Regency Relatives

Discovering an exciseman in your family tree is both exciting and slightly intimidating. Unlike agricultural labourers or blacksmiths, excise officers generated thousands of pages of official paperwork. The good news is that much of it survives. The less good news is that nobody tells you where to begin.

When I first began researching an ancestor who worked for the Board of Excise, I made the mistake that many family historians make. I searched for his name in The National Archives catalogue and expected to find a service record neatly waiting for me. Instead, I found hundreds of volumes with references such as CUST 39, CUST 45 and CUST 47. None of them meant anything to me. It turns out that researching an excise officer is less about finding a single file and more about piecing together a career from several different record series. Once you understand what each series was created for, they begin to complement one another remarkably well.

This guide isn’t intended to be an exhaustive catalogue of every surviving Excise record. Instead, it’s designed to answer the questions that family historians most commonly ask and point you towards the records most likely to help.

Before you start

Most English Excise records are held by The National Archives (TNA) at Kew and can be searched through the Discovery online catalogue.

If you’ve never used Discovery before, it’s worth spending a few minutes reading The National Archives’ own guide to searching the catalogue. Unlike genealogy websites such as Ancestry or FindMyPast, Discovery is an archive catalogue rather than a name index. In many cases you’ll be browsing volumes by date rather than searching for an individual’s name.

The National Archives also has an excellent research guide dedicated to Excise and Inland Revenue officers, explaining what survives and which record series are likely to be useful.

Before opening the catalogue, try to establish:

• your ancestor’s full name (including possible spelling variations)
• approximately when they were serving
• at least one place where you know they worked.

Even an approximate date can save hours of searching.

What these records won’t tell you

Excise records are excellent for reconstructing a career, but they’re only one part of your ancestor’s story. The Board of Excise was interested in administering a government department, not recording the lives of the people who worked for it. As a result, the surviving records are rich in administrative detail but often surprisingly silent on the individual behind the job.

For example, the records are unlikely to tell you:

• what your ancestor looked like
• whether they were married or had children
• what their personality was like
• why they chose a career in the Excise
• whether they enjoyed the work
• how they were regarded by their neighbours
• what happened when they weren’t at work.

Even when an officer appears regularly in the Board Minute Books, you are usually only seeing the official milestones of their career: appointments, transfers, promotions, retirements and pensions. There is often very little about the person themselves. This is where family history becomes more like detective work.

The administrative records of the Excise need to be combined with more personal sources to build a fuller picture of your ancestor’s life. Parish registers can reveal marriages, baptisms and burials that help explain why an officer was living in a particular place. Land Tax assessments can show where they were residing and, in some cases, whether they owned or rented property. Wills and probate records can reveal family relationships, occupations of relatives and even personal possessions. Local newspapers may report accidents, court appearances, property sales or community events that never found their way into official government records.

Sometimes the absence of information is just as revealing. If an officer was transferred every few years, you might expect to find children baptised across several counties. If there is a long gap in the Board records, parish registers or newspapers may help explain whether they were ill, retired or simply serving elsewhere.

The most rewarding family histories are rarely built from a single record set. Instead, they emerge when different sources begin to support, challenge and expand upon one another. The Excise records provide the framework of an officer’s career, but it is the parish records, tax records, newspapers, wills and other local sources that add the colour and bring that framework to life.

I want to know when they joined the Excise

This is often the first question people ask, and unfortunately there isn’t usually a single personnel file waiting to provide the answer. Instead, you’ll need to work backwards. If your ancestor married in 1782 and was described as an exciseman, begin searching a few years beforehand for an appointment. Generally, people entered the Excise between the ages of 21 and 30.

The best place to start is CUST 47, the Board of Excise Minute Books. Every appointment, promotion, transfer and retirement had to be approved by the Board, which is why these books are such a rich source. These volumes record decisions made by the Board, including:

• first appointments
• promotions
• transfers
• retirements
• dismissals
• pensions
• officers replacing colleagues.

Many of the minute books have separate alphabetical indexes, which can save an enormous amount of time. When using Discovery, it’s worth checking whether the volume you’re interested in includes a separately catalogued index before ordering the main volume. For example, if you want to consult CUST 47/345, covering September to October 1785, you’ll usually find the accompanying name index as CUST 47/345/1. The indexes are available online, but the full text of the minute books have to be reviewed in person at Kew.

Once you’ve found a mention, add it to your timeline before looking for the next one. Resist the temptation to search randomly. A chronological timeline will often reveal patterns that aren’t obvious from individual entries.

I want to know where they worked

Again, CUST 47 is usually the place to begin. One of the biggest surprises when researching excise officers is how frequently they moved. Unlike many occupations, they weren’t employed by local authorities. They served wherever the Board of Excise required them. A typical entry might read something along the lines of:

John Smith to Sussex Collections in the room of William Jones.

It doesn’t look particularly exciting, but that single sentence tells you a great deal. John Smith has transferred to Sussex. William Jones has vacated the post. There is another story to investigate. If you then follow William Jones through the minute books, you may discover that he retired, died, was promoted or moved elsewhere. Quite often you can trace an entire chain of transfers across several counties.

I want to know why they moved

This is where the research becomes more interesting. The minute books usually record what happened, but not always why. To understand the background, it’s worth consulting the Board’s correspondence.

• CUST 45 – Board of Excise Letter Books

These volumes contain copies of letters sent by the Board to collectors, supervisors and local officers. Although individual officers aren’t mentioned as frequently as they are in the minute books, the letters often explain administrative changes, policy decisions and instructions relating to appointments and transfers.

• CUST 46 – Entry Books and Incoming Correspondence

These contain letters received by the Board. Depending on the period, you may find recommendations, petitions, complaints, reports or correspondence relating to appointments and local administration. You won’t necessarily find your ancestor here, but when you do, these records often provide the context that the minute books lack.

I want to know whether they were promoted or retired

Return once again to CUST 47. Promotions, retirements, pensions and dismissals were all matters considered by the Board and are frequently recorded in the minute books. You may also wish to consult CUST 39, which includes establishment books, staff lists and pension records. These records can help confirm where an officer was serving, when they were placed on the establishment, and in some cases provide salary or pension information.

I want to know where they were serving in a particular year

Sometimes you don’t need an appointment or transfer. You simply want to know where your ancestor was working. For this, the T44 Excise Pay Lists are particularly useful. These annual records list officers alongside their stations and salaries, making them an excellent way of confirming where someone was serving at a particular date. They can also help bridge the gaps between appointments recorded in the Board Minute Books.

A tip for searching these though… unlike the Excise Minute Books, these are often A3 sized manuscripts that are very fragile, so if you want to see these at The National Archives, you will be directed to a different floor to review them. Although the volumes are ordered by date, within rather than being ordered alphabetically, or by region, they are organised according to the type of role the employee had. Knowing which type of collections your ancestor was in will make reviewing these documents a little easier – for example, were they in hops collections, soap collections, distillery collections, or did they have a role in the London based HQ?

If the pay list places your ancestor somewhere unexpected, return to the Board Minutes (CUST 47) for the previous year. There’s often a transfer that explains how they got there.

My ancestor joined during the nineteenth century

If your ancestor entered the Excise after about 1820, don’t overlook CUST 116. These are entry papers for new Excise officers and may include applications, recommendations and other documents relating to their appointment. Unlike the earlier administrative records, these can sometimes provide a little more personal detail about the individual entering the service.

I can’t find my ancestor anywhere

Before concluding that you’ve reached a dead end, ask yourself a few questions. Could the surname have been recorded differently? Could they have transferred to another county? Could they have been working temporarily somewhere else? Could they have retired? Could they have died in service?

Government clerks were just as capable of inconsistent spelling as parish clerks. Search creatively, be flexible with surnames, and don’t be afraid to investigate neighbouring counties if an officer suddenly disappears.

Learn to read around your ancestor

This is probably the most valuable lesson I’ve learned from researching Excise records. Don’t just photograph the page containing your ancestor’s name. Read the entries before and after it. The officer immediately preceding your ancestor is often the reason your ancestor appears at all. A retirement creates a vacancy. A promotion creates another vacancy somewhere else. One transfer can trigger a chain of appointments stretching across several counties. Understanding those connections transforms isolated entries into the story of a career.

There are some good examples of understanding the wider context of moves and transfers in my write up about my own exciseman research, including pictures of the relevant records and what they told me in part three of The Curious Domestic Arrangements of John Hardwicke.

Keep a research log

Archive research isn’t about finding a single document. It’s about following a trail. Keep a simple research log recording:

Date searched	Record series	Volume	Result	Next action

Equally important is recording what wasn’t there. Knowing you’ve already searched a particular volume can save hours of duplicated work during future visits.

You could combine this simple research log with the Evidence Matrix, to capture the text you have found verbatim. This will help you to put a timeline together and to begin to connect the dots between the administrative records of the Excise with the personal records of the Parish.

Final thoughts

Excise records can appear daunting when you first encounter them. There are dozens of record series, hundreds of volumes and relatively few comprehensive name indexes. Fortunately, you don’t need to search everything. Start with the question you’re trying to answer, then choose the record series most likely to provide that answer.

For most eighteenth-century researchers, that journey will begin with CUST 47, before expanding into CUST 45, CUST 46, CUST 39, CUST 116 and the T 44 pay lists as new questions emerge. The Board of Excise created these records simply to administer a government department. More than two centuries later, they allow us to reconstruct the careers of ordinary men who spent their working lives travelling the country collecting the taxes that kept Britain running.

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Quick reference guide

If you want to know…	Start with…
When they joined the Excise	CUST 47 – Board of Excise Minute Books
Where they worked	CUST 47 and T 44 Pay Lists
Why they were transferred	CUST 45 and CUST 46 Correspondence
Promotions, pensions or retirement	CUST 47 and CUST 39
Entry into the service after c.1820	CUST 116 Entry Papers
Where they served in a particular year	T 44 Excise Pay Lists