Coat and conduct money

Coat and conduct money was a tax by the English monarch to pay for armed forces.

It was designed to cover the cost of soldiers' uniforms ("coat") and feeding and lodging the men between the county from which they were recruited to the port of embarkation ("conduct"). ^[1]

It was paid locally by the counties and reimbursed by the government either as as a loan ^[2] repaid to a representative of the local government or paid from government funds held in the county. ^[3] It had been used by Elizabeth I ^[4] and was the only method available for the transport of troops at the beginning of her reign. ^[1] Because it was exercised through royal prerogative ^[5] it became contentious because it lacked parliamentary approval. ^[6] Although the government often repaid, there were delays and failures that caused discontent. ^[6]

To fund the war with Spain, Charles I through the Privy Council, especially from 1626 through 1628, charged deputy lieutenants with collecting the money ^[6] and it featured in the petition of right in 1628. ^[7] During the 1639 and 1640 Bishops' Wars many refused demands for coat and conduct money fearing if they did, Charles would turn them into permanent taxes ^[5] and the Short Parliament cited coat and conduct money as a grievance. ^[6] It helped to break the system for collecting ship money ^[8] and was regarded as more contentious. ^[9] It was however levied by Parliament in the Civil War. ^[10]

References

1. Cruickshank 1966, p. 61.
2. Schwoerer 1974, p. 22.
3. Cruickshank 1966, p. 62.
4. Nov. 29. 743. The Queen to the Lord Treasurer. Warrant to pay Sir Andrew Corbet coat and conduct money for 200 men, (less thirty-seven who are dead,) to Berwick. ( Stevenson 1865 ) harv error: no target: CITEREFStevenson1865 (help)
5. Harris 2014, p. 378.
6. Schwoerer 1974, p. 23.
7. Schwoerer 1974, p. 3.
8. Harris 2014, p. 297.
9. Gregg 1984, p. 311.
10. 14 March 1644/5 -Ordinance for providing draught horses for the carriage of the train of artillery to the army under Sir Thomas Fairfax and for payment of coat and conduct money ( Firth & Rait 1911 )

Sources

• Cruickshank, C.G. (1966). Elizabeth's Army (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Firth, C. H.; Rait, R. S., eds. (1911). Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642–1660. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office – via British History Online.
• Gregg, Pauline (1984). King Charles I. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Harris, Tim (2014). Rebellion: Britain's First Stuart Kings, 1567-1642. OUP. ISBN   978-0199209002.
• Schwoerer, Lois G. (1974). 'No Standing Armies!' The Antiarmy Ideology in Seventeenth-Century England. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN   978-0-8018-1563-8.
• Joseph Stevenson, ed. (1865). "Elizabeth: November 1560, 21–30". Calendar of State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth, Volume 3: 1560–1561. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 2013-10-02.