Death Duties


The registers of the Estate Duty Office (grouped in the series IR 26) run from 1796 to 1903 and relate to the payment of three different taxes:

    * legacy duty - tax on property transferred by a will
    * succession duty - tax on legal transfer of the deceased's assets and rights to their heirs (from 1853)
    * estate duty - tax on assets owned by an individual at death (from 1894)

These "death duties" were payable on many estates over a given value in England and Wales. Before 1853 death duties relate to personal estate only and exclude freehold property.

Before 1805 the registers contain references to around 25% of the grants of probate and administration. The reason for this low figure is that between 1796 and 1805 duty was payable

The registers between 1805 and 1815 contain references to around 75% of all the grants of probate and administration.

From 1796 to 1811 Death Duty registers consist of individual pre-printed sheets. The pages contain summaries of wills and accounts of administrations and an entry can run either to a few lines or a few pages.

The church court submitted the details, recording bequests and other matters chargeable with legacy duty. The sheets were then delivered to the office of the Board of Stamps in London, where they were bound into registers.

Two main classes of registers were compiled for those proved by the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC), and those for each of the remaining courts, known collectively as the "country courts"

All the Death Duty indexes have been searched for Ellerton, and the following entries have been found:

Forename Surname Detail W/A Date Reference
Robert Mitchel Farmer of Ellerton W Jan 13 1809 IR 26/431/51
Robert Watson of Ellerton W Mar 23 1808 IR 26/429/129
Thomas Webster Cordwainer of Ellerton W Apr 19 1810 IR 26/433/243