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).
- Content
  - Rental amount
  - Names of Proprietors, copyholders and occupiers
  - Ditto may mean owner-occupier
  - Names or description of Estates or Property
- 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
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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