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The Hampshire Hearth
Tax Assessment
1665
With the restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 Parliament had set the
figure
of £1.200.000 for the king to live on. It was decided that in order to
reach this figure an extra form of taxation was needed.
The idea of taxing Hearths or fireplaces had already been done on the
continent, in 1662 the new tax was introduced, and like so many new
things it did have its problems. There would be an annual levy of two
shillings (ten pence), payable for every fire hearth or stove within
dwellings houses, edifices or lodgings. This was to be paid half
yearly at Michaelmas 29 September and Lady Day 25 March. Problems
arose as to whether who would be responsible for payment, the owner or
occupier and no one was exempt. It was later decided that the occupier
would pay the levy and anyone who did not pay poor or church rates and
those occupying a house worth less than 20 shillings (One Pound) would
be exempt. Private ovens, furnaces, kilns, and blowing houses also
hearths within hospitals or alms houses were exempt as long as their
revenue did not exceed £100 a year.
The act was amended in 1633. Everyone who had two hearths was made
liable and if he divided his house into separate dwellings.
It was not until William and Mart’ came on to the throne that one of
the first acts they passed was the abolition of the hearth tax in
1689.
Window Tax
1696-1851
During the reign of William II another form of taxation came into
force this was known as the “Window Tax” and would last until 1851
In 1696 there was a financial crisis created by a growing inflation
caused by the many conflicts both in Ireland and on the continent. One
of the forms of taxation created to help pay the debt was known as the
“Window Tax.
By 1700 reforms had taken place by slashing taxes, auditing the
accounts showing irregularities and finally the nine-year war had come
to an end in 1697, but the “Window Tax” would stay for another fifty
one years.
The tax would be paid on a house of more than six windows.
Unfortunately none of these records appeared to have survived, one way
for a person to bypass the tax was to brick up one or two windows over
the stated six, even today on some of the older houses the bricked up
windows are still there.
In 1792 houses with 7-9windows had to pay a tax of 2 shillings and
those people
with property containing 10-19 windows would pay a tax of 4 shillings.
In 1825 the number of windows taxable went from six to eight windows.
The Window Tax would be replaced in 1851 with a tax called House Duty.
The Hampshire Lay Subsidy Rolls
1585
The Act of 1585 27 Eliz., cxxix.
This was the authority for the Subsidy.
Lay Subsidy was a grant to the Crown (In 1585 it was Elizabeth I),
authorised by an Act ofParliament ofa tax to support the expenditure
of the Crown. This included the payment of the Armed Forces and the
building of naval ships. The clergy and peers were subject to separate
arrangements. The form of tax from the 14th to the 11th century was a
fifteenth and tenth, which was based on a valuation of a persons
“moveable” goods. This included crops; these were levied at a
fifteenth in rural areas and a tenth in the cities and boroughs.
Each of the County Rolls, there were six, represents a division, with
the exception of the sixth Roll, this includes both Alton and
Kingsclere Division.
Tadley came under the Kingsclere Division in the Hundred of Evengar. A
Hundred is a district in a shire, whose assembly of notables and the
village representatives usually met once a month.
The County texts are written on parchment made into files and sewn
together at the head, the Fawley Roll is sewn at the foot. The
Portsdown Roll is written on twenty one sheets of paper covering only
one side per sheet.
The responsibility for collecting the Subsidy was with a group of
Commissioners for the Lord Chancellor. They were to be men of local
prominence and respectability, each shared a divisional jurisdiction.
They appointed two or more assessors/n each tithing. For each division
there was a petty collector who was nominated, he was probably a
tradesman or perhaps a local farmer. He handed the money to the high
collector for the division. The high collector was directly answerable
to the Commissioners. The Commissioners then sent the money collected
to the Exchequer in London
Tithing
The origin of the word tithe came from the Old English (O.E.) 7
meaning a ‘tenth ‘. Tithe is mentioned in the Old Testament, and was
later taken up by the Christian Church as a means to support the
clergy, assist the poor and to maintain the church. The people were
required to give a “tenth” of their income. This could be in the form
of either money, crops or even livestock. In the Medieval Period,
tithes would help to build the cathedrals on the continent as well as
England.
In the 6th century tithes were imposed by ecclesiastical law, and by
the 8th century it would be enforced by non-ecclesiastical (secular)
law. It was made obligatory in England in the century by Edmund!
(939-46), using ecclesiastical penalties, which insisted on regular
payment or offerings in kind. Later by temporal (civil) penalties by
Edgar(959-75). it was Edgar who introduced “that every freeman must be
enrolled in a group often” which came under the name “tithing”. in
each tithing there was a tithing man whose duty It was to keep the
peace.
Landownership was outlawed by Pope Gregory VII, (1073-85) this was an
effort to control abuses, which had now become apparent.
Gradually the tithes were repealed in 1789 in France, 1887 in Italy,
and Ireland in 1871 and also that year The Church of Scotland. In 1836
in England the tithe was commuted for a rent charge, which depended on
the price of grain. In 1888 the tithe became an obligation of the
landlord and not the tenant. By 1936 the tithe was abolished. However
in some countries new methods of taxation were introduced to those
countries that supported the church from Government funds. |
