The Land Tax Redemption Act of 1798 converted England and Wales’s annual land tax into a permanent charge and let property owners extinguish it forever with a single lump-sum payment. Parliament had voted the tax through year by year since 1692; the 1798 Act (38 Geo. III c. 60) ended that annual cycle, set up a Land Tax Redemption Office, and opened a redemption window that produced the record series researchers still use today.1The National Archives. The Land Tax 1692-1963
Why the Scheme Existed
Britain was funding the war against revolutionary France, and the Treasury needed cash immediately rather than in yearly instalments. William Pitt the Younger, as Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, made the tax perpetual so that landowners had a reason to buy their way out: a permanent liability reduced the value of an estate, and a one-off payment removed it. The government received capital up front, and redemption was tied to the purchase of government securities, which also expanded the pool of debt holders.
Who Could Redeem the Tax
First priority went to the freeholder. If the freeholder declined, occupying tenants and holders of lesser interests could redeem in their place.
Between 1798 and 1802, third parties with no connection to the land were also allowed to buy the redemption as a way of raising extra revenue. A third-party purchase carried a limitation: the buyer redeemed the tax but did not achieve exoneration, so the legal effect on the land itself differed from an owner-led redemption, which permanently freed the property from the charge.1The National Archives. The Land Tax 1692-1963
How the Redemption Price Was Set
The cost was not a flat fee. It was tied to the Three Per Cent Consolidated Bank Annuities, known as Consols. To redeem, a landowner bought enough Consols to produce an annuity exceeding the annual tax by one-fifth. In practice the lump sum came to roughly fifteen times the annual assessment.1The National Archives. The Land Tax 1692-1963
The Land Tax Commissioners fixed the assessment for each property, and the capital needed to replace it moved with the market price of Consols. The formula stayed the same; the cash figure shifted.
What the Records Contain
The National Archives holds three main series. Each answers a different question, and using them together is usually the point.
- IR 23 — Quotas and Assessments. Covers all land tax parishes in England and Wales for 1798, with a few entries running into 1799 and 1800. Lists most landowners and their principal tenants and gives the assessed tax. Sub-tenants are not included, and neither are owners of land valued at less than twenty shillings.1The National Archives. The Land Tax 1692-1963
- IR 22 — Parish Books of Redemptions. Where a tax was redeemed, the parish book records the register number and contract date for each transaction. It is the index that ties a property to its certificate.
- IR 24 — Registers of Redemption Certificates. The contracts themselves. Each certificate gives a fuller property description than the assessment does, names all tenants and leaseholders, and occasionally includes a plan or sketch.1The National Archives. The Land Tax 1692-1963
A typical certificate records the proprietor, the occupier, a brief property description, the annual assessment, the redemption date, and a unique contract number. That contract number is the permanent reference tying the payment to the parcel, and you will need it to cross-refer between the three series.
How to Find the Records
Gather what you can before you search: the landowner’s full name, the county, and the parish or hundred. Historical maps and parish records help confirm boundaries, since neighbouring parishes often held properties with similar descriptions.
The National Archives’ online catalogue, Discovery, lets you search document references by name and area. Some records are available as digital downloads; others require a visit to the reading rooms at Kew. To read on site you need a reader’s ticket. That means being at least sixteen, registering online, and bringing two separate forms of identification: one with your name and signature (such as a passport or driving licence) and one showing your address (such as a utility bill or bank statement issued within the last six months).2The National Archives. Reader’s Tickets
Commercial Genealogy Databases
Much of IR 23 has been digitised and indexed on commercial platforms. Ancestry hosts a collection titled “UK, Land Tax Redemption, 1798” covering England and Wales; despite the title, some entries run through 1811, particularly for Buckinghamshire. You can search by owner, occupier, and parish.3Ancestry. UK, Land Tax Redemption, 1798
Those indexes are a good starting point, but they generally cover only the IR 23 assessments. For the full certificate in IR 24, with its longer description and complete tenant list, you will usually need to go through The National Archives directly.
When the Scheme Ended
Redemption stayed voluntary for a century and a half. The Finance Act 1949 introduced compulsory redemption from 1 April 1950: the tax had to be redeemed when the property changed hands, when the owner granted a lease of twenty-one years or more, or when the owner’s estate interest came to an end. The same Act exonerated certain low-value and Crown properties outright.4Legislation.gov.uk. Finance Act 1949
The land tax was formally abolished by the Finance Act 1963, closing out a levy that had run in one form or another since 1692.5Legislation.gov.uk. Finance Act 1963 For anyone researching 1798 redemptions specifically, the useful point is that the record trail starts in 1798 but does not stop there; later transactions on the same parcel can appear in the registers well into the twentieth century.
Why the Records Are Useful
Because IR 23 covers virtually every land tax parish in 1798, it captures most landowners and their principal tenants three years before the first official census. Each entry separates proprietor from occupier, so it shows who held title and who actually worked or lived on the land.
IR 24 adds detail that the assessments leave out: sub-tenants, leaseholders, and a fuller description of the holding. For family historians, the combination of names, occupancies, and precise dates is often enough to place an ancestor in a specific parish and to tell apart individuals who shared a common name. For local historians, reading multiple entries across one parish shows how holdings were divided and which properties carried enough value to make redemption worthwhile.