In message <6.2.1.2.2.20050411184100.027c6670@mail.agn.net.au>, Cathy Pinner <kit52@wn.com.au> writes >For some years now I've puzzled over the 1841 Census Occupation given for >my gggrandfather - Collector. > >Today I've been looking at a film of Church Wardens Accounts and noted >someone listed as Collector. Probably Church Rate, to maintain the fabric of the church, pay for decorations, bells, service books etc, which all householders had to pay - even the nonconformist ones, to their expressed dislike. The amount was asssesed according to the val8ue of the house property, and collected every six months (or every month if the householder jibbed. It was not an easy task, because of local resentment. If this is in a London civil parish, then he would also be collecting Poor Rayes, same principle, same problems. The administration of this money would be civil rather than ecclesiastical, though, which made it a little less painful. -- Eve McLaughlin Author of the McLaughlin Guides for family historians Secretary Bucks Genealogical Society