April 1645: An Ordinance for a Monethly Charge and Tax of Two thousand eight hundred pounds upon the County of Lincoln for the Defence and Safety of the said County.

April, 1645

[3 April, 1645.]

Monthly rate of £2,800 on Lincolnshire, from Jan. 1644/5 to July 1, 1645.; Ord. 15 Feb. 1644/5 applied.; Additional members of Committee.; Committee's Powers; Aggrieved Persons.; Allowances to Collectors and Clerks.; Treasurer keep Register.; Power to call Treasurers and others to account.; Penalty for neglectful Treasurers and Collectors.; Five of said Committee to reside in County and relieve each other.; Charge on Revenue of lectors and Assessors, and to Leavy, Distrain, Fine, and Imprison, and Sequester, as they or any of them have by vertue of the said last mentioned Ordinance.; Lincoln Cathedral.; Inhabitants of Malberthorp, etc., exempted..

Whereas the County of Lincoln hath raised a considerable number of Horse, Foot and Dragoons for their necessary Defence, and must be at great charges in maintaining the same, and in providing other things requisite for the defence and safety of the said County, and without the raising of Moneys to defray the charge the County cannot be preserved in such safety as is necessary: It is therefore Ordained by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled, and by Authority of the same, That for the intents and purposes aforesaid, there shall be monethly Charged, Rated, Taxed, and Leavied upon the said County, from the first of Ianuary, 1644. the sum of Two Thousand and eight hundred pounds, until the first of Iuly, 1645. (if in the meantime the two Garisons of Newark and Belvoir shall not be reduced to the obedience of the King and Parliament:) And be it further Ordained, That every Person and Persons that were or ought to be Assessed or Taxed by vertue of an Ordinance of Parliament, Intituled, An Ordinance for Raising and Maintaining of Forces for the Defence of the Kingdom, under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax Knight, shall be Assessed and Taxed by this present Ordinance in the same manner as they are, or ought to be Assessed and Taxed by vertue of the before mentioned Ordinance, and shall be lyable to as great forfeitures and penalties for not paying the sum or sums to be Assessed upon them, as they should, or might have been, if the same had been Assessed by the before mentioned Ordinance: And the Persons or Committees named in the said Ordinance, together with William Oldfield, Iames Harrington, Thomas Williamson, John Nelthorpe, Humphrey Walcot, Tho: Copledike, William Lister, Edward Nelthorp, and Richard Williamson, Esquires; Michael Munckton Gentlemen, Francis Fisher, Barnaby Boutel, Esquires; William Thompson, Richard Filkin, William Daveson, Iohn Disney, Richard Bryan, Iohn Wincop and Nehemiah Rawson, Gent. are by vertue hereof added to them for the Assessing, Collecting and Leavying of the said monies in the said County, are named and trusted in this Ordinance, and have as full power and Authority given them by this Ordinance to nominate and appoint Collector And if any Person or Persons shall finde him or themselves agrieved at any Assessment made by vertue of this Ordinance; and shall make their Complaint unto any three or more of the Committee before whom the Assessment was allowed; That then the said Committee, or any three or more of them, shall have power hereby to do therein what shall be fit: And the said Collectors shall pay the several sums by them Collected and Leavied, unto William Bury Gent. Treasurer who is to Issue forth the same for the use and service of the said County, by the vote of the Major part of the Deputy Lieutenants, or any three of them present, and by their Order in pursuance thereof under their hands and not otherwise; And it is further Ordained, that two pence half peny in the Pound shall be allowed for every sum of money which shall be Collected and paid, whereof one peny shall be for the several Collectors; one peny for the said Treasurer, and one half peny for the Clerks pains; And the Treasurer aforesaid shall keep a Register Book of the several sums received and paid out by him; and the said Committees, or any three of them, shall have hereby power and authority given them, to call all Treasurers, Collectors, and others that have, or any time shall be thought to have any of the said Moneyes in their hands to an Accompt; And if any of them shall refuse to Accompt, or to pay in the Moneys wherewith they are Charged; That the said Committees, or any three of them, shall fine them double the sum charged upon them, which if it be not paid within six days after the sun is set, and notice thereof left at his or their dwellinghouse, It shall be lawful to and for the said Committee to Issue their Warrants to Distrain for the same; and if there be not sufficient distress wherewith to satisfie; Then the said Committees may imprison the Offender herein, and Sequester his Estate, until the Money Charged, and the Fine set, be Leavied and paid: And in case the said Treasurers or Collectors shall refuse or neglect to Leavy, or receive the sums of Money to be Assessed and set by vertue of this Ordinance; it shall be Lawful for the said Committees, or any three of them, to Fine the said Treasurer, or Collectors, not exceeding the Sum of twenty pounds; And to Leavy the same by way of distress, and the sale of their Goods, or by Imprisonment, as they shall think fit: And it is further Ordained, That there shall be five of the aforesaid Committee constantly residing in the said County; The first five to be nominated by the Committee now remaining at Lincoln, who are to meet upon notice given unto them, or left at their dwellings six days before; And they to continue one fortnight, and then two of them to be released, and other two upon like notice by them to be nominated and appointed to come in their rooms; and then at the Moneths end the other three to be released, and three more upon like notice by them to be nominated and appointed to come in their rooms, and so successively to go through the whole Committee; And it is further Ordained, that the said Committee shall have power to receive out of the Revenues belonging to the Cathedral Church of Lincoln three hundred pounds yearly, which they are to pay and allow unto such Ministers as shall continue with them in the City of Lincoln, and bestow their pains there, until two able Ministers shall be setled there, according to the Order of the House of Commons, in that case lately made: Provided always, that this present Tax and Leavy shall not extend to the Inhabitants or Towns and places of Malberthorp, Withurn cumstain, Strooby cum Woodthorpe, and Malthy, in respect of their great loss lately sustained by the inundation of the Sea.