Catalogue description Chancery: Petty Bag Office: Bishops' and Customs Officers' Patent Rolls

From 1722 to 1875 the letters patent appointing new bishops and archbishops of the Church of England, previously entered in the patent rolls (C 66), were entered separately in the rolls of this series.

For much of the eighteenth century the letters patent appointing customs officers were similarly enrolled in these records. However, from 1760 the patents for customs officers were separated from those of the bishops, until enrolment of them, spasmodic after 1783, petered out in 1797. The bishops' patents continued to be enrolled in this series until 1875 and on the patent rolls thereafter.

For the personnel structure of the customs service in the eighteenth century, see E E Hoon, The Organisation of the English Customs System, 1696-1786 (New York and London, 1938).

The indexes for C 201 can also be applied to this series. Indexes of customs appointments are in C 202/267-269.