Welsh Journals

List of Persons who paid duty on Male Servants in 1780. An Act of Parliament was passed in the year 1777 that 21/- should be paid yearly for every male servant employed, such as footmen, coachmen, pastry-cooks, gamekeepers and so on. A MS Volume in the Public Record Office dated 1780 gives a long list for England and Wales, estimated at the end of the volume to consist of 24,750 persons employing 59,944 servants. The Radnorshire names are only ten in number, which is not surprising in view of the smallness of the county. They are: Rev. John Hughes, Glasbury paid for 1 servant Thomas Lewis Lloyd, Cwmddyddwr „ 2 Edward Lewis Radnor 1 John Lewis Radnor 1 William Price Presteigne 1 u Henry Price Knighton 1 Richard Price Knighton 1 Mrs. Richards Presteigne 1 „ Mr. Rogers Ayston 1 Walter Wilkins Glasbury 6 A. D. POWELL. LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT. To the Editor of Transactions." Dear Sir, Readers of the second volume of Kilverts Diary may have noticed (on page 156) the word ascalls," written in inverted commas and followed by the word (evets) in brackets. Evet is an older form of the word eft meaning newt." This is the first time I have seen the word ascalls in print, and it seems safe to assume that it was here written in inverted commas because it was considered a rare or local word. I have however come across the word in several parts of Radnorshire, though not elsewhere. Can any reader tell us the origin and etymology of the word ? I cannot trace it in any Dictionary and it would be interesting to know if we can rightly add it to our list of Radnorshire words. Yours sincerely, C. VENABLES-LLEWELYN. Llysdinam, Newbridge-on-Wye.