide a more detailed description of the property than that found in the registers. Society of Archivists: Records of Commissions of Land Tax 1. The transfer of large accumulations of records of Land Tax Commissioners to the custody of local repositories has brought with it certain problems of bulk and of proper classification of these records. After discussion with the Public Record Office and consideration by the Council, the following notes and suggestions are circulated to all repositories for their guidance and such action as may be thought fit in individual cases. 2. A basic problem is that of the status of the records themselves; which, in consequence of specific statutory provisions for documents relating to Land Tax, is not necessarily decided by their place of origin. By the Taxes Management Act 1880 (43 & 44 Victoria, clause19, section 33) 'all assessments, duplicates of assessments, minute books and other public books and papers relating to Land Tax', in the custody of any clerk, assessor, collector or other person, were declared to be the property of the Commissioners and could be placed in the custody of such persons as the Commissioners might direct. This section was repealed by the Finance Act 1949 (12 & 13 George VI, clause 47, sections 37(9) and 52(10) and part VI of the 11th schedule) but with a saving in respect of the Land Tax year 1948/9 or any earlier year. The effect of these enactments has been ruled to be that, with the exception of a single category of documents mentioned below, Land Tax records of 1948/9 and earlier are outside the scope of the Public Records Act 1958; and this applies not only to those held by Commissioners or the Collectors appointed by them, but also to those held by Collectors appointed by the Board of Inland Revenue (1) pursuant to the Tax Management Act 1880, section 73, in default of appointment by Commissioners and (2) subsequent to the Finance Act 1931 (21 & 22 George V, clause 28), section 37 of which made all Collectors of Taxes including Land Tax appointable and removable by Inland Revenue and paid by the Treasury. It applies of course also to those which, following a practice common in recent years, Inland Revenue Inspectors and Collectors have taken into their offices from Commissioners' Clerks embarrassed by lack of accommodation. 3. The single exception to this ruling is records of Commissioners of Land Tax relating to appeals. In the exercise of their appeal-hearing function the Commissioners are considered to be a tribunal within the meaning of paragraph 4(1)(j) of the 1st Schedule of the Public Records Act 1958, and the resulting records are public records. 4. None of these records are any longer required for administrative purposes, nor is it intended to preserve in the Public Record Office any of those which are public records for the purpose of the Public Records Act. They are available for presentation to local record offices as an outright gift. Insofar as any accepted are public records, the Public Record Office should be asked to obtain the Lord Chancellor's approval under section 3(6) of the Public Records Act to their being so disposed of instead of being destroyed. (No appointment under section 4 of the Act is required as in the case of Quarter Sessions, Petty Sessions, Coroners' or National Health Service Hospital records selected for preservation). 5. After careful consideration, the following general suggestions are made: (1) Where both Assessments and Collectors' Duplicates are held (regardless of what kind of Duplicate), the Duplicate may be destroyed; (2) where the Duplicate only is held, it should be preserved; (3) where there are overriding considerations of bulk, either of Assessments or Duplicates, and destruction is envisaged, records relating to census years at least should be kept; (4) it is desirable to make clear, either by classification or by a note in any inventory, the distinction between the different types of Duplicate. These are recommended as principles to govern present action, not precluding a further measure of destruction later if it should be found that the information contained in assessments is available from other classes of records, e.g. Rate Books, Voters' Lists, already preserved. 6. It should be noted that sealed duplicate assessments deposited with the Clerk of the Peace under the Acts of 1745 (18 George II, clause18, section 4) and 1780 (20 George III, clause 17, section 3) in connection with qualification to vote in parliamentary elections are NOT a type of Duplicate to which the considerations set out above apply. 7. As points of information, the Registers of Redemption of Land Tax from the Land Tax Redemption Office, Board of Inland Revenue, are to be preserved intact in the Public Record Office and no Assessments or Duplicates of later date than 1949 will be handed over to the custody of local repositories by Inspectors or Collectors of Taxes. Bedfordshire Records Office: Records of Commissioners of Land Tax The transfer of considerable quantities of records of Land Tax Commissioners to the custody of local record offices as a result of the recent circular from the Board of Inland Revenue has created a number of problems for archivists in charge of these repositories and these notes are compiled in an attempt to formulate the problems and pose the questions in the hope of reaching a satisfactory answer. One problem is the status of records received from various sources. Where records are received direct from Clerks to Commissioners, there seems to be neither problem nor question. Where records are received from Inspectors or Collectors of Taxes, then problems and questions do arise. Are the records in fact records of Land Tax Commissioners or records of the Board of Inland Revenue? What is the status, particularly of Collectors' Duplicate Assessments? Are Collectors of Taxes appointed by the Commissioners or by the Board of Inland Revenue? In view of the duplication between original Assessments and Collectors' Duplicates, is there any general policy which can be suggested as to the destruction of one class or another where problems of bulk present archivists with storage problems? Original Assessments, Commissioners' minutes and redemption papers received from Commissioners' Clerks are clearly Commissioners' records. It appears to have been a fairly common practice for Clerks to Commissioners to ask Inspectors of Taxes to store papers, particularly original Assessments, for which they themselves had no room in their offices and clearly such records again are Commissioners' records though received from an Inspector of Taxes. The principal difficulties arise with regard to Collectors' Duplicates and their status. At one time, Commissioners always appear to have appointed their own Collectors, who returned their duplicate Assessment to the Commissioners when the account was cleared and such duplicate Assessments are clearly Commissioners' records. However, by the Taxes Management Act of 1880, 43 & 44 Victoria, clause 19, section 73, where Commissioners did not appoint their own Collector by 31st May for any parish, the right of appointment of Collector for that parish vested absolutely in the Board of Inland Revenue. This is reflected in the Duplicate Assessments now coming into local record offices, where one form is used as Collector's Duplicate Assessment when appointed by the Commissioners and a similar but slightly different form when the Collector was appointed by the Board of Inland Revenue. By the Finance Act, 1931 (21 & 22 George V, clause 28, section 37), power to appoint Collectors of Taxes was vested in the Board of Inland Revenue and all Collectors of Taxes, whether appointed by the Board or by other Commissioners, after the commencement of the Act, were to hold office during the will and pleasure of the Board of Inland Revenue and were to be paid by the Treasury. It would seem, therefore, that between 1880 and 1931 certain Collectors' Duplicate Assessments, those of Collectors appointed by the Board of Inland Revenue, ought to be regarded not as records of Land Tax Commissioners but as records of the Board of Inland Revenue and that after 1931, all Collectors' Duplicate Assessments ought to be regarded as records of the Board of Inland Revenue. A further problem for archivists is whether to keep all assessments, original and duplicate, which come into their custody or whether, on grounds of bulk, to seek authority to destroy some. From 1745 to 1832, duplicates of assessments (not Collectors' duplicates) were deposited with Clerks of the Peace to serve as electoral registers. There is, therefore, something to be said for preserving original assessments after 1832, where they survive, in continuance of series which may go back as far as 1745 in another archive group and are preserved for other reasons. Where original assessments are duplicated by Collectors' Duplicate Assessments, the choice appears to be between an assessment pure and simple and a duplicate assessment, which carries the process one stage further, i.e. shows the collection (or otherwise) of the tax. Where only the Collectors' Duplicate survives, then presumably, whether a Commissioner's record or a Board of Inland Revenue record, and considerations of bulk aside, these would all be preserved. Where bulk was an overwhelming factor, then to keep each census year would seem reasonable. How far the Society can or ought to try to prescribe a standard ruling is a moot point but one that could be debated. It might be preferable to debate the matter and then approach the Public Record Office for its advice and comment.

The Land Tax assessments in this collection (LX 1-128) have been deposited in the Records Office at various dates by clerks to the Commissioners of Land Tax, usually local solicitors. The provenance of the different component parts of the collection is as follows: (a) Assessments for Biggleswade and Barford divisions for 1936-1943, 1946 and 1949. Provenance and accession details unknown. (b) Assessments for Biggleswade division and others, deposited with other material by Messrs Hooper & Fletcher of Biggleswade on 23 September 1971 (accession no. 3366). (c) Assessments for all divisions, deposited by Councillor R B Hobourn, Woburn, on 21 January 1969 (accession no. 3052). The bulk of the collection, comprising all the documents listed below not included in the lists of sections (a), (b) and (d). (d) Further assessments for Manshead and Flitt divisions, from the offices of Messrs Hobourn, solicitors, Woburn, deposited with other material in August 1977 (accession no. 4340). In order to preserve a detailed record of the provenance, the original lists of sections (a), (b), (d) and of future accessions are kept in the Record Office under the reference number CRV 97. In the event of the records being further rearranged at a later date, these lists should be consulted.

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