Ship money

Ship money was a tax of medieval origin levied intermittently in the Kingdom of England until the middle of the 17th century. Assessed typically on the inhabitants of coastal areas of England, it was one of several taxes that English monarchs could levy by prerogative without the approval of Parliament. Queen Elizabeth I levied this tax to pay for a navy. The attempt of King Charles I from 1634 onwards to levy ship money during peacetime and extend it to the inland counties of England without parliamentary approval provoked fierce resistance, and was one of the grievances of the English propertied class in the lead-up to the English Civil War.

Traditional practice

The Plantagenet kings of England had exercised the right of requiring the maritime towns and counties to furnish ships in time of war, and this duty was sometimes commuted for a money payment.

Although several statutes of Edward I and Edward III, notably their confirmations of Magna Carta, had made it illegal for the Crown to exact any taxes without the consent of Parliament, the prerogative of levying ship money in time of war had never fallen wholly into abeyance. In 1619, James I aroused no popular opposition by levying £40,000 () of ship money on London and £8,550 on other seaport towns. Payment was, however, refused by John Hampden, a wealthy Buckinghamshire gentleman landowner. The case against the latter (R v Hampden) was finally heard before all 12 judges in the Court of Exchequer Chamber in 1637, after Denham had expressed his doubts to Davenport, who was wary of the four-judge panel which would have sat in a less unusual case. Hampden was defended by Oliver St John and Robert Holborne.

For the King:
Sir Richard Weston
Sir Francis Crawley
Sir Robert Berkley
Sir George Vernon
Sir Thomas Trevor
Sir William Jones
Sir John Finch
For Hampden:
Sir George Crooke
Sir Richard Hutton
Sir John Denham
Sir John Brampston
Sir Humphrey Davenport

Aftermath

Despite the trial case being won by Charles the opposition to ship money continued. In 1640, a group of citizens of London petitioned Charles directly and at the top of their list of grievances was the tax:<blockquote> The pressing and unusual Impositions upon Merchandize, Importing and Exporting, and the urging and Levying of Ship-money, notwithstanding both which, Merchants Ships and Goods have been taken and destroyed both by Turkish and other Pirates.</blockquote>The narrowness of the case encouraged others to refuse the tax. By 1639, less than 20% of the money demanded was raised. As matters deteriorated in England and Scotland starting with the Bishops' War, ship money proved to be insufficient to finance the king's military needs, partly because of the extra imposition of coat and conduct money to pay for the army. It was later stopped by the Long Parliament when they voted the Ship Money Act 1640 (16 Cha. 1. c. 14). Hampden went on to Parliamentary and Civil War leadership, only to die early on at the Battle of Chalgrove Field. Finally, half a century later, in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution, the Bill of Rights 1689 prohibited all forms of extra-parliamentary taxation.

Traditional practice

Aftermath

References

Further reading