Land Tax Returns

The following source list was originally available only on paper in one of the West Yorkshire Archive Service offices. It may have been compiled many years ago and could be out of date. It was designed to act as a signpost to records of interest on a particular historical subject, but may relate only to one West Yorkshire district, or be an incomplete list of sources available.

Land Tax was a tax on real property which could be levied on tithes, buildings and in particular plots of land. It was first introduced in 1693 and in a few instances early returns for some West Riding wapentakes survive from the 1750s at the WYAS: Wakefield.

An Act of 1780 made it necessary for all voters to be assessed to the land tax in order to substantiate their right to vote (which required the possession of a freehold worth at least forty shillings a year). This Act made it necessary for duplicates of the land tax returns for each township be deposited annually with the clerk of the peace for electoral registration purposes and it is these duplicates that can now be found in the enrolled records of the West Riding quarter sessions (ref. QE13).

The use of assessements for electoral purposes was brought to an end by the Representation of the People Act 1832, which made it necessary for the clerk of the peace to compile separate registers of electors. The Land Tax was then replaced by the tithe in the late 1830s.

Land Tax returns under the Act of 1780 list the owner, occupier and sum assessed for each township. An Act of 1798 made the land tax perpetual and allowed owners to redeem the charge in a lump sum. From 1799 the duplicates also distinguish those whose land tax payments were exonerated.

The contents of the returns vary considerably from township to township. Land tax returns are arranged by wapentakes which are the ancient divisions of the West Riding. There are nine of these: Agbrigg; Barkston Ash; Claro; Morley; Osgoldcross; Skyrack; Staincliffe with Ewecross; Staincross; and Strafforth and Tickhill.

Land tax duplicates for townships in the Liberty of Ripon can be found in the quarter sessions for the liberty (ref. QT1). Those for the quarter sessions boroughs of Doncaster, Leeds and Pontefract were not returned to the clerk of the peace for the West Riding, but those for townships in the liberty of Cawood, Wistow and Otley are included in this collection.

Records for the wapentakes of Skyrach, Leeds Borough, Claro and Ripon can be found at WYAS: Wakefield in collection ref. WYW1390.