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The Finance (1909-1910) Act

The Act required the Board of Inland Revenue to determine the site value of all land in the United Kingdom as on 30 April 1909. England and Wales were divided up into a number of valuation districts (Scotland was dealt with separately). These district offices completed the valuation work and the remaining records can be a useful source of information about your ancestors and where they lived.
The most useful of the valuation records created were:

Plans

based on Ordnance Survey sheets in which each property was assigned a number. There were two sets, the working plans that are usually held by local record offices (but do not seem to have survived for Wolverhampton) and the record set which are held at the
Public Record Office. The plans act as an index to the Field Books

Books

Books known as the Domesday Books (normally held at the local record office but unfortunately do not seem to have survived for Wolverhampton) and the Field Books, which are held by the
Public Record Office. The Domesday Books were the first step in valuation based on the Income Tax Schedule A Registers. The Field Books were the final record compiled after the survey and usually contain the names of owner and occupier, details of tenancy, the owner's interest (freehold or copyhold etc.), and the area covered by the property. There may be additional information recorded including date of erection, number of rooms, condition of property and liability for rates and insurance, dates of previous sales, and occasionally a sketch plan.

Forms

Forms including Form 37 that contains details extracted from the Field Books. Two copies of this Form were made one for distribution to each owner and one kept by the Valuation Offices, often deposited in local record offices. The Forms 37 are the only set of records that are deposited in Wolverhampton Archives & Local Studies, covering the present borough and parts of Bentley, Coppenhall, Coseley, Darlaston, Halesowen, and Sedgely. They give limited information including provisional values, description of the property, and name of the occupier.

Further information about these records can be found in the Public Record Office Valuation Office information sheet.

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