Coal-tax Post - How The Duties Were Used

How The Duties Were Used

The City of London had the right to collect dues for weighing and measuring coal entering the Port of London since medieval times. After the Great Fire of London in 1666, Acts of Parliament imposed further duties to help pay for the rebuilding. Although some of the proceeds were for general rebuilding purposes, most was to cover the costs of rebuilding St Paul's Cathedral and the City churches. After the completion of St Pauls, the duties were paid to the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches. In 1718 the duty was converted into a Government duty, though some was still used for ecclesiastical purposes, such as the rebuilding of Gravesend Church in 1730. During the Napoleonic wars, the duty was increased several times to help pay for the wars. Government duties on coal were abolished in 1831.

At the end of the 17th century, the City of London owed large sums, notably to the funds which they held on trust for the orphans of City Freemen. In 1694 the City persuaded Parliament to pass an Act for the Relief of the Orphans and other Creditors of the City of London which allowed it to raise money in various ways, including the imposition of duties on coal. This Act was the ancestor of the ones which set up the posts. In the middle of the 18th century the income from the duties started to be used to finance public works in London, not only in the City itself but also in surrounding areas such as the West End, Southwark and Whitechapel. These included bridges such as Blackfriars Bridge, roads improvements such as at Temple Bar and the Ratcliffe Highway, and court buildings such as the Old Bailey and the Middlesex Sessions House in Clerkenwell. In 1803 a further duty was introduced to pay for the expenses of the coal market in London.

The use of the coal duties to pay for public works continued in the nineteenth century: for example they paid for the rebuilding of the Royal Exchange and the construction of New Oxford Street. After creation of the Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) in 1855 the major part of duties went to the Board and were used to pay for the creation of a unified sewerage system in London and the construction of the Thames embankments. The City's portion of the duties paid for the building of Cannon Street, and later of Holborn Viaduct.

In the 1870s the duties were used to free from toll a number of bridges on the Thames: Kew, Kingston upon Thames, Hampton Court, Walton upon Thames, and Staines, together with Chingford, and Tottenham Mills on the Lea.