Description:Extensive landowners in Staffordshire, the Leveson-Gower family employed estate agents to oversee the administration of their lands and properties. These agents kept many documents, including accounts and rentals, telling us about the lands which the family owned in Staffordshire.
The extract above is taken from a volume of expenditure estimates which includes details of the expenditure on lands in Codsall.
Accounts in the volume reveal that that the second Duke of Sutherland, George Granville Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1786-1861), paid ‘Land Tax’, ‘Poor Rates’ and ‘Church Rates’ in Codsall, in addition to ‘Highway Rates’ and ‘Property Tax’. Payments of Land Tax amounted to £1, 9s, 10d in 1852. Poor Rates came to £4, 1s, 9d and four pounds seven pence was paid in Church Rates. Highway Rates were £2 and 10d and Property Tax was the most expensive payment, amounting to £4, 2s and 3d.
In addition to these necessary payments, the document states that the Duke paid a subscription of three pounds and three shillings to ‘Codsall National School’ in 1852, reflecting his active interest in the provision of education in the area.