Hearth
Tax Digital is the work of the Centre for Hearth Tax Research at the
University of Roehampton, in collaboration with the University of Graz in
Austria. The long-term objective of the project is to make all the surviving
records of the Hearth Tax freely available online, both as digital images and
as a fully searchable database. Other partners in the project include The
British Academy, the British Record Society and the University of the Third Age
(U3A).
The Hearth Tax was first
levied in England and Wales by King Charles II shortly after the restoration of
the monarchy in 1662 and continued to be collected in one form or another up
until 1689. The surviving records list the names of those who were liable to
pay the tax (charged at the rate of one shilling per hearth, twice yearly) and
many also include the names of those who were exempt – people who didn’t pay
the poor rate or who had limited personal assets were not required to pay the
tax.
Most of the original records
are held by The National Archives, but many are also to be found in local
county record offices, often among records of the quarter sessions. While it is
important to note that only the names of heads of households will appear on the
lists, occupations are occasionally found in the records as well as titles such
as ‘Sir’ and ‘Esquire’, which give us an idea of social status. The number of
hearths (and stoves or ovens) listed next to the names also provides an
indication of relative wealth while the word ‘Pauper’ or the letter ‘P’ next to
a name on the exempt lists gives us clues about those at the other end of the
social scale.
The database allows you to
search by name and/or place and you have the option of using wildcards. You can
quickly move from the results list to a transcript of the returns themselves
and there is also an option to select individual records and add them to your
‘databasket’ so that you can sort and compare your own sub-set of records.
The website was officially
launched at the British Academy on 2 July and the Hearth Tax Digital website
currently provides access to returns from parts of Yorkshire, Durham,
Middlesex, Westminster and the City of London. Returns for Essex, Sussex and
Westmorland are in the pipeline and the team is looking at introducing mapping
features – so watch out for updates.
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