Catalogue description Records of the Tithe Commissioners and Successors

Prior to 1836, tithes (payments made by parishioners for the support of their parish church and clergy) were payable in kind in the majority of parishes in England and Wales. The Tithe Commutation Act of 1836 provided for monetary payments, called tithe rentcharges, to replace the payments in kind. Tithe Commissioners were appointed to administer the Act. Legislation passed in 1851 authorised the appointment of commissioners to perform the functions of three commissions (the Tithe Commission, the Copyhold Commission and the Inclosure Commission) under the joint title of the Copyhold, Inclosure and Tithe Commission. Under the Settled Land Act 1882, its functions passed to the Land Commission, under the Home Office. From 1889, the Board of Agriculture and successors took responsibility for administration of the Tithe Acts.

Difficulties in the administration of these Acts led to the setting up of a Royal Commission on Tithe Rentcharge. Its report in November 1935 led to the Tithe Act 1936. The principal effect of this statute was the replacement of tithe rentcharge and extraordinary tithe rentcharge by terminable tithe redemption annuities, and the compensation of tithe owners out of government stock (3% Redemption Stock 1936-96), funded by annuities payable over sixty years. The Tithe Redemption Commission was set up to administer the 1936 Act and inherited most of the surviving tithe functions from previous legislation: determining, apportioning, collecting and managing the annuities; and the apportionment of annuities on division of land. It also administered corn rents resulting from commutation before the Tithe Act 1836; and corn rent annuities converted under the Tithe Act 1918; and liability for chancel repairs. Certain obligations placed upon the Tithe Redemption Commission were modified under the Tithe Act 1951.

The Tithe Redemption Commission was dissolved and its functions transferred to the Board of Inland Revenue under the Tithe Redemption Commission (Transfer of Functions and Dissolution) Order (Order in Council, 20 November 1959). This Board created a Tithe Redemption Office which, on 1 April 1960, .took over the functions and staff of the Tithe Redemption Commission. It thus became responsible for the collection and administration of tithe redemption annuities in England and Wales, which work was organised on a functional and subsequently on a regional basis.

The Finance Act 1977 extinguished all subsisting tithe-related payments, apart from chancel repair liabilities. The Tithe Redemption Office was closed, and the principal records transferred to the Public Record Office.