| Description | Information within each volume is arranged by parish and street, 1850-1891; by parish, ward and street, 1892-1904; and alphabetically by both ward and street, 1905-1962. Tilehurst and Caversham Wards are included from 1912 onwards following extension of the borough boundary. Valuation books, 1910-1963 (R/FR1) are arranged by ward in spans of years. Everything else is presented in yearly volumes.
Detail other than rating includes address, name of owner and description of property, and sometimes name of occupier, date of commencement of occupation and whether eligible to vote. Personal names are not always recorded in full. Rates were collected from residential, commercial and industrial property.
General district rates, 1850-1928 (R/FR2), include poor rates, from 1905 until shortly before the abolition of the Poor Law, 1929. Poor rates before 1905 may be found in parish collections. A proportion of the general district rate was allocated to the Local Board of Health, whose rate books, 1862-1872, are listed with those of the Corporation (R/FR2/13-23). In 1872 the Corporation became an Urban Sanitary Authority and took over the Board's duties.
Until 1927 water rates formed a separate series, of which R/FR5/1 is the only survivor. After that they were recorded with general district rates (R/FR3). From 1947 onwards these volumes consist of demand note duplicates (R/FR3/42-376). |