Yes, valuation rolls were compiled during wartime

One copy of each valuation roll produced by the Lanark County Assessor was sent to Edinburgh to be kept for historical and legal research at Register House (now the National Records of Scotland). Another copy was kept by the Assessor’s office in Lanarkshire. When the Scottish counties and burghs were abolished in 1975, the surviving valuation rolls (and voters’ rolls) Scotland’s city, district and regional archive services attempted to preserve the valuation rolls and voters rolls for their areas. In most cases they were successful. In the case of Lanark County, the valuation rolls and voters’ rolls belonging to Lanark County Council were removed or destroyed, either by staff in the outgoing County Assessor’s office or by local officials in the successor authority, Strathclyde Regional Council, before staff from the newly created Strathclyde Regional Archives could secure them for preservation. Among the Lanark County records held by Glasgow City Archives there is a valuation roll for Lanark County for 1894, and among the records of several civil parishes with the Lanark County records there are series or individual rolls for those parishes. The National Records of Scotland hold valuation rolls for Lanark County from 1855 until 1975.

Not very easily. Firstly, the person must be the head of the household (as far as the Assessor is concerned): either the owner or tenant of the property. Secondly, the roll is arranged by the address of the property. The indexed digital records will be helpful for those years that are currently available, but for the unindexed original records you would have to search through randomly occurring surnames (i.e. the surnames are not in alphabetical order). Thirdly, the only distinguishing information between people with the same name is their occupation and it is easy to confuse individuals: it may not be possible to tell the difference between a father and son with the same occupation. It may therefore take about an hour or two to work through the roll for a small community – a village or small town. For larger towns and cities, it would require several days to search through the whole roll.

For the period 1913-1989, Glasgow valuation rolls survive at the National Records of Scotland; at Glasgow City Archives; and at the History and Glasgow Room of the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. Valuation rolls for this period are arranged by ward, but every few years there were changes to the boundaries and numbering of wards. You need to consult a street index to find out which ward a street was in at any given year. Glasgow City Archives have street indexes for the period 1913-1995. The National Records of Scotland have a street index for 1875. For the period 1855 – 1912 valuation rolls for Glasgow survive only at the National Records of Scotland. The Glasgow rolls are divided into volumes for Glasgow Burgh, Glasgow Barony, Govan Parish and Gorbals Barony. There is an index of streets compiled from the 1875 valuation roll, which tells you which of the volumes a street is in, but the index is not entirely accurate for the period after 1878, because of boundary changes involving Glasgow burgh. Glasgow City Archives have a database index of owners and occupiers from valuation rolls for 1861, 1881 and 1891. For further details contact Glasgow City Archives.

A valuation roll records details about each property which was liable for domestic rates (local taxation) for a particular year, in the period 1855-1989. It records the address of the property, the type of property (e.g. a house, factory, hotel, inn, shop etc), the owner, the tenant (if the property is not occupied by the owner), and, sometimes, other occupants (for example where a tenant has sub-let the property). In 19th century rolls and rolls for the first half of the 20th century, the occupation of most tenants and occupiers are given. The roll also records the rateable value and gross annual value of each property: these were used to calculate the level of rates (local taxation) paid for each property.

If your prime interest is in obtaining dates of birth, marriage and death for ancestors, valuation rolls will not be much use. If you are ‘putting flesh on the bones’ of your family tree, valuation rolls might be useful, as they contain information about individuals such as whether they owned or rented their houses, what their occupations were, and what sort of house and neighbourhood they lived in (by comparing the address and its occupants with others nearby). However, research in valuation rolls can be time-consuming and may simply confirm information about an individual you already know from other sources. There is, however, one use which valuation rolls can be put to with good effect in family history, and that is to identify the nature of a building recorded on a birth or marriage certificate. For example, the marriage or birth certificate might simply state an address, which the valuation roll might confirm was a hotel, church, private house, hospital or poorhouse.

Not really. Valuation rolls for domestic properties have not been compiled since 1989, so are now out of date. Secondly they are usually arranged by street, not by personal name. Electoral rolls are slightly better, because they are updated annually and include the names of more people, although Electoral Rolls, again, are arranged by street name. It is possible to buy databases of voters rolls, produced commercially. For further advice on tracing someone you have lost track of read Colin D Rodgers, Tracing Missing Persons: an introduction to agencies, methods and sources in England and Wales (Manchester University Press, 1986).

Valuation rolls can be difficult to search through. Often a particular address or building does not seem to appear where it should in the roll.

See below for details of common problems and what to do.

Odd and even street numbers

Valuations rolls almost always record the properties on one side of the road and then the other. In most cases, therefore, the odd numbers will be recorded then the even numbers. Before 1975 most valuation rolls record properties in each street by running up the odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7 etc) and, once the end of the street has been reached, running back down the even numbers (e.g. 36, 34, 32 . . . etc).

What to do: double-check the numbering to make sure you haven’t missed a street number.

Street intersections

In the 19th century and early 20th century, Assessors enumerated streets as far as an intersecting street, then enumerated the intersecting street before continuing with the first street. For example, if Main Street was intersected by Kirk Street, the relevant part of the valuation roll might look like this:

45 Main Street

47 Main Street

49 Main Street

1 Kirk Street

3 Kirk Street

5 Kirk Street

6 Kirk Street

4 Kirk Street

2 Kirk Street

51 Main Street

53 Main Street

55 Main Street

What to do: Double check the numbering, taking into account intersecting streets

Municipal boundaries

A street might start in a city, burgh, parish (or post 1975 local government unit) and continue in another. For example, in the 1890 valuation roll for Glasgow numbers 2-156 Argyle Street were in Glasgow City, while Argyle Street from number 158 onwards were in Barony Parish. Each part of the Street was in a different valuation roll. In some cases a whole town or village straddles a boundary. The town of Barrhead, for example, was partly in Neilston Parish and partly in Abbey Parish, in two separate divisions of the Renfrewshire valuation roll. The village of Busby was partly in East Kilbride Parish, Lanarkshire, and partly in the parishes of Mearns and Cathcart, Renfrewshire.

What to do: refer to a contemporary map or gazetteer to find out if a place was divided by a municipal boundary.

Ward boundaries splitting streets

Streets make ideal physical features for ward boundaries, so it is common to find a street where one side (the odd numbers) are in one ward, while the other side (the even numbers) are in another ward, in different parts of the valuation roll. In addition, a street might be bisected by a ward (or parish or burgh) boundary and appear in two or more parts of the valuation roll.

What to do: if there is no street index available, check if the valuation roll for the parish/burgh/city is divided into wards and check each ward for different parts of the street.

Boundary changes

The boundaries of cities, burghs and parishes change periodically, and this can affect valuation rolls, much as it affects other records such as census returns. A street or place might appear in the valuation rolls for a certain parish for several years, then apparently disappear. This may be because a boundary has changed and the street or place is now within a different parish, or been annexed by a burgh or city.

What to do: refer to contemporary maps and gazetteers to find if a place has been affected by a boundary change.

Local government reorganisation

The local authorities which were required to appoint assessors changed several times due to local government reorganisation. In 1889 there were boundary changes to the counties. From 1855 to 1930, royal burghs and parliamentary burghs had their own assessors who compiled separate valuation rolls while other burghs were included in county valuation rolls. From 1930 to 1975, a new system of cities, large burghs and small burghs was set up, and only cities and large burghs appointed their own assessors to compile valuation rolls, while all other burghs were included in county valuation rolls.

What to do: Check the history of a burgh to find out if it was a royal or parliamentary burgh before 1930 and if it was not, then look at the county valuation rolls.  For burghs after 1930, look at the List of Counties, Cities, Large burghs, Small burghs to identify which burghs created valuation rolls and which were included in county valuation rolls.  County and burgh boundaries can be seen on historic Ordnance Survey maps many of which can be accessed online through the National Library of Scotland website.

Street name changes

Sometimes the name of a street changes. This may reflect the way a street is commonly referred to, or else the change may be the decision of the municipal authority for the place concerned. Where city boundaries expand and bring in streets, whose name already occurs elsewhere in the city, one of the streets may be renamed in order to prevent confusion.
What to do: refer to contemporary maps and postal directories, or, where available, published guides to street names.

Multiple frontages

Where a large building (especially commercial and industrial properties) occupies a site which fronts onto two or more streets, the valuation roll may record the property under only one address (what the Assessor regards as the postal address). For example, a shop may have entrances at Main Street and Kirk Street, but may appear in the roll only under Main Street.

What to do: refer to contemporary maps.

Terraces and courts

The recording of terraces, courts and other minor streets may change over time in the rolls. A row of houses, or cluster of buildings, might begin life under one name, but eventually be classed as part of a longer street. For example, a row of five houses might originally be recorded as 1-5 Kirk Terrace, but these might be renumbered 54-62 Kirk Street, when the numbering of the street is simplified.

What to do: refer to published street name guides, where available, or else contemporary maps and postal directories. If the street involved appears in the valuation roll for one year, but not the next, check the names of the owners and occupants of the street in the first year, and try to find the matching names in the next year’s roll.

Building not rated

Only buildings over a certain value (originally an actual or theoretical value of £4 in annual rent) were liable for local rates. If the building was a comparatively modest one, therefore, it may not appear in the valuation roll. The building would have to be very modest indeed, however, since categories of buildings which were rated and do occur in valuation rolls include advertising hoardings and garages.

Unnumbered buildings

Sometimes buildings (particularly newly built buildings) are not given a street number in the rolls until the numbering of the street has been formally determined. The property may be known now as ‘175 Kirk Street’, but until fairly recently it may be referred to in the rolls as ‘cottage, Kirk Street’.

What to do: check the valuation roll carefully about the street number in question, looking for buildings without a number which might fit the description of your property.

Administrative time lag

New buildings take time to appear in the valuation roll. A building completed in November 1875, say, would not appear in the 1876 valuation roll (because the Assessor’s survey for that roll was carried out in the Autumn of 1875). It might make its first appearance in the valuation roll in 1877.

What to do: bear in mind the time lag for information reaching the valuation roll.

Subdivisions, e.g. railway, government property etc

Some valuation rolls have separate divisions for different types of property, for example, railway property, central government property, local authority housing and other buildings, and agricultural and sporting property.

What to do: check the valuation roll thoroughly, particularly the final pages of each parish, burgh, or ward.

The source of your information might be wrong

If you cannot find a property in a valuation roll, you should consider whether the information you have about the building is correct. For example, it is not uncommon to find erroneous information in published architectural guides (for example, giving erroneous dates for the construction of a buildings), or for someone to muddle a street number, street name or building name.

What to do: valuation rolls are difficult to search without accurate information about street names and numbers. Consider other sources of information, including postal directories.

Clerical Error

As with any official record, the possibility of clerical error cannot be ruled out. An error could be made at the point of survey, or while the roll was prepared for printing, or in the printing process.

What to do: check the valuation rolls for the following years to see if an error is rectified later.

There are five main reasons why someone may not appear in a valuation roll.

Not the householder or owner

Remember that the purpose of a valuation roll was not to record the names of all residents at a property, but to record merely those liable for local rates: the owner and – if appropriate – the tenant. A person may have been resident at a property but not mentioned in a valuation roll because he or she was not the owner of the property or the tenant. For example, a married couple might have been resident but if the husband or wife was the tenant, the other spouse will not be named. If the person concerned was a subtenant he or she would not be mentioned.

Unofficial house swap

Sometimes the tenants of two houses swap houses informally, between themselves, without changing the lease. This happened particularly between tenants of council houses. Tenants might swap to be nearer family or because a bigger or smaller house is required. If this is done without formal permission from the owner of the property, the valuation roll will not be changed to reflect the informal arrangement.

Administrative time lag

Because valuation rolls were almost always published once per year, they do not take into account changes until the following year. In general county and burgh surveyors surveyed properties in the Autumn and published the roll based on this survey the following Whitsun (15 May). So, for example, a roll published on 15 May 1925 contains information about properties gathered in the Autumn of 1924. A new tenant might move into the property in December 1924, but not appear in the valuation roll until May 1926.

Clerical Error

As with any official record, the possibility of clerical error cannot be ruled out. An error could be made at the point of survey, or while the roll was prepared for printing, or in the printing process.

False information

Owners or occupiers might give false information at the point of survey, deliberately (for example to avoid taxation) or accidentally (for example, a husband or wife giving his or her name as tenant, when, strictly speaking the tenant was the other spouse).

Because valuation rolls record the name of the tenant and the owner of each property, they are accepted as evidence of a tenancy for some purposes.

To use valuation rolls in this way, someone has to search back through the valuation rolls for period concerned. This typically takes an hour or two but becomes more complicated and time-consuming if the tenant rented several houses in succession. There will be charges for providing copies and there may be charges for the search.

Valuation rolls do not provide exact dates of tenancy. There are, however, limitations, which should be borne in mind:

(1) Valuation rolls record only heads of household (in theory, the person whose name was on the lease). If the spouse of a tenant, or some other member of the household, wishes to prove residence, they may need to use voters rolls in addition to the valuation roll: i.e. the valuation roll proves that the house was a council house, but only records the head of the household, while the voters roll records the names of the other adult members of the household.

(2) Valuation rolls were published once a year (in May, until 1975; in April thereafter).
The information was gathered in the Autumn of the previous year. So, it takes a valuation roll a year or two to catch up with a change of tenancy. For example: a council tenant moves into 999, Letsby Avenue in January 1968 he then moves to 45, Rebellion Street in October 1975.

In the 1968 roll (compiled Autumn 1967) he is not listed at either address.
In the 1969 roll (compiled Autumn 1968) he is listed at Letsby Avenue.
In the 1975 roll (compiled Autumn 1974) he is listed at Letsby Avenue.
In the 1976 roll (compiled Autumn 1975) he is listed at Letsby Avenue.
In the 1977 roll (compiled Autumn 1976) he is listed at Rebellion Street.

Thus, the valuation roll appears to take two years to catch up with his change of address. In exceptional cases, local archives sometimes hold supplementary rolls, compiled by local Assessors, which record the date that a property appeared for the first time in the roll during the previous year. This is useful where the tenant was the first tenant in a new property

For further reasons why someone may not appear in a valuation roll, see the FAQ – Why might a person not appear in a valuation roll at an address he or she was resident at?