Customs and Excise Records

The History

Customs and Excise Officers have existed in various forms and titles since 1642 when Parliament decided to tax  some imported goods.

Until 1908 there were Customs men employed by the Board Of Customs and Excise men employed by the Board of Excise .

Customs men were responsible for wrecks and saving lives , quarantine and the defence of the coastline as well as excise evasion while Excise men concentrated on import duties but as both operated against the many gangs of smugglers there was regular conflict between the two groups.

In 1908 the two groups were unified with added responsibility of collecting some internal taxes.

In 2005 there was a further amalgamation with Inland Revenue to form the giant HM Revenue and Customs.

What records can you find?

The central source for customs and excise records is the National Archives.

A personal visit or hiring a researcher is required as the records are not yet available on line.

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Ham’s Customs Year Books listed details of Customs Officers and their postings from the late 1800's to the early 1900's.

These are available at the National Archives and in some libraries.

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The Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool has a large exhibition relating to the customs although there is little nor no material of interest to family historians

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The Waterguard is on online site that relates to the activity of the Waterguard who were a Division of Customs and Excise although there is a lot of material on the whole of the Customs and Excise Service including names of many of the men.