| The
National Archives at Kew holds the Excise Minute books, the indexes of which are on 700
microfiche under CUST 47. The total years covered are 1695 - 1867.
1683 .. The
Country Excise was divided into 39 areas, which were called Collections.
These areas were loosely based on County boundaries. Wales was divided into
4 Ridings, East, West, North and Middle. Each Collection was headed by a
Collector, with a number of Districts under the control of Supervisors. The
Officers - or Gaugers, as they were still called - were normally centred in
the market towns, with some of the larger towns having more than one
Officer. The area in a town was called a "Division", whereas the country
outside was called an "Out-Ride". In London the Officers were grouped into
brewery and distillery Gougers. Each Gauge was responsible for a small
number of brewers or distillers in his area. This system of concentration of
Staff was a feature of the reorganisation of the Excise in 1960.
1687 .. In 1687 a
"Charity Fund" was established to support "old and disabled" Officers. This
was the earliest example of a superannuation scheme in the Civil Service: it
predates a similar Customs fund by about 60 years. A deduction of 3d. in the
£1 was made, and a pension of £10 was granted to Gougers. The only
conditions were that the Officer had to have served at least 7 years and not
be in receipt of any income equal to the pension. These improvements in
salary, pension, and training produced what Dave Nant, the Excise
Commissioner, was proud to call "such a set of men as perhaps no prince
had better employed in his revenue".
1688 During
October 1688, while the preparations for the invasion of the country by
William of Orange were in hand, Samuel Peps, Secretary to the Navy, issued
a letter to all collectors at the sea ports.... (regarding "foreign
invaders").
1781 - 1786 ..
Like the Customs, the Excise Department was subjected to rigorous scrutiny
by the Parliamentary Committees during 1781 - 1786. However, unlike the
Customs, the Excise on the whole escaped relatively unscathed from the
ordeal, and even received some credit for its able administration. The
enquiries revealed virtually no sinecure posts, and hardly any fees. The
Excise Commissioners were justifiably proud of the low cost of collection of
the many and varied duties, and were constantly alive to the possibilities
of even further economies. However, they were being continually petitioned
by their officers for some improvements in their salaries: the salary
problem had not been resolved since Paine's famous petition. (Excise
salaries had not been altered since the beginning of the century. Paine
published a pamphlet in 1772 entitled, The Case of the Officers of Excise).
1782 .. From as
early as 1700 Customs Officers were expressly forbidden to "use any
influence in Parliamentary elections". In 1711 this ban was extended to
include Excise Officers. In 1782 a Bill was passed debarring all officers
from voting. It was not until 1867 that they received the vote.
1788 . Early in
1788 the Excise Board saw a way to achieve some consolidation in posts and
accounts, thereby obtaining a substantial saving of salaries, and at the
same time to increase the salaries of the remaining Officers. 760 Officers,
almost a quarter of the Staff working in Collections were made redundant,
the remaining Officers' areas were enlarged at a gross saving of £46,000. It
became the biggest reorganisation ever introduced into the Excise. The very
meagre salary increases - on average only £5 per year - did little to
assuage the Officers demands for a "respectable remuneration".
1800 In December
1800, the Treasury capitulated and agreed to some increases, which ranged
from £15 for Officers to £30 for Collectors.
DUTIES OF AN
EXCISE OFFICER - So what were the duties of a Ride
Officer in the Excise? Firstly, the expression "Ride" is very descriptive. A
Collection was a County sized area split into Divisions, which were further
split into Rides. A Ride was an area that one man on horseback, (thus Ride),
could cover to perform his duties of assessing and collecting Duty. Excise
duty was levied on many products and the list of products changed with time.
The necessities of life - meat, salt, leather, beer, clothes were all
affected and the Excise Officer had wide powers of entry and search. Duty on
brewing and distilling were the major part of the role. John was an Excise
Officer during the era of the very unpopular candle tax, (taxed at 1d a
pound). We know from the Minutes that he had to be present at two stages of
the candle making process.
As far as brewers and
brewing are concerned, the duties of the Excise Officer have changed very
little over the centuries since John was working. He would have to visit the
brewery on two occasions during the brewing of a particular brew of beer.
Firstly, the process starts with the mash. This is where the water, malt and
hops are all heated together in a huge vat. Measurements of quantity were
taken at this stage. When the brewing and fermenting process were completed,
the Excise Officer would test the beer for its alcoholic content and
quantity. Duty was levied on these figures.
The Officer would have to
keep a Journal and various Books detailing his assessment of duty due and
amounts. These records were regularly inspected by his Supervisor.
Inevitably, such close contact with breweries and beer led to occasional
recordings of intoxicated Officers and subsequent punishment or dismissal
from the service.
It is clear that in order
to perform his duties, an Excise Officer would of necessity had to have been
both able to read and write well and possess a good grasp of arithmetic for
the calculations involved. This at a time when many would sign their name on
documents with their mark; a simple cross.
http://www.marks-family.co.uk/excise.htm |
