In order to raise extra tax revenue to finance the cost of fighting the French Revolutionary Wars of the 1790s, the British government imposed a number of taxes, including Farm Horse Tax. The Scottish farm horse tax rolls (National Records of Scotland, E326/10) list the names of the owner and number of horses and mules used in husbandry or trade in 1797-1798. In some rolls the tax inspectors made repeat visits to track down non-payers, which explains why some parishes and burghs are repeated.
In Strathblane (E326/10/12/163 to 165) inspectors counted 92 horses, of which 66 were deemed eligible for the tax of 2s 3d per animal. The list includes a number of names that will be familiar to local historians. They include the local minister, Rev Gavin Gibb, John Brash, whose family ran an inn in Netherton and Archibald “Edmondstoun” of Spittal, a well-known stock breeder who made a fortune from slave plantations in the Demeraras [modern-day Guyana]. The Edmonstones of Spittal were only distantly related to the Edmonstones of Duntreath, who were living on their estates at Colzium (Kilsyth) and Redhall (County Antrim) at this time. (Duntreath was a roofless ruin.)
A transcription of the Strathblane names can be found directly underneath the facsimile copies of the original. The year after the introduction of the Farm Horse Tax , William Pitt the Younger introduced the first income tax.