Excise officers

[yelkcub]

I have read an earlier thread on this topic, but would still like to find out if, at the turn of the 18th / 19th centuries, small inland towns would have had a resident excise officer, and if so how was the service organized: would, for example, the excise officers be moved from place to place regularly?  I am particularly interested in the East Sussex area. Can anyone with knowledge of this topic enlighten me?

[Rena]

I can't answer your question fully, but I should imagine every area had a Revenue Official.  If you think about the various old taxes such as window tax and hearth tax somebody would have to go around checking the facts.  I'm having problems getting onto websites today but this is a start:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/excise-officer.htm

[yelkcub]

Thanks for that - I wish I could get access to that Parliamentary Papers website - unfortunately I don't have an ATHENS password. In Google Books I found a volume of House of Commons papers containing lists of the various government establishments in 1821, including the Excise department. Many of the places named are inland, so I still think that in many places there was an excise man permanently stationed.

[Nemo]

Hi yelkcub
You ask if Excise Officers were moved from place to place and how the service was organised. I don’t have any specific information about East Sussex, but my ancestor may have been a typical Excise Officer.
He qualified in London 1829 when he was 19. He was still there in 1841. Looking at the places of birth of his children in the 1851 census it is apparent that sometime during the 1840’s he was posted to Stourbridge, Worcs, where, for example, each glassworks had an Excise Officer. By 1849 he was in the brewing town of Burton-on-Trent, Derbyshire. I found parliamentary papers on Google books which showed that he retired in 1857 on the grounds of ill health. His salary on retirement was £100 p.a. and his pension was £37.10s
His Excise Officer papers at The National Archives indicate that as a 19 year old he received instruction and his certificate states that he is “qualified for surveying Common brewers, Victuallers, Maltsters, Chandlers, Soapers, Tanners, Brandy, Wine, Tea, Tobacco and Vinegar Dealers, he can cost Excise and Malt Gages, both by Pen and Rule, hath taken Gages and Stocked for six Weeks in Greenwich 2nd Division and duly entered his Surveys in Books prepared by him for that Purpose, from which he hath made true Vouchers and Abstract, is provided with proper Instruments and Instructions, and in every Respect well qualified for the employment of an Officer of Excise”. He was then examined and was found “well qualified in every Respect, according to the above certificate, he understands the first four Rules of vulgar and decimal arithmetic, he hath taken the Oath of Office and Allegiance and the said Certificate and the above Oath are of his own handwriting.”
HTH
Nemo

[yelkcub]

Hi Nemo -
Your response to my query has answered a great many of my questions about the life and duties of an excise officer - brilliant, and many thanks. Now I have some idea of the age at which men were trained for the job as well as the kinds of tasks they were engaged in. It also convinces me that the officer I've been researching was probably born outside Sussex (whose birth, marriage and burial indexes do not show him). I also found reference in Google books to his being 'discontinued' in 1818 - and in a different section in the same book a note of his salary - £110 ... which would have been quite a considerable sum in those days. He had had 43 years in the service, so if he started at the same age as the person you describe he would have been 60 when he was pensioned off.
Again - many thanks for such an informative response
Best wishes IAN

[Rena]

Congratulations to both of you!  Now that dusty documents have been catalogued I think maybe I should return to one of my Scottish lines of generations of "Seafarer, Revenue" to see if their records have survived.  I'm especially interested in my gt.grandfather who married as a young "sailor" but then shortly thereafter had a job as a "deputy dockmaster" for the rest of his working life.  Currently the only information I have is from an online British Library newspaper which lists the tasks a deputy dockmaster's job entailed.

[sihuss]

Hi folks,

have you managed to find out much about your Excise guys?

I have an Excise Officer in my tree - Dudley Hussey in Ireland.  No mention of him in the UK National Archive's Irish Excise staff lists (1860-1866) CUST 39/123-129.  And no entry in TNA catalogue for excise entry papers either (CUST116).

Wondering if you've come across any other useful sources?

Simon

[wetpawprints]

Hello everybody,

I too am trying to find some information on an excise officer. I have searched the National Archives catalogue but to no avail.

My ancestor is shown as being an excise officer on his childrens baptisms and when his wife died she stated her occupation as 'widow of supervisor of excise'.

Can anybody give any pointers as to where I should be looking?

Many thanks,
Trish

[sihuss]

Hi,
I found 4 or 5 facts about my excise officer on the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers site mentioned above. You need an ATHENS logon to access it though, so if you like I can check it for you. Just forward the man's name and I'll see what it comes up with!

Simon