Debbie Beavis
 
 

The 20th Century description of this profession is a Customs & Excise Officer, but it must be remembered that the two services did not join forces until 1909, and if you do not know which a man served in, it may be necessary to search the separate records of the Board of Customs and the Board of Excise in order to find him.

The proximity of Britain to the continent meant that smuggling was an ever present threat and the resultant evasion of duties on imported goods was a loss of valuable revenue for the British Government. Customs men operated within ports, collected duties on goods and endeavoured to prevent evasion of duties, a small fleet of Revenue cruisers patrolled the coastal waters,
and a force of Riding Officers patrolled the coastline to ensure that smugglers were unable to land their goods. The Board of Excise was set up in 1643 to collect duties on certain British goods.

Records of the Board of Customs

There are no official registers of service, and in order to trace a Customs Officer it is necessary to search several record series.

Cust 18 - Board of Customs: Pay Lists 1675-1813
Cust 19 - Board of Customs: Pay Lists 1814-1829

These records include names listed alphabetically, port by port. Men from the London Headquarters are listed first, followed by those at the remaining ports of the British Isles going in a clockwork direction around the country. The name and salary should be shown.

Cust 39 - Board of Customs Staff Lists 1671-1922 (Incomplete series)

These records require care in searching as the organisation of the lists varies. Reference to the instructions at the beginning of the class list is important before conducting a search of individual lists in this class. Some are arranged in geographical order around the British Isles, some are divided into areas and then listed in alphabetical order.

Cust 39/145-159 - Board of Customs: Superannuation Registers 1803-1922

These registers whilst not service registers, are however the key to compiling a career. By following each section in the book it is possible to find rank, dates of commencing and ending service, and the ports from which superannuation was transferred. Certain other biographical information may also be obtained from these records, including date of death (at which time
superannuation ceased), any widow's pension and date of cessation, and if this latter is given, then also included is often the names and dates of birth of any children. Cust 39 also includes superannuation records for Irish Board of Customs.

Cust 28 - Board of Customs: Minute Books 1734-1885

Note was made in these books of all successive postings during a man's career. The search may be time consuming but the full career of a Customs Officer can be compiled.

The main records of the Irish Board of Customs and the Irish Revenue are in a similar record series:

Cust 20/154-159 - Irish Board of Customs Register of Appointments 1761-1823

Board of Excise

Cust 116 - Board of Excise, Entry Papers 1820-1870

Entry papers usually contain a letter of recommendation, giving name, age, place of birth, plus a written character reference. There is usually a letter of confirmation from the Excise Officer in charge, stating that the man was literate and numerate. There is an alphabetical card index to this class.

Cust 47 - Board of Customs, Minute Books 1695-1867

These contain all successive postings of a man's career. There are approximately 6 books covering each year, each internally indexed. These records do not contain information of a biographical nature.

Cust 48 - Correspondence, Treasury Department, indexed.

Irish Board of Excise

Cust 110/1-8 - Irish Board of Excise, Minutes and Appointments 1824-1833

As stated earlier, in 1909 the two Boards merged to become HM Customs & Excise.

Many of these records have been filmed and therefore may be available through LDS libraries.

This is a brief overview of a large class of records. They are simple to search once the organisation of the various records has been understood, but are time consuming and not always correctly alphabetical so care must always be taken. Outports may be given unfamiliar names and you may need access to a good atlas to assist in identifying a location. The Public Record Office's catalogue is now on line at their website http://www.pro.gov.uk  where you may identify the records you need. There is also a series of on-line leaflets including records for the Boards of Customs and Excise, which explain in greater detail what may be obtained from a search in the records.
 

Last updated 21.04.02ef
 

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