{"id":1523,"date":"2020-11-15T12:26:46","date_gmt":"2020-11-15T12:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?p=1523"},"modified":"2025-07-15T15:25:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:25:56","slug":"william-jarman-and-customs-job-titles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2020\/11\/15\/william-jarman-and-customs-job-titles\/","title":{"rendered":"William Jarman \u2013 and Customs job titles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s not hard to imagine what brought William Jarman to Bowness-on-Solway circa 1824. But what became of him of later is patchy. I am publishing this post in the hope that someone \u2018out there\u2019 will have some answers for his descendants*.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It also covers some job titles of interest to people researching their family history.<\/p>\n<h2>Solway smugglers \u2013 and those who stopped them<\/h2>\n<p>The first time I ever went throught the Bowness-on-Solway parish registers, I noted: \u2018\u2026seven smugglers drowned one night and buried together.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Where you had smugglers, you had customs and excise men. A service required more than ever after the Carlisle Canal opened, in 1823, when suddenly there was a new port and freight\/passenger craft making use of it.<\/p>\n<p>It is presumably the job opportunity that attracted William Jarman (born circa 1788) to relocate, with his wife Mary Ann and son William (born 1824) from London to Bowness. More children followed: Richard Henry in 1825; John in 1828, Mary Ann Amelia in 1830 and David Tillotson in 1832.<\/p>\n<p>An article in 1828 records how William Jarman, RN, commander of the Preventive Service at Bowness, obtained a warrant to search a house at Kingmoor for smuggled whisky. It led to the conviction (and later, failed appeal) of a George McQueen.<\/p>\n<p>The (personal and general) key points of this are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>William Jarman appears to have served in the Royal Navy previously<\/li>\n<li>He was at that time a very senior officer in the Preventive Service (basically customs officers who tackled smuggling)<\/li>\n<li>Its reach extended beyond searching ships: Kingmoor is more than 13 miles from Bowness \u2013 and inland.<\/li>\n<li>the appeal tells us a share of the fine paid by an offender went to the customs officer who caught him.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The Bowness Hall mystery<\/h2>\n<p>William Jarman was clearly prospering, for a 1829 directory lists:<\/p>\n<p><i>JARMAINE Wm surveyor in customs Bowness Hall Bowness. (sic)<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Bowness Hall belonged to the Lawson family. Pattinson Lawson was living at Bowness Hall in 1824. And was \u2018of Bowness Hall\u2019 in 1834. But the 1829 directory just lists him as \u2018Pattison (sic) Lawson, farmer, Bowness\u2019.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0Were the\u00a0<\/span>Jarman sharing the property? Or did Pattinson Lawson live away from the farm a few years?<\/p>\n<h2>The Preventive Service<\/h2>\n<p>In 1829, there was talk of the Government looking to modify the Preventive Service \u2018by introducing a form of duty more in unison with the Civil Service and abolishing the distinction of uniform with the heavy arms and accoutrements, the audacity and success of the smugglers rendering it necessary to adopt some more effectual plan for suppressing illegal traffic.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>However, in 1831, it was declared: \u2018The Preventive Service, under the direction of the Customs, is to be retained.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>In 1833, it was noted that the Preventive Service cost \u00a3300,000 to run, but Parliament didn\u2019t get to scrutinise how this was spent.<\/p>\n<h2>A tragic loss<\/h2>\n<p>In July 1838, William Jarman\u2019s son John drowned in the Carlisle Canal. He was just ten years old. The inquest \u2018supposed\u2019 he had fallen overboard while trying to push off in a boat in the coal dock. His body was found after his cap was spotted floating on the water. His father was then described as \u2018one of the coastguard\u2019. No longer a commander, it would seem.<\/p>\n<h2>Customs revenue at Port Carlisle<\/h2>\n<p>This could be because in 1828, there had been a shake-up of ports. It was for sure proposed (in January 1828) to downgrade Port Carlisle from a &#8216;port of collection&#8217;, with \u00a0its business to be conducted by a principal coast officer, landing and tide waiters. The provincial officers were likely to &#8216;be removed&#8217;. William Jarman wasn&#8217;t a revenue collector, but could it be he also had to downgrade his status to stay in a job?<\/p>\n<p>However, in 1839,\u00a0it was announced that due to the \u2018very great increase in the customs revenue\u2019 at Port Carlisle, it had been moved up to a \u2018higher class\u2019 (ie status level). And the revenue collector and comptroller had been awarded a \u2018considerable\u2019 salary increase.<\/p>\n<p>In 1838, Port Carlisle had collected \u00a330,646 gross (\u00a329,243 nett) in excise duty. (In 1839, it was actually down: \u00a330,132 gross, \u00a329,581 nett).<\/p>\n<h2>Bankruptcy \u2013 and a new job description<\/h2>\n<p>And yet, by 1839, William was insolvent. He was described as an acting tide surveyor \u2018late of Port Carlisle and previously of Bowness\u2019.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>A tide surveyor was a senior customs officer overseeing boarding of ships to check goods. (If your ancestor was a tide waiter, that was a customs officer who did the actual boarding).<\/p>\n<p>He was discharged as an insolvent on 5 Mar 1840. The commissioner said of him \u201c\u2026 <i>that the whole conduct of the Insolvent was highly commendable, and would no doubt be highly appreciated by all who knew him.\u00a0<\/i>\u201c<\/p>\n<p>He also praised Mr Allison, a grocer who had had acted as a trustee for William Jarman, saying his conduct was \u2018worthy of example\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>This would be Robert Allison, who as well as being a grocer in English Street Carlisle, was involved in the Carlisle Canal and the setting up of a steam shipping company<\/p>\n<h2>And then?<\/h2>\n<p>Wherever he was in 1840, by the time of the 1841 Census, William was back in Port Carlisle and described as an excise officer.<\/p>\n<p>Son William, 15, is listed as a \u2018chemist\u2019s apprentice\u2019.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>And then\u2026? The trail goes cold. It\u2019s possible he died back in London a year later, but not clear what happened to his wife Mary Ann or daughter of the same name.<\/p>\n<h2>Cumbrian Characters<\/h2>\n<p>Richard Henry Jarman emigrated to Australia by 1852 (and doesn\u2019t show on the 1851 census in England). Richard became a school teacher.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>David Tillotson Jarman emigrated to the Clare district of South Australia by 1850. David is remembered as one of the founding fathers of Byron Bay. He died there in 1908.<\/p>\n<h3>And William Jarman junior?<\/h3>\n<p>William Junior became a druggist and set up a business in Wigton, where he married Mary Scott in 1845. He was bankrupt by 1846.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In the 1851 census he is practicing as veterinary surgeon in Neath in Wales.\u00a0With him are his wife Mary and children Mary Ann, 5, born Ambleside, and John, 3, born Wigton.<\/p>\n<p>On the 1861 census, Mary is back in Wigton, (occupation unreadable), with son John. In 1871, she was a boarding house keeper.<\/p>\n<p>A descendant of the Jarman family (in Australia) says of her husband:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>He absconded off to South Africa by 1856 where he set up practice as a vet in Pietermaritzburg. There is a suggestion he never qualified as a vet. He died at Maryburg (Maraisburg?), South Africa in 1861.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Further reading, and an appeal<\/h2>\n<p>Should you wish to read more about Port Carlisle and its people, you can order my book, <strong><em>Port Carlisle, a history built on hope<\/em><\/strong>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/dp\/1981029788\"> here<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>* Should anyone reading this have any further information on William Jarman (senior or junior), do use the Contact page to get in touch. Or if you are an Ancestry member, you can always message Rod Jarman directly via there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s not hard to imagine what brought William Jarman to Bowness-on-Solway circa 1824. But what became of him of later is patchy. I am publishing this post in the hope that someone \u2018out there\u2019 will have some answers for his descendants*.\u00a0 It also covers some job titles of interest to people researching their family history. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,2],"tags":[325,78,326,327],"class_list":["post-1523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cumbria-history","category-family-history","tag-customs-and-excise","tag-port-carlisle","tag-preventive-service","tag-tide-waiter"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>William Jarman \u2013 and Customs job titles - Cumbrian Characters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"William Jarman dealt with Solway smugglers, personal tragedy, and bankruptcy. 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