It’s Monopoly Monday and we’ve landed on the Income Tax square !
How does Income Tax link to the statues on Parliament Square and the powerful female side of the Garrett family ?
In Monopoly the Income Tax square is one where nobody wants to land, but in real life without Income Tax we wouldn’t have the education system, transport, social welfare and defence and all the other business of government.
Our taxes pay for the running of the country. Seems obvious. Wasn’t always.
Although Egyptians and Romans had taxes, they were property taxes: the more property owned, the more money paid in tax. The earliest known tax on profits was in China in the 11th century when Emperor Wang Mang (Xin Dynasty) introduced a 10% tax for all professionals and skilled labour. In none of these empires was tax used to look after the needy !
In Britain it was William Pitt the Younger in 1799 who first introduced Income Tax on 9th January 1799. But this wasn’t a tax designed to alleviate the suffering of the poor or to redistribute wealth. The aim of Pitt’s new tax was to pay for war against Napoleon, and surprisingly, considering today’s politics, it was a tax only on the rich – i.e. those with income over £60 per annum. (To achieve the same buying power today you would need £ 7m). Pitt hoped this would raise up to £10 million in tax a year – unfortunately, estimates showed that he only received around £6 million. Wealthy people have always known how to avoid paying tax !
Pitt the Younger is a fascinating character worthy of his own entry: completed his degree at Pembroke College, Cambridge aged only 14 and went on to move in to Downing St as (still the youngest ever) PM at the age of 24. Leading to his opening speech in the House of Commons:
“Mr. Speaker, members of the House: I shall be brief, as I have, rather unfortunately, become Prime Minister right in the middle of my exams”…. (that’s if “Blackadder” is historical record !).
Income Tax was abolished after the defeat of Napoleon but later PM Robert Peel had to reintroduce it to keep the financial markets in the City of London happy because of the country’s budget deficit, and despite some ups and downs it is still with us today. (Peel of course also created the Metropolitan Police, hence “Bobbies” as Bob is short for Robert).
There were strong objections to income tax from the wealthy but when it seemed briefly that the tax might be abolished PM William Gladstone had to keep it to cover the cost of the Crimean War (October 1853 to February 1856). Towards the end of the 19th century, Gladstone of the Liberal party and his Tory rival Benjamin Disraeli clashed over taxation issues, with Disraeli eventually coming out on top as Prime Minister on a pledge to abolish Income Tax.
You’ll be astonished to learn that a Prime Minister didn’t actually stick to his fiscal promises after election and by the 1860s, income tax was begrudgingly accepted by the British people as part of life.
Income Tax is of course still collected today by Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) based in this lovely building. Its address is technically 1, Horseguards Rd but because the west side is on Great George St and because they are Government Offices the civil servants often refer to the building as GOGGS (Government Offices Great George Street).
This building was designed by John McKean Brydon who was unusually forward-thinking for the time because in 1871 he employed Agnes Garrett and Rhoda Garrett as apprentices, giving them an entry into training that no other practice was willing to allow, as architecture was not considered suitable for women. The two Garrett cousins became not only the first British women to open an interior design business, but also determined campaigners for Women’s Suffrage, in other words “Votes for Women”. Agnes was the younger sister of Elizabeth and Millicent Garrett. Elizabeth was more militant than Millicent and she and her daughter Louisa were present with 300 women at the Black Friday march on the Houses of Parliament on 18 November 1910. The day got its name from the violence suffered by the women protesters.
Ironically, the dispute was caused by another PM not keeping his word. Herbert Henry Asquith had been elected in January 1910 promising to introduce legislation to add a million women to the franchise. However when MPs backed the bill, Asquith refused to give it parliamentary time and dissolved Parliament. How astonishing, a Prime Minister reneging on election promises !
Millicent Garrett went on to be known as Millicent Garrett Fawcett, one of the great campaigners for womens’ votes and was recognised in 2018 with this statue on Parliament Square unveiled by former PM Theresa May.
Elizabeth went on to be known as Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first woman to qualify as a medical doctor and surgeon in the UK, and recognised in the name of the hospital she founded on the Euston Rd, originally the London Hospital for Women, now the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson hospital.
And as if that wasn’t enough her daughter, Louisa (therefore the niece of the first two female architects who were employed by JM Brydon), went on both to create her own wartime hospital at Endell St in Covent Garden and become an LGBTQ+ icon for her lifetime relationship with Flora McMurray.
John Mckean Brydon was lucky to move in such circles when he was designing the GOGGS building !
So there it is, Income Tax takes us to the statue of Millicent Garrett Fawcett on Parliament Square right next to the HMRC building and the statues of Prime Ministers Peel and Disraeli remind us that Income Tax was always a contentious issue.
Talking of which….time to go online and do my tax return !
See you next time for Harry Potter, Boudicca, the Second Summer of Love and much more at King’s Cross Station.
Or why not join me on a London walk to explore more great hidden history and secret stories: email me on londontownwithmrbrown@outlook.com
