Devon History Trail
Inhabitant lists

The censuses are among the latest and the most complete of a series of inhabitant lists which stretch back to medieval times. They were compiled for a variety of purposes and the individuals included and the information they give vary according to the reason that they were drawn up. A series of lists for the parish of Saint Pancras, Exeter is given here. This is one of the smallest Exeter parishes, so it has been possible to transcribe some of the lists completely.

While St Pancras is one of the smallest Exeter parishes, it occupies a key central position in the walled city and includes the Guildhall within its boundaries. Today there is no resident population and the bulk of the area is occupied by the Guildhall Shopping Centre. The medieval church of St Pancras, set at an angle in the central square of the shopping centre, fossilises the original alignment of Pancras Lane.

For the larger towns trade directories included a section arranged by street as well as the alphabetical and classified sections. To the left details of the occupants are given in house number order for Waterbeer Street, which runs through the parish of Saint Pancras. The mention of where side streets cross makes it possible to identify individual properties on early Ordnance Survey plans, which do not normally include house numbers. This can be helpful in using such sources as the census enumerators' returns.

Location of original: Westcountry Studies Library

Published: Exeter: Besley & Copp, 1912.

Electoral registers were first compiled in 1832 but none survive for Exeter prior to 1843. In town registers were later arranged in address order within wards, but alphabetcial arrangement is still used in smaller communities. Until univeral suffrage was obtained, the coverage was inevitably selective, omitting women in the 19th cenury.

Location of original: Devon Record Office.

Printed.

This detailed survey of Exeter properties makes up for the lack of tithe surveys for most parishes in central Exeter. Like the tithe surveys it is one of the few sources to give details of the ownership as well as occupancy of individual properties.

Location of original: Exeter City Records

Published: Valuation of the houses and lands in the City of Exeter, made by Messrs. Rowe, Cornish and Hooper, by order of the Guardians of the Poor and the Improvement Commissioners, and completed the 28th of July, 1838 (Exeter: J.N.Welsford, 1838)

This unusually full listing of inhabitants was drawn up as a result of the threat of invasion by Napoleon. It divides the male population into categories according to age groups and marital status, providing useful genealogical information. The comment columns are sometimes used for patriotic statements by individuals or give details of infirmities.

Location of original: Exeter City Records. Miscellaneous papers. Box 5.

Published: Exeter militia list 1803, edited with an introduction by W.G.Hoskins (Chichester: Phillimore, 1972)

Land tax records only survive for the county of Devon from 1780 but there are some earlier examples for Exeter.

Location of original: Exeter City Records. D3/161.

Unpublished

Ratepayers paid on personal estate and on their property. The figures given represent the weekly rate. It is not clear on what principle the contributions were made, but it is certain that while the richer Exeter parishes coped comfortably with their poor, poorer parishes with many paupers needed to spend two or three times as much as they could raise. This was made up for to some extent by the richer parishes contributing to the needs of their poorer neighbours.

Location of original: Exeter City Muniments. Misc. Books, 159B.

Published: Exeter in the seventeenth century: tax and rate asessments 1602-1699, edited with an introduction by W.G.Hoskins (Exeter: Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1957), p. 115.

This listing only provides the name and the number of hearths. The hearth tax assessment is based on the household rather than the house, so its use to assess the size of individual properties can be fraught with difficulty where several families shared the same property.

Location of original: Exeter City Muniments. Misc. Rolls No. 74.

Published: Exeter in the seventeenth century: tax and rate asessments 1602-1699, edited with an introduction by W.G.Hoskins (Exeter: Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1957), p. 86.

All names are in the same hand and have been placed in alphabetical order by the transcriber. Adult males had to sign the Oath of Protestation personally and, where original returns survive, the transcriber has recorded the cross used by those unable to sign their own name, rare early evidence for literacy levels.

Location of original: House of Lords Record Office.

Published: The Devon protestation returns 1641, edited A.J.Howard (Bristol: T.L.Stoate, 1973).

Location of original: Exeter City Muniments. Assessments of Subsidies &c. Box 3.

Published: Exeter in the seventeenth century: tax and rate asessments 1602-1699, edited with an introduction by W.G.Hoskins (Exeter: Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1957), p. 10.

As with other subsidies in the Tudor period, there were differing amounts levied in lands and on goods.

Location of original: Exeter City Muniments. Z6.

Published: Tudor Exeter: tax asessments 1489-1595 including the military survey 1522, edited by Margery M.Rowe (Exeter: Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1977), p. 62.

The parishes are not individualised within the city of Exeter and the listing here presents the first few names in each category.

Location of original: Public Record Office SP 12/57

Published: The Devon muster roll for 1569, edited by A.J.Howard and T.L.Stoate (Bristol: Howard and Stoate, 1977), p. 246-249.

The editor has modernised spelling and also standardised the forms under which the various categories of individual are listed. Christian names and place-names have also been modernised.

Location of original: Exeter City Muniments. Book 156a.

Published: Tudor Exeter: tax asessments 1489-1595 including the military survey 1522, edited by Margery M.Rowe (Exeter: Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1977), p. 9-10.

Bowman able for the war
John Hopkyn, harness for a man and is worth in goods, 100s

Billmen able for the war
John Parr worth in goods 20s
William Burscotte, a bill, a pair of almain rivets, a sallet and is worth in goods, 40s
John Jones, a sallet, 2 bills and is worth in goods, 26s 8d
John Stephyn, a bow and is worth in goods, nil

Those not able for the war
Thomas Benbowe, parson of this parish, whose benefice is worth 106s 8d
The same Thomas has in goods £20
William Aysche, priest, is worth in goods 53s 4d
William Cotyner, harness for a man and is worth in goods £26 13s 4d [£20 deleted]
The same William in lands by the year 40s
Giles Lamberd servant to William Cotyner, nil
Richard Rythe, apprentice, nil Johne Bonde, widow, lands by the year 26s 8d and is worth in goods £9 Estimated
Geoffrey Parre, harness for a man and is worth in goods 20 marks [£10 deleted]