Those Versatile Census Substitutes

Richard W. Price, MA, AG®

Prior to 1841 there are numerous local records that act as census substitutes. By definition they must give names, at least of householders, and must seem to be complete for a community.

Pre-1841 censuses: 1801 to 1831 civil censuses exist for 750 English parishes. The majority include householders only, sometimes divided into males, females and age groupings.

Taxation

Land Tax (1692-1950)
- Lists year by year the names of proprietors/actual occupiers of land in each parish
- 1780-1832 “duplicates” in the Quarter Session Records, mostly at CROs. Those from 1780 available for whole of England; most at Family History Library (FHL).
- - Rental amount
  - Names of Proprietors, copyholders and occupiers
  - Ditto may mean owner-occupier
  - Names or description of Estates or PropertyContent
- Land Tax Redemption Office Quotas & Assessments
  - Country-wide record for England & Wales, 1798-99
  - Public Record Office, Kew; (Class IR.23).
  - Parish Books of Redemptions, (Class IR.22) – may contain maps and plans
  - Contains full contract, maps, and plans (Class IR.24).
Other Taxes
- Lay Subsidies, or Subsidy Rolls 1327-1663
  - Tax on movables levied from 1200’s to 1600’s
  - 1291 list published by Record Commissioners
  - Great Subsidy Rolls of 1524/5 list individuals over 16 liable to be taxed
  - Colwell’s Family Roots: Discovering the Past lists surviving records.
- Poll Tax 1377-1697
  - A very “popular” tax levied
    - 3 times in 14th century
    - Revived in 15th century
  - Tax on every individual – Some lists contain the names of heads of households as well as servants
- “Free and Voluntary Present to Charles II”
  - “Gift” collected in 1661
  - Returns for nearly 30 English & Welsh counties survive
- Hearth Tax
  - Tax levied between 1662 and 1689
  - Tax of 2s. per the number of hearths in a tenement
  - Collected twice a year, Lady Day & Michaelmas
  - Those that were exempt
    - Individuals in receipt of poor relief
    - Houses that were worth less than 20s.
- Window Tax
  - - Levied from 1696 to 1851. Initially to help remint the damage coinage of the kingdom
    - Replaced Hearth Tax
    - Tax on number of windows in a house
    - Very few survive
Ecclesiastical Taxes – Tithes
- Tenth part of produce or labour to church
  - Value of livings dependent upon land 1788
  - Despite enclosure, was crucial source of income for English clergy
  - Calculated on three major sources of income
- Changed in 1836 to fixed charges on land, ended in 1936
- Three copies of map and land description made
  - One for Parish
  - One for Bishop
  - One for Commissioners
- Tithe Maps (1840) about 12,000 exist
- Location of Records – PRO, Kew
Protestation Returns – 1641/1642
- All males over 18; took oath declaring allegiance to Crown and Protestant religion.
- About 1/3 of English parishes survive, along with three Welsh boroughs. Some women were also listed.
- Returns arranged alphabetically in the House of Lords Library, some printed
Quarter Session Records: Start in the 14th Century to 1889
- Usually in County Record Offices
- Formed by the Justices of the Peace
- Met 4 times a year: Easter, Midsummer, Michaelmas, & Epiphany
Clerk of the Peace held the following records
- Association Oath Rolls
  - Act of Association of 1696
  - Public office-holders required to take oath of support of Crown
- Jurors: Starting in 1696 required to make annual return of men between 21-70 who qualified to serve as jurors at Quarter Sessions
- Recusants and Recusant Rolls
  - Act of 1657 require all to swear an oath against papacy.
  - Those who didn’t, turned into Quarter Sessions and kept track of

Other Sources

Military: Militia Muster Records

- Many muster Rolls listed adult men available for military service 1522-1640.
- Listed in Gibson & Dell’s Tudor and Stuart muster rolls, a directory of holdings in the British Isles.
- Most are located at PRO, County Record Offices or in the British Library.
- Militia Act of 1757 established militia regiments for each county. Required all men to be listed. 1757-1831 included men’s names, infirmities they might have, occupation, and after 1802 number of children, etc.
Electoral Registers: 1832-Present

- List of qualified voters; include residence, ownership of property in polling district, and tenancies of those properties.
- During 1800’s, registers in alphabetical order of voters’ names within each polling district.
- Right to vote given in 1429 to all men 21 or over having freehold lands.
- Soldiers and sailors could vote at age 19 and women age 30 or over could vote in 1918, and age 21 in 1928.
- These records assist in locating addresses to find them in census.
- They are housed at County Record Offices, Local libraries, Society of genealogists, Guildhall Library, Public Record Office, British Library, etc.

Commercial & Trade Directories 1677-present
- Larger cities had directories 1780’s to present; the first were London 1677, 1734, and from 1799 onward.
- Most towns had them by 1850’s.
- Currently published and available in major libraries.
- Include lists of residents, usually by occupation and address

Irish Censuses & Substitutes

Extant Census Returns
- 1821 Meath, Galway, Kings, Cavan, Offaly, Fermanagh
- Names all members of family, ages, occupations, relationships
- 1831 Londonderry
- 1841 Cavan
- 1851 Fermanagh, Antrim
- 1901, 1911 are complete.
- There are a few other earlier ones on CD
Tithe Applotment Books 1823-1838
- Lists land holders, including tenant farmers and lessees; gives name of owner, rate of tithe payable, townland, parish, barony and county
- Covers all of Ireland, but only for residents of the land
- Available on CD and at FHL
Griffith’s Valuation Lists 1848-1864
- Lists every landholder and householder in Ireland
- Arranged by townland and parish
- Includes address and householder’s name, name of person who owns the land, description of property, acreage and valuation
Index of Surnames or Householders Index
Census Substitutes in Ireland
- Undertakers 1612/1613 includes lists of English and Scottish landlords granted land in northern counties of Cavan, Donegal and Fermanagh
- Muster Rolls for Ulster 1630; arranged by county
- Books of Survey and Distribution 1641
- Civil Survey 1654-56
- Pender’s Census 1659
- Subsidy Rolls 1662-1666
- Hearth Money Rolls 1664-1666
- Protestant Householders 1740

Bibliography

Colwell, Stella. Family Roots; discovering the past in the Public Record Office. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1992. (FHL 942, D27csf)

Falley, Margaret Dickson. Irish and Scotch-Irish Ancestral Research. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1988. (FHL 941.5, D27f, vol. 1-2).

Gibson, Jeremy. The Hearth Tax, Other Later Stuart Tax Lists and the Association Oath Rolls, 2nd ed., Birmingham, UK FFHS, 1996. (FHL 942, B43g, 1996).

________ & Colin Rogers. Electoral Registers since 1832: and Burgess Rolls., 2nd ed. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1990. (FHL 942, N43gj).

________ & Mervyn Medlycott: Militia Lists and Musters, 1757-1876. A Directory of Holdings in the British Isles. 4th ed. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2001. (FHL 942, M2gmm, 2001).

________ & Mervyn Medlycott: Local Census Listings: 1522-1930: Holdings in the British Isles, 3rd ed. Birmingham, UK: FFHS, 1997. (FHL 942, X23gj).

________ , Mervyn Medlycott & Dennis Mills. Land and Window Tax Assessments. 2nd ed. Ramsbottom, Bury, Lancashire: FFHS, Ltd. 1998. (FHL 942, R4g, 1998).

________ & Alan Dell: Tudor and Stuart Muster Rolls, A directory of holdings in the British Isles. Birmingham, UK: FFHS, 1991. (FHL 942, M2gj).

________ & Alan Dell: The Protestation Returns 1641-42 & other contemporary listings. Birmingham, UK: FFHS, 1995.(FHL 942, K23g).

________ & Colin Rogers: Poll Books, c. 1696-1872: A Directory to holdings in Great Britain, 3rd ed. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994. (FHL 942, N43g, 1990).

Grenham, John. Tracing Your Irish Ancestors. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1993. (FHL 941.5, D27gj).

Herber, Mark D. Ancestral Trails: The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History. Bridgend, UK: Sutton Publishing Limited, 1997. (FHL 942, D27hm).

Paper presented at UGA Annual Conference – Salt Palace – Salt Lake City, Utah 8-10 April 2004.

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