Although much of the documentation used throughout this book up until now has given insights (sometimes substantial ones) into Lowestoft's developing status as the dominant town in its local area, the first real sense of an established urban community (albeit of middling proportions) is to be found in a national tax record. The 1524–5 Lay Subsidy lists residents liable for payment of a levy made nationally by Henry VIII and his government for the conduct of war with France. It gives a comprehensive view of the names of the contributors and the levels of wealth present in the Lowestoft society of the time. The particular source used to explore the data presented is a transcription of the original documentation carried out by the great Suffolk antiquarian and historian the Revd Sydenham Henry Augustus Hervey, vicar of Wedmore in Somerset but a member of the notable aristocratic family of Ickworth. Because of defects present in the 1524 collection list, he supplemented a shortfall detected there (in the amount of money collected) with additional material from the following year in order to create balance in the overall picture.

The structure of the levy made upon the population of England was created in such a way as to ensure that all its citizens made a contribution, regardless of how they earned their money. Land was assessed at 12d (1s) in the pound (£) value, regardless of how much was held; goods (i.e. trading stock and trade equipment) were assessed at 12d in the pound for those people having £20 worth or more and 6d in the pound for those having £1–£20 worth; and wages of £1 or more per annum were assessed at 4d and of £2 or more at 6d. Any alien (foreign) wage-earners paid double that amount. Thus, in broad and generalised terms, the landowning classes (aristocracy and gentry) were taxed on their main source of income, the merchants, master craftsmen, seafarers and farming community on theirs, and the artisans and labourers on theirs.

As long ago as the early 1960s the economic historian Julian Cornwall produced a social structure relating to English country towns, using the 1524 Subsidy as the means of establishing it.