customs officer at Fowey.

[Valman]

Hi,

My GGGGrandfather Thomas Courts was described in his will as a Superannuated Officer of his Majestys Customs, he was born in Fowey in 1761and died there in 1836. l am wondering what his actual job would have been,and is it possible that there would be any records of him at The National Archives, as lm not sure how early the records go back to.

Thanks very much,

Valman

[Peter Goodey]

Have a look at this National Archives research guide...

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/c...sLeafletID=234

I think you stand a reasonable chance of finding out something about your man. If I remember correctly, you'll find some additional advice leaflets at Kew.

[racing girl]

Hello Valman
This is the link to the ADM 175 catalog which is the Coastguard records, all are free to download. I would start with 1 and 2 if I were you, I have 4, 5 and 6 downloaded, and he isn't mentioned in 4 which is the earliest one I have (starting around 1820), he was probably already retired by that time. From what I understand these men were retired young unless they made it to Chief Officer rank. I'm going to download 1, 2 and 3 as I now need this period for my own research, so I'll keep an eye out for your Thomas.

An excellent contact on these boards is Martin (Crimea1853), he has a wealth of Coastguard knowledge and helped me out no end last week.

Good luck,
Brenda

[Valman]

Hello Valman
This is the link to the ADM 175 catalog which is the Coastguard records, all are free to download. I would start with 1 and 2 if I were you, I have 4, 5 and 6 downloaded, and he isn't mentioned in 4 which is the earliest one I have (starting around 1820), he was probably already retired by that time. From what I understand these men were retired young unless they made it to Chief Officer rank. I'm going to download 1, 2 and 3 as I now need this period for my own research, so I'll keep an eye out for your Thomas.

An excellent contact on these boards is Martin (Crimea1853), he has a wealth of Coastguard knowledge and helped me out no end last week.

Good luck,
Brenda

Hi Brenda,

Thanks for that lm not sure if he was a Coastguard, but l tried to download the ADM 175 documents and wasn't able to do it for some reason, but l hope to get down to Kew sometimes to have a look at the documents available.

Valman.

[Valman]

Have a look at this National Archives research guide...

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/c...sLeafletID=234

I think you stand a reasonable chance of finding out something about your man. If I remember correctly, you'll find some additional advice leaflets at Kew.

Hi Peter,

Thanks for that, lve had a look at the guide and will look at the documents when l can get down to Kew.

Valman

[Peter Goodey]

...will look at the documents when l can get down to Kew.

I think you're right. I don't know enough about Coastguard research to comment on that area but as he was described as a superannuated Customs Officer, I think you'll have more luck concentrating on the CUST series of documents as described in the research guide.

I've had a rummage through my hard drive and found the following very basic beginners guide:

Researchers looking for a person employed by HM Customs should look at the Customs Staff lists in CUST 39/1-190 (Establishment: Staff Lists). The lists cover the whole of the United Kingdom, and some cover Scotland, Ireland and Liverpool separately. The lists are arranged either geographically by outport or the outports are listed in alphabetical order. They are also arranged in year order under the various headings

The following CUST 39 documents are available on microfilm in the Microfilm Reading Room: CUST 39/1 to CUST 39/190 inclusive. These cover the years 1671 to 1922. But the staff lists are incomplete and some years are not covered. Use the list for CUST 39 located in the catalogue sequence to identify the staff list you wish to look at, for example, for Liverpool for 1870 you should look at CUST 39/92.

[crimea1854]

Hello Valman

As a Customs Officer you are unlikely to find any info in the ADM 175 series of documents. I would strongly advise that you follow Peter's advice.

Martin

[racing girl]

Superannuated Officer of his Majestys Customs.......

I need to learn to read don't I???? Sorry for muddying the waters!

Brenda

[busyglen]

I need to learn to read don't I???? Sorry for muddying the waters!

Brenda

Don't worry about it Brenda. In a way, you aren't too far out, because Customs and Coastguards are interlinked. Well more so in the old days as the Coastguards tried to apprehend the boats coming in to shore carrying illegal wares, and thus not paying duty. Customs boats also did a similar thing, but were mostly landbased at the Ports.

Glenys

[Valman]

Hi Glenys,

You sound as if you know something about the work of a Customs Officer back then, l wonder if you could help me out with whether it was a part time job or not, on having another look at the Baptisms of my GGGGrandfathers children l noticed that he is described as a carpenter not a customs officer, which confused me a bit.

Valman..