David Annal
Discover the answers to last issue’s challenges
Your document challenge:
The answers
Last month, we focused on records of taxation and, in particular, two taxes collected two centuries apart. One was a 17th century Hearth Tax return, and the other was from the Death Duty registers. Let’s first deal with the Hearth Tax return:
I The list records the names of those liable to pay the tax along with the number of hearths in their property. What is the name of the householder with the largest number of hearths?
Sr William Walker paid tax on no fewer than 15 hearths.
II In addition to the number of hearths, which other indications of social status do we get from the list?
Where ‘titles’ are given, ie Sir or Mr, this is a good indicator of a higher social rank; also, the most important landowners tend to be recorded first.
III Apart from wealth, what other reason might there be for someone having a large number of hearths in their property?
If someone appears a long way down the list paying tax on a large number of hearths, he may have been an innkeeper or publican.