Tithes were a tax of a tenth of the income from the agricultural yield of the land and livestock, which was paid to the etablished church for the support of the clergy, or for religious and charitable uses. When Henry VIII disestablished the monasteries in 1537, these tithes, which were mainly collected centrally by monasteries and churches, were effectively sold to the highest bidder and most of them passed into the hands of wealthy, and often absentee, landlords.
The Land Tax Commissioners came into existence in 1657 in an attempt to implement a solid taxation system. Throughout the eighteenth century the Land Tax Commission was not considered effective and was even charged with irregularities and fraud. However, as the Commission moved into the nineteenth century it began the administration of income tax and attained a stronger and more efficient practice.
Edward Burnell was a Professor of Greek at Rostock University in Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Germany). Rostock University was founded in 1419, making it the oldest university in Northern Europe.
The Court of Common Council forms part of the governing body of the City of London, along with the Court of Aldermen and the Court of Common Hall, and is responsible for local government and administration. Common councillors were first appointed during the reign of Edward I, and were formed into the Court of Common Council in 1384. The Court comprises the Lord Mayor, aldermen and councilmen, the latter two being elected from each ward of the city by local government electors.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
The Court Baron was the principal type of manorial court, and was the court of the chief tenants of the manor. It was responsible for the internal regulation of local affairs within the manor, and was attended by all those free tenants whose attendance at court was a condition of their tenure, and by customary tenants. Customary tenants held land by an agreement made at the manor court which was entered on its roll, a 'copy' of which was his regarded as proof of title.
The Court Baron was the principal type of manorial court, and was the court of the chief tenants of the manor. It was responsible for the internal regulation of local affairs within the manor, and was attended by all those free tenants whose attendance at court was a condition of their tenure, and by customary tenants. Customary tenants held land by an agreement made at the manor court which was entered on its roll, a 'copy' of which was his regarded as proof of title.
The Manor of Westington was in the area around Hatfield in Hertfordshire.
No information available at present.
A jury is a group chosen from the citizenry of a district to try a question of fact. It is the standard jury used in civil and criminal trials.
James Blair Leishman was born on 8 May 1902. He was educated at St John's College, Oxford. He was Assistant Lecturer, Lecture and Senior Lecture in English Literature at University College Southampton from 1928 to 1946 and lecturer in English Literature at Oxford University in 1946. He published many works on English literature, including, The Metaphysical Poets, 1934 and volumes of translations from Rainer Maria Rilke, 1934-1963. He died on 14 August 1963.
The system of weights and measures in Great Britain had been in use since the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Following a reform begun in 1824 the imperial standard yard was adopted in 1855. The imperial standards were made legal by an Act of Parliament in 1855.
Members of the Commission appointed in 1838 'to consider the steps to be taken for the restoration of the standards of weights and measures', included Sir George Biddell Airy (Astronomer Royal), Francis Baily, Sir John George Shaw-Lefevre and Sir John William Lubbock. A report was issued in 1841.
Blackmore was a bolting cloth manufacturing business situated in Wandsworth, Surrey. No further information was discovered at the time of compilation.
Senegal, West Africa, was a French colony until its independence in 1960. The French established a trading port at the mouth of the Senegal river in 1638 and founded Saint-Louis in 1659. Gorée Island, which had previously been occupied by the Portuguese and the Dutch, was claimed by the French in 1677, and served as an outpost for slave trading until the abolition of slavery in 1848. Slaves, gum arabic, ivory and gold were exported from Senegal by Europeans throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Albréda was a trading settlement founded by the French on the north bank of the Gambia river in 1681.
The Exchequer was responsible for receiving and dispersing the public revenue. The lower Exchequer, or receipt, closely connected with the permanent Treasury, was an office for the receipt and payment of money. The upper Exchequer was a court sitting twice a year to regulate accounts. The business of the ancient Exchequer was mainly financial, though some judicial business connected with accounts was also conducted.
Frank Wallis Galton was born in London in 1867. He was educated at the Working Men's College at Great Ormond, London. He was apprentice to a silversmith and engraver in the City of London and Freeman of the City by servitude. He was Private Secretary to Sydney and Beatrice Webb from 1892 to 1898; Secretary of the London Reform Union, 1899-1918 and the City of London Liberal Association, 1903-1905. During the First World War he was Assistant Secretary to the Central Association of Volunteer Regiments and editor of The Volunteer Gazette. After the war he became the editor of the Municipal Journal from 1918-1920. Galton also published works on the social sciences, including, The Tailoring Trade, published by the London School of Economics and Workers on their Industries, as well as various articles and pamphlets. Galton died on 9 April 1952.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Hamburg is Germany's largest port and commercial centre and one of the largest and busiest ports in Europe, with this growth beginning in the medieval period.
This diplomatic paper may have had something to do with Dutch support for the United States during the American War of Independence (1775-1783).
No information was discovered at the time of compilation.
No information available at present.
Charles Morton was born in Pendavy, Cornwall in 1626/7. Educated at Wadham College Oxford University, he became Rector of Blisland in 1655. In 1686 he emigrated to New England, USA, where he became Minister of Charlestown. In 1697 he was appointed first Vice President of Harvard College. He died there in 1698.
The London and Birmingham Railway was sanctioned in 1833, and the Company appointed Robert Stephenson as chief engineer. Its construction was dogged by much opposition. The 112 mile long London to Birmingham line took 20,000 men nearly five years to build. The total cost of building the railway was £5,500,000 (£50,000 a mile). The railway was opened in stages and finally completed on 17 September 1838. The line started at Birmingham's Curzon Street Station and finished at Euston Station in London.
A royal grant of Orkney and Shetland was made to the Earls of Morton in 1643, and the earls became hereditary stewards and justiciaries of the islands. There was often conflict with the thirty-some Orkney lairds who ruled over Orkney on behalf (and sometimes contrary to the will) of the Earls, as this was a time of strong Jacobite sentiment which culminated in the last Orkney Jacobite uprising of 1745. The uprising was, in part, due to the great discontent with the Earls of Morton which was felt by the lairds and Orcadians.
Ann Isabella Ritchie was the elder daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1861), a well-known Victorian novelist. Anne was a prolific novelist, essayist and writer of memoirs. By 1875, The Works of Miss Thackeray had been published in eight volumes (Smith, Elder & Company), extended to 15 volumes by 1866. Most of her critical essays appeared in The Cornhill Magazine. Her first contribution appeared in the magazine's first year, 1860, and most of her fiction appeared serially in the magazine including, The Village on the Cliff, Old Kensington, Miss Angel and Mrs. Dymond. She died in 1919.
Jonathan Carter Hornblower (1753-1815) was the British inventor of the double-beat valve, the first reciprocating compound steam engine. Hornblower's invention, patented in 1781, was a steam engine with two cylinders, a significant contribution to efficiency. The firm of James Watt (Boulton & Watt) challenged his invention, claiming infringement of patent. With the decision against him, Hornblower lost the opportunity to further develop the compound engine. Hornblower patented other inventions, a rotative engine and a steam wheel, or steam engine, and amassed a fortune in engineering. Hornblower died in 1815.
The Exchequer was responsible for receiving and dispersing the public revenue.
A Corps of Engineers of Ponts et Chauseés was set up in France in 1716. A decree issued by the Royal Council in 1747 led to the setting up of the École des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris to provide a training programme for state engineers.
Archibald Campbell of Clathick took the additional family surname and arms of Colquhoun on his father's death in 1804, succeeding to the estate of Killermont. He was appointed Lord Advocate of Scotland in 1807, a post which he held until 1816. He died in 1820.
The Roman Emperor Justinian I attempted to increase the unity of the Roman Empire by collecting and codifying the scattered laws, imperial edicts, decisions of the early Roman Senate, and opinions of learned jurists and organizing them into a written law code. The result was the Corpus Iurus Civilis (Body of Civil Law), issued in three parts. These parts were the Codex Justinianus (529), which compiled all of the extant imperial constitutiones from the time of Hadrian; the Digest, or Pandects, (533), which compiled the writings of the great Roman jurists such as Ulpian along with current edicts; and the Institutes, which was intended as sort of legal textbook for law schools and included extracts from the two major works.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
John Baynes was possibly the father of another John Baynes, also a lawyer, who lived c 1676-1736.
No information available at present.
An accord (?1801) between Russia and England during the Napoleonic Wars permitted the inspection of cargo on board the ships of neutral nations; in addition, England and Russia declared their right to demand a ship's papers and even seize and detain a ship with or without provocation. Under duress, Sweden and Denmark also signed the agreement.
The work may have been written by William Forbes, who was also the author of a treatise on bills of exchange published in 1703.
Though first proposed in 1825, the Exeter and Exmouth Railway was finally completed in 1861.
A letter of attorney is a written authority from one person empowering another to transact business for him.
The Exchequer was responsible for receiving and dispersing the public revenue. The lower Exchequer, or receipt, closely connected with the permanent Treasury, was an office for the receipt and payment of money. The upper Exchequer was a court sitting twice a year to regulate accounts. The business of the ancient Exchequer was mainly financial, though some judicial business connected with accounts was also conducted. In time the upper Exchequer developed into the judicial system, while the lower Exchequer became the Treasury.
The Society of Friends (also known as Quakers) was a Protestant denomination that arose in England in the mid-17th century. The Society was founded by George Fox, a Nottingham shoemaker turned preacher, who emphasized inward apprehension of God, without creeds, clergy, or other ecclesiastical forms. The movement grew rapidly after 1650 but its members were often persecuted or imprisoned for rejecting the state church and refusing to pay tithes or swear oaths. Nevertheless, by 1660, there were 20,000 converts. Persecution continued, and many quakers emigrated to America, where they found toleration in Rhode Island and in the Quaker colony of Pennsylvania, which was chartered by Charles II under the sponsorship of William Penn in 1681. Marks that became characteristic of Quakerism were plain speech and dress, pacifism, and opposition to slavery.
Gallicanism is the term used to designate a certain group of religious opinions for some time peculiar to the Church of France, or Gallican Church, and the theological schools of that country. These opinions, in opposition to the ideas which were called in France 'Ultramontane', tended chiefly to a restraint of the pope's authority in the Church in favour of that of the bishops and the temporal ruler.
Charles de Marillac was Archbishop of Vienne and a member of the French Privy Council. His nephew, Michel de Marillac (1563-1632) was a French politician who acted as Minister of Justice in 1626. He published an ordinance reforming the legal administration in 1629.
The Coachmakers and Coach Harnessmakers Company was granted a charter by King Charles II in 1677. It was soon established as the governing body of the trade and undertook a certain amount of policing within the trade. The company survived the trials of history and developed new interests alongside its traditional ones, particularly in the motor trade.
Born in Kirchberg, Saxony 1850, died in Zurich, Switzerland 1933; from 1867 active in the workers' movement in Saxony; to escape mobilization in 1870 he fled to Switzerland and participated in the Swiss labour movement ever since; editor of the Züricher Arbeiterstimme and other periodicals; elected as a member of the cantonal and municipal council of Zurich in 1896 and 1898 and of the Swiss national parliament in 1911.
Excise are inland duties levied on articles at the time of their manufacture, notably, alcoholic drinks, but have also included salt, paper and glass. In 1643 a Board of Excise was established by the Long Parliament, to organize the collection of duties in London and the provinces. Excise duty was settled by statute despite widespread aversion in 1660. A permanent board of Excise for England and Wales was established in 1683 with separate boards for Ireland in 1682 and Scotland in 1707.
Litigation to prove that William Patrick Ralston Shedden (b 1794) was the legitimate son and heir of William Ralston Shedden (1747-1798) commenced in 1801, went twice to the Scottish courts and the House of Lords, and judgement was finally given against the petitioner in Nov 1860.
Switzerland is divided into 23 cantons, each of which has two delegates in the upper house of the federal parliament. In 1792, the Napoleonic Wars were about to break out, with France ranged against various coalitions of European countries: in 1798, the French armies marched into Switzerland and established a Helvetic Republic, though this was disbanded when Switzerland regained her independence in 1803.Jean Marie Cécile Valentin-Duplantier (1758-1814) was appointed Prefect of the area of Landes, South-West France, in 1802. He was based in Mont-de-Marsan, and established several experimental agricultural schemes in the area.
No information available at present.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
In 1712, Norwich was one of the earliest cities to set up a poor law incorporation by special act of parliament. It comprised 44 parishes and was presided over by a Court of Guardians. There were two workhouses, one formerly a palace of the Duke of Norfolk, and the other a former monastery.
No information available at present.