HM Customs

Former customs department of the UK
British and English Customs services pre 1909

HM Customs (His or Her Majesty's Customs) was the national Customs service of England (and then of Great Britain from 1707, the United Kingdom from 1801) until a merger with the Department of Excise in 1909. The phrase 'HM Customs', in use since the Middle Ages, referred both to the customs dues themselves and to the office of state established for their collection, assessment and administration. The payment of customs duty (i. e. a levy on imported or exported goods) has been recorded in Britain for well over a thousand years. A centralised system for their collection has been in place since the 13th century, overseen since the 17th century by a Board of Commissioners (the Board of Customs). In 1909, HM Customs was merged with the Excise department (responsible for raising revenue from inland taxes) to create HM Customs and Excise (HMCE), responsible for all forms of indirect taxation. Just under a century later, HMCE was itself merged with the Inland Revenue (responsible for direct taxation) to create HM Revenue and Customs.

HM Customs officers operated almost exclusively in and from the coastal ports of England and Wales (and later Scotland and Ireland). By the start of the 19th century HM Customs had Custom Houses in 75 ports in England and Wales; each Custom House was staffed by a pair of Collectors, who received payments and supervised the other local officers, who focused mainly on the examination of cargo, its assessment for duty and the prevention of evasion (e. g. smuggling). While revenue collection and protection was the Customs officers' principal task, several other responsibilities were accrued over centuries in relation to maritime law enforcement. As the principal government representatives in England's (later Britain's) ports, customs officers were involved in the regulation of salvage, quarantine, immigration, emigration, fisheries, trade and embargoes, as well as in the collecting of statistics and various other activities. There is evidence from as early as AD 979 of import duties being collected at what was then the City of London's principal wharf at Billingsgate (close to what would later be the site of London's Custom House); variable rates of duty are listed, based on the size of vessel and its port of origin as well as on its cargo: at this time, duty appears to have been payable on imported wood, wine and fish, as well as on cloth, cheese, butter and eggs. Subsequently, there are references to various Customs like duties, including lastage, scavage and cornage, the details of which are unclear. The tax on imported wine called Prise initially involved a proportion of the beverage itself being surrendered for use at the King's table; it subsequently developed into a financial payment. Originally, the term customs meant any customary payments or dues of any kind (for example, to the king, or a bishop, or the church), but later became restricted to duties payable to the king on the import or export of goods. The beginnings of a centralised English customs system can be traced to the Winchester Assize of Customs of 1203, in the reign of King John, which established procedures by which customs duty (at the rate of one fifteenth on all goods imported or exported) would be collected and paid direct to the State Treasury (rather than to local sheriffs or feudal lords) and accounted for by the Exchequer. Between 1203 and 1205 this duty was collected at thirty five English ports; however there is no evidence of its collection continuing after 1210.

Legislation establishing a more permanent system of customs can be traced to an Act of Parliament of King Edward I known as the nova custuma or 'new customs' of 1275 (more formally: the Grant of Custom on exported Wool, Woolfells and Hides). Under the Act, in any port so designated by the King, two Collectors of Customs were to be appointed by Royal patent, along with a Controller to maintain a counter roll (to exercise financial control). Their authority was signified by the cocket: a two part seal which certified payment of duty, one half of which was held by the Collectors, the other by the Controller. Tonnage and poundage was the largest source of Customs revenue until its abolition in 1787.

Since the early days of HM Customs, the junior officers stationed in a port had been called Waiters. By the 17th century, there was a distinction between Land waiters, who had largely taken over from the Searchers the job of supervising the unloading of imported goods and then examining them, and Tide waiters, tasked with boarding ships 'on the tide' prior to landing, to ensure that no imported goods were unloaded prematurely. (Tide Waiters were routinely required to remain on board until all cargo had been correctly discharged). Both were involved in checking for smuggled goods; the Land Waiters would provide the Tide Waiters with a list of all goods due to be discharged from their ship; at the quayside, each would monitor the transit of the goods listed (identified in advance by the Tide Waiters on board); then, after unloading, a check would be made that both lists tallied and the ship would be rummaged before being cleared to depart. The Tide Surveyors not only had oversight of the Tide Waiters, they were directed to board 'every ship from foreign parts' (along with the Tide Waiters) 'to take an Account of them'; they would then continue to make regular visits to the vessel until all cargo was discharged, the vessel was cleared and the Tide Waiters withdrawn. At each stage, the Tide Surveyor was directed to 'rummage wherever he finds Occasion'. In this and in other duties he was assisted by the Watermen, while the Watchmen were employed to guard ships at the quayside against unlawful removal of cargo. Each Tide Surveyor was provided with a pinnace with which to undertake his duties.

By the late 18th century the design of the rowing boats used in preventive work was more or less standardised: they were between 20 & 24 ft in length, beam on average 6 ft, and were propelled with three pairs of oars (some were also provided with a sail). They were painted black with a red trim and with the royal arms displayed on the transom; from 1721 they were required to wear the distinguishing flag of the relevant revenue service when on duty. Each boat had a permanent crew of three boatmen, who would assist the officers on board as well as manning the oars. The boats were locally built, but an official oar maker in London (first appointed by HM Customs in 1728) provided the oars. Following the passage of the Wool Act 1699, their numbers were expanded and they were stationed at regular intervals along the coast from Sheppey to Chichester. Furthermore, Revenue vessels could call on the Royal Navy to assist in apprehending a non compliant vessel; indeed, in the 18th century the Royal Navy designated a number of its own vessels to smuggling prevention duties, and HM Customs also worked closely with the Royal Navy's Fishery Protection Squadron. Then again, the Admiralty was itself able to commandeer Revenue vessels for naval use at times of war, leaving the revenue services severely under resourced in terms of deployable cutters during wartime (when smuggling was often rife). The Waterguard continued to operate following the amalgamation of Customs and Excise in 1909, becoming the uniformed preventive service of HM Customs and Excise.