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Poll Tax Books for Canonbie

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  • Poll Tax Books for Canonbie

    I have got as far as I can by using Ancestry and Scotlandspeople and now have multiple individuals all born around the same time (1700 to 1780) with the same names (first and second), within the Parish of Canonbie, DFS. It occurs to me that I might be able to sort out who belongs to which family by looking at the Poll Books for DFS, assuming they are available.

    My question is: has anyone else had experience of using these sources and if so how do I get hold of them - Mitchell, Register House, DFHS? Unfortunately I live abroad so can't visit personally.

    Thanks for any assistance or recommendations.

  • #2
    You could look on here:
    Dumfries and Galloway Family History Society -- Home Page

    But be warned, it's one of those websites that plays a tune! I couldn't see how to turn it off so I didn't stay on there long enough to see what publications, CD's etc they have for sale.
    KiteRunner

    Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
    (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

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    • #3
      "PoIl Books" usually equate to electoral rights and I think the information below will give you some indication of what might be available in terms of "Poll Books" for the UK during the dates you have mentioned.

      "The1832 Reform Act, sometimes known as the Great Reform Act was the first major Act in reforming Electoral rights. Its impact was relatively minor in terms of those who could vote once the act was passed. There had been a great deal of opposition to the 1832 Reform Act, so any changes were bound to be cautious in the extreme. The electorate was extended but this did not compare to the huge impact the 1867 and 1884 Reform Acts had on the British political spectrum. One of the most obvious successes of the 1832 act was that it removed from the political set-up the oddities that were rotten boroughs.

      The best way to evaluate the impact of the 1832 Reform Act is to study the increase in the electorate immediately after the act was passed.

      In the 1832 election, the total number of people who voted in the United Kingdom was 827,748. This was regionally broken into:

      England: 667,958

      Wales: 13,814

      Scotland: 53,755

      Ireland: 88,814

      In early-19th-century Britain very few people had the right to vote. A survey conducted in 1780 revealed that the electorate in England and Wales consisted of just 214,000 people - less than 3% of the total population of approximately 8 million. In Scotland the electorate was even smaller: in 1831 a mere 4,500 men, out of a population of more than 2.6 million people, were entitled to vote in parliamentary elections. Large industrial cities like Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester did not have a single MP between them, whereas 'rotten boroughs' such as Dunwich in Suffolk (which had a population of 32 in 1831) were still sending two MPs to Westminster. The British electoral system was unrepresentative and outdated

      I have only been able to use Poll books for the 1880's onwards but from that date have used them with great success.


      Have you thought of trying to access Hearth Taxes/Window Taxes etc?

      Janet
      Last edited by Janet; 12-11-08, 10:31.

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      • #4
        I have found the Edinburgh Burgess Rolls invaluable in tracing my Edinburgh lines back, because it gives you information on how each person qualified to be a burgess - often this means it gives your their father's name and occupation or (their father-in-law). But I don't know whether Canonbie Poll Books would be similar to that or not.
        KiteRunner

        Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
        (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

        Comment


        • #5
          Yes, I have also used the Edinburgh Burgess Rolls but have never found any of my Scottish families on there but worth a try.

          There were the famous Poll Tax Revolts by Wat Tyler back in the 1300's which sowed the seeds for the collapse of the Poll Tax under Maggie Thatcher in the 1980's, but I am wondering if you really mean Poll Tax books?

          Janet

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