Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as hearth-tax.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Comparing eighteenth-century records of hearth-money taxes with those of an earlier day, Dr. Price proved conclusively that the population of England had declined by over 30 percent since the Restoration.

    The Worldly Philosophers Robert L. Heilbroner 1999

  • Comparing eighteenth-century records of hearth-money taxes with those of an earlier day, Dr. Price proved conclusively that the population of England had declined by over 30 percent since the Restoration.

    The Worldly Philosophers Robert L. Heilbroner 1999

  • In these proceedings they were secretly encouraged by many gentlemen of landed property, who hoped from their violence that their estates might be exonerated from tithes; but when the insurgents proceeded to limit the rents of land, to increase the price of labour, and to oppose the collection of hearth-money, then an outcry was raised by these landlords against their designs, and an act was passed in 1787 for preventing tumultuous and illegal assemblies.

    The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. From George III. to Victoria Edward Farr

  • The visit of the tax-gatherer, therefore, was less offensive in this tax than in the hearth-money.

    II. Book V. Of the Sources of the General or Public Revenue of the Society 1909

  • The first tax of this kind was hearth-money; or a tax of two shillings upon every hearth.

    II. Book V. Of the Sources of the General or Public Revenue of the Society 1909

  • From a comparison of the hearth-money returns before the Revolution with the window and house tax returns of his own time he guessed at the number of dwelling-houses in the country, and from the number of dwelling-houses he guessed at the number of inhabitants by simply supposing each house to contain five persons.

    Life of Adam Smith Rae, John, 1845-1915 1895

  • This is simply hearth-money, an impost on each fireplace where food is cooked; the same tax which made trouble in old England, and was happily got rid of long ago.

    By the Ionian Sea George Gissing 1880

  • The number of people at Cork mustered by the clergy by hearth-money, and by the number of houses, payments to minister, average of the three, sixty-seven thousand souls, if taken before the 1st of

    A Tour in Ireland 1776-1779 Arthur Young 1780

  • William, with a view to conciliate the affections of his new subjects, and check the progress of clamour and discontent, signified in a solemn message to the house of commons, his readiness to acquiesce in any measure they should think proper to take for a new regulation or total suppression of the hearth-money, which he understood was a grievous imposition on his subjects; and this tax was afterwards abolished.

    The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. From William and Mary to George II. Tobias George Smollett 1746

  • And whether it would be wrong, if the public encouraged Popish families to become hearers, by paying their hearth-money for them?

    Querist George Berkeley 1719

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