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Birmingham Corporation before 1840

ChrisM

ChrisM

Super Moderator
Staff member
I have been prompted to ask the following question by a genealogically-inclined Australian cousin:

In the period before 1840-ish, was there a city council, corporation or municipal body that might have left records for Birmingham such as rates/tax records of city property owners or occupiers?

Can anyone please point me towards any information on this and in particular what is likely to be available in the Reference Library? I'm sure the answer to the question must be "yes" but I don't know how far any records date back, nor how accessible they may be.

Thanks

Chris
 
Old Rates Books.

ChrisM. There are shelves full of old rates books in the Archives section on the 7th floor of Birmingham Central Library. I think early ones give the owner of the property and later ones give the tenants in the property.
Don't forget that the Central Library is closed through the month of January.
Whether there are any other records held it would be best to inquire. ( By Phone ? )
 
There's no simple to your question except to say NO. There were the Street Commissioners who collected rates for road works, street cleansing and suchlike, and various other services came along later at first private, such as the gas company, water company etc.
Under the Charter of 1838, Birmingham had a council, but the bmembers had no powers - least of all to spend money - and it took 13 years until the Improvement Act of 1851 gave it power to do charge rates, taking over earlier functions of of the old public bodies.
I don't know if the City Archives have the old Street Commissioners Rate Books. If so, I can imagine they would be pretty tatty documents, completed in invisible pencil or whatever, like others I've seen. And the Brum Street Commissioners were a bit on the amateur side I imagine. It would be interesting to hear if anyone can fill us in on this question.
Peter
 
As far back as the early 19th Century we are looking at manorial records. ie Parish Records, then there was Window Tax, Poor Law records, and records were kept when a family was the responsibility of their parish, should they become destitute. These were called Settlement Certificates, and payment will be recorded in the parish records. It would be great had all of these records survived in every parish, but there are not too many. What there are are in County Record Offices and will show up in their catalogues. The other source of information are Apprentice Certificates, they are detailed but scarce again. I do remember that the Public Record Office at Kew, now called The National Archives, have some of all the above records if they were not lodged in the local record office, so it is always worth searching their catalogue. None of these records are available on line, most of them are in 'bundles' which means they are not even sorted into name order, but a good genealogist who will search for a fee is a consideration. Other sources I have just thought of are the Court Records, a good survival rate, and Wills which are a subject on their own and pre 1858 are filed under the Perogative Courts, but a wonderful snapshot of our ancestors lives when they named every item they owned including pots and pans.

I've gone on a bit haven't I but these records are the only way of finding families in the period before registration.:)
 
Very sound advice Di here is the link to the achives.

https://www.a2a.org.uk/

I found a document here relating to a family member who had property in Cheltenham. A body of people wanted to buy part of his garden for a road widening scheme, this was before councils. The document was dated 1862 I sent for a copy from Gloucester records office it cost £10 but was worth every penny. I sometimes just put a name in the search engine..........good luck!
 
Thanks very much for all those helpful comments, everyone. You are in receipt of much Oz gratitude too.

It would be really interesting if anyone could pick up on Peter's point about the availability or otherwise of Street Commissioners' records.

Chris
 
They would be worth seeing, Chris wouldn't they. Peter paints a picture, you can just see them excercise book in hand pencil behing the ear, give the lead a quick lick and off they go. I have never come across them in the Library, I have looked at the rate books up on the 6th floor, but it might be worth searching the catalogue when they open again. :)
 
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