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Ireland Valuation Records of the 1800s
By Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA Scot To understand what is going on in 19th century Ireland with respect to land valuation, it is necessary to begin with a few details about taxation before change was legislated. Two taxes were collected, the tithe and the cess. The tithe was collected for the maintenance of the Established Church, the Church of Ireland. Until legislation in the 1820s the tithe was collected in kind, one tenth of the produce of the land; e.g., the tenth piglet or the tenth bushel. The cess was collected by the grand juries; each county had one of these made up of somewhere between 12 and 23 of the major landowners selected by the county sheriff. The cess was applied to the building and maintenance of roads and bridges, courthouses and jails. Payment in kind was hated and those who did not attend the Church of Ireland resented the payment even more. As for the cess, there had to be some sort of allocation of amounts due for county administration based on the value of property. There was as yet no uniform way to do this and members of the grand juries were not above favouring their friends. Difficulties were growing in another area, care of the poor. There was inadequate provision for relief, neither parishes nor grand juries being assigned clear responsibility. The haphazard mix of charities was usually short of funds and never came close to dealing adequately with poverty and vagrancy. By the 1820s it was evident that change was urgently needed. For the tithe, payment in kind was commuted to payment in money. For the cess, a valuation was ordered by legislation in 1826; the first of three valuation acts. For the poor, legislation in 1838 set up the system of workhouses in districts known as poor law unions. Boards of guardians governed these and were given authority to assess and tax property. Not surprisingly, the lack of one standard system of valuation generated complaints. Eventually, the act of 1852 created the valuation that bears the name of the man directing all but the tithe commutation, Richard Griffith. The Tithe Applotment Books
Every parish in Ireland except those of the major towns and cities were valued for the conversion of the tithe in kind to a cash payment. The first survey occurred in 1823 and the last in 1837. The valuation of land in each parish was carried out under the direction of two parochial commissioners, one elected by the local ratepayers and the other appointed by the bishop of the Church of Ireland diocese. For each tenant, the records show the name of the townland, the acreage of the farm and its value and the tithe payable. Some lands were missed in the survey but some records have additional remarks on a variety of subjects; e.g., former landholders, landlords, emigrants, legal matters. Applotment books provide a summary of the occupation, use and value of land in the years prior to the upheaval of the famine. The records or copies are in the National Archives of Ireland (NAI), the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) and the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. There are some miscellaneous indexes and a surname index contained within the Householders Index (available on film at FamilySearch centres and in the National Library of Ireland). Valuations for Local Administration and Poor Relief
The growing discontent over the lack of a sound basis for assessment and collection of the cess led to legislation in 1826. This authorized what is known as the Townland Valuation. It commenced in 1830. As the name suggests the basic unit for valuation was the townland; teams of assessors began their work in the north. Part way through the process, in 1844, procedure was changed and the tenement, or parcel of land, became the basis for valuation. The published surveys contain only details of the townlands and their respective values. The hand-written field and house books from which these were derived are in Ireland and some of them contain individual names. A list can be found in Richard Griffith and his Valuations of Ireland (Reilly, 2000). Meanwhile, in 1838 the legislation for the relief of the poor in Ireland was passed. It created poor law unions (130 to start and 33 more added later) and their subdivisions, electoral districts. Boards of guardians were elected and were given the authority to collect rates based on property value. Some adopted the valuations already in existence and others initiated their own valuations. The checkerboard map of valuation systems generated a call for reform and in 1846 the second valuation with respect to assessment of the cess was ordered. This is known as the Tenement Valuation; however, two systems of taxation remained. The Tenement Valuation Act of 1852 pulled everything together; it created one uniform valuation of all lands and buildings to be used for all assessments. When it was passed the valuation work under the act of 1846 was ongoing so it was decided that: anything valued before June of 1852 would stand until revised according to the new act; any valuation actually in progress would apply to all taxation purposes; and, counties valued under the 1826 act were to have a tenement valuation. It is interesting to consider how the name “Griffith's Primary Valuation”; came to be applied to results of the 1852 legislation. The first report of valuations was published and bore the title of “Primary Valuation” because it was the first version. It was fully expected that there would be appeals. The final, working version was not printed but remained in hand-written form. One set was at the Valuation Office, one copy with the respective county treasurers and one with the boards of guardians. Alterations were added to these manuscript copies. Genealogical Use
Griffith's Valuation, because it assesses all lands and all buildings with all occupiers and their immediate lessors, is a valuable research tool. Often referred to as a census substitute, it comes close to listing all heads of household in Ireland immediately after the famine. Some are missing either because of gaps in the records or because only one head of household was recorded where the second household paid no rent (e.g., two generations of a family living together). Apart from townland address and occupier's name, the particulars given in the valuation records are: name of the person from whom the property was leased (immediate lessor); description of the property; acreage of land (where the property includes land); valuation of buildings; valuation of land. Where name confusion was possible agnomens (latin: additional name) were used; the most common terms were junior and senior. These are extremely helpful when sorting out families in one geographic area. Anyone researching Irish ancestors in the 1800s must make reference to the Tithe Applotment Books and Griffith's Primary Valuation and must have some understanding of land issues in their historical context. Take time to explore the topic further; these records are useful genealogical tools and interesting sources of local history. Further Reading
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