Transcript PIRTON LOCAL HISTORY GROUP

The role of overseers in Pirton
1731-1831
www.pirtonhistory.org.uk
Helen Hofton
November 2014
Nucleated settlement
Sources available
4 books of overseer’s accounts 1731 – 1831
COLLECTIONS
• Names of the overseers and the rate
• List of ratepayers and amount they paid
DISBURSEMENTS
• Name of the overseer
• The reason for payment
• The amount paid out
• The name of the recipient
Other records available
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Parish registers 1558- 1914
Militia lists 1758-1789
Quarter sessions rolls
Transportation records
Charity records
Pre-enclosure survey 1811
1601 An Acte for the Reliefe of the Poore …..
consolidated and replaced a variety of previous
legislation and aimed at:
• Establishment of parochial responsibility, with
churchwardens or overseers (from two to four in
number, depending on the size of the parish) allocating
relief.
• Collection of poor relief rate based on buildings and
land not wealth.
• Suppression of begging.
• Provision of work.
• Use of county Houses of Correction for vagrants.
• Setting to work and apprenticeship of children.
Categories of the poor
those who were too old/ill/young to work: these were
the impotent or deserving poor. They were to be looked
after in almshouses, hospitals, orphanages or poor
houses. Orphans and children of the poor were to be
given a trade apprenticeship so that they would have a
trade to pursue when they grew up.
those who would work but could not: these were the
able-bodied or deserving poor. They were to be given
help either through outdoor relief or by being given
work in return for a wage.
those who could work but would not: these were the idle
poor. They were to be whipped through the streets,
publicly, until they learned the error of their ways.
Who were the overseers ?
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People of the “middling sort”
Usually farmers or tenant farmers
Occasionally husbandmen or craftsmen
No women
They lived in the village and knew the
community well
• Also churchwardens, constables and those
on the manor court jury
The home of William Handscombe farmer
Overseer 1740-1741
The home of John Crouch cordwainer
Overseer 1740-1741
• Two overseers were appointed at the
annual vestry meeting usually in April
• Appointments were approved at the Petty
Sessions by a JP
• Had to be able to read, write and add up
but not spell!
• Voluntary but they were paid 5 shillings a
month for writing up the accounts
• Met monthly in private houses to present
the accounts, beer was always served
What were their duties ?
They were responsible for the
poor
• Administration…..
• Legal duties……….
• Disbursement……
Administration---Finance
• The Easter vestry set the rate and the overseers
collected the money from ratepayers
• Generally tenants were assessed on the rental values
of their property, improvements could be reflected in
the valuation year by year
• In 1731 the rate assessed was 14d in the £ and the
annual amount raised was £58.19s.7d. Individual’s
contributions ranged from 7d to £9. Weekly amounts
of relief paid were for sums between 6d. and 5s.
• In 1830 the rate assessed was 1s.6d. in the £ and £234
was collected. Individual’s contributions ranged from
1s.2d. for a labourer to £61 for the largest farmer
•Some years more money was disbursed than was
collected i.e. in 1758 £165.3s.3d. was collected but
£166.9s.9d was disbursed. The deficit was made up the
following year
•1801 was a bad year [poor harvest therefore lots of
people needing relief] so in 1802 the rate was raised
from 2s. to 3s.6d.
•The accounts were presented monthly and signed by a
small group of parishioners
•From 1742, when overseers legally had to keep formal
accounts, the books were approved and signed annually
by JPs in Hitchin
•They paid county levy, vagrant tax, and militia
accounts.
• The militia account for 1808 was £20, the county
rate for the same year was £22, the vagrant tax for
1766 was £7.1s.
•Overseers of the highways, or parish surveyors,
were appointed annually by the Easter Vestry .Their
unpaid job was to maintain all the roads in a parish.
Their expenses of around £6 a year were paid by
the overseers
• Constables were also paid annually throughout the
period, the amount varied from 9s. to £3
Legal Duties
•Dealing with newcomers to the village -- overseers
had to collect their settlement certificates or arrange
their removal and deal with litigation if an appeal
arose
•Sometimes Pirton overseers paid other parishes to
look after their poor rather than have them back. For
example, the Turner family moved to Weston and
became chargeable and Pirton overseers paid for
them for 24 years. Other cases were found at
Bishops Stortford ,Ickleford, Clothall, Ashwell,
Shillington, Luton and Great Brickhill
“to Barton overseer on widow lows account 17 weeks
at 6s. a week up to March 23rd 1816….£5.2s.”
•Illegitimate children were granted settlement in the
place they were born and this often led overseers to
try to remove an unmarried pregnant woman, for
example by transporting her to another parish just
before the birth, or by paying a man from another
parish to marry her
•Organising a marriage could be expensive as the
marriage of pregnant Sara Barber and John Grey in
1764 shows “....examination 2s.,waront 1s., my hors
& self the jurney 1s.6d, at Hitchin bear and brakfast
5s.6d., oats 8d., lissonce £1.10s.,marrey fees10s,
beer at Ellins , dinna at Ellins. Final payment was a
reemufall order 5s.”
•Fathers had to reimburse the parish for the illegitimate
child’s maintenance, but if they denied paternity it led to
appeals and further legal expenses which the ratepayer had
to pay
•William Horten had to pay 3 instalments of £5 for his
“natterall child” first in 1805, second 4 months later and
finally 2 years later
• Local fathers paid weekly for their children. In 1825
“William Worseley for Judith Pitts child at 18d. a week.”
Judith had 3 illegitimate children as the parish register says:
“three bastards by three different fathers”
• If no father was proved, the child was the
responsibility of the parish. The overseers identified
the cheapest option for their welfare. Boarding out
was expensive, but they could be admitted to the
workhouse or apprenticed
• Apprenticeships usually began when the child was
approaching adolescence, but often informal
arrangements were made with local farmers for
parish children
• Only two examples of apprenticeships were found in
the accounts, but there is a village charity called
Hammonds Charity which was set up in the mid 17th
century to fund apprenticeships, so this may be the
reason that there are so few
Binding out of poor children as apprentices
Disbursements
•Pensions were the most common form of relief
•These were by regular weekly, fortnightly or monthly
cash payment
•In 1731 there are 13 named pensioners receiving
between 6d. and 5s. a week
• Paid to the elderly, widows, orphans and the chronic
sick
•It was the simplest and most convenient way of
distributing relief. It had the advantage of flexibility. It
could be quickly increased or reduced to meet
changing circumstances such as growing families,
improved work opportunities at harvest and so on
Disbursements
Indoor Relief
• Housing including
master’s wages
• Clothing
• Fuel
• Food
• Medicine
• Burial
Outdoor Relief
• Housing including
board, lodging ,
rent and repairs
• Clothing
• Fuel
• Medicine
• Burial
The workhouse
The Workhouse
• The Poor Law Act of 1601 stated that there was a need for
“necessary places of habitation for poor impotent people.”
At first overseers tried to make relatives care for them or
at least pay for their maintenance. Those without relatives
were cared for by the parish.
• 1723 Act empowered parishes to build workhouses or to
contract paupers out to private institutions. Paupers who
refused the workhouse could be denied relief.
• In Pirton there seem to have been two parish houses, the
town house and after 1769 a workhouse. Whether they
were used concurrently is not clear, but the former was
still referred to as the Town House in the Enclosure Award
of 1818.
• The overseers were responsible for the renting,
purchase and repair of the workhouse.
• In 1768 a barn on Little Green was rented at a cost of 5
guineas per year.
• In 1769 Peter Goldsmith, carpenter, was paid for
building the workhouse and William Hill for thatching
it. Peter Goldsmith built a ‘necessary house’ a month
later.
• The accommodation as shown by a later inventory was
dwelling house, room next to dwelling house, room
over the dwelling house, further house and Jonas
Goodwin’s house. It seems as if the workhouse was
divided into three houses. A later census shows this to
be the case.
Workhouse masters
• They seem to have a contract for maintaining the
paupers in the workhouse between 1766 and 1796.
• They were given a quarterly lump sum of £84 by the
overseers and looked after the daily needs of the poor
in the house.
• They did not live in the house and also had another
occupation. In the militia lists, these men’s
occupations are given as victualler, farmer, and
labourer. Most masters did the job for about 3 years.
• After 1796 no more masters but money was given to
paupers to maintain themselves…a lump sum of
around 15s a week depending on how many were
there. 15s for 8 adults and 8 children in April 1796.
• National returns for 1802/3 show that Poor Law
expenditure had doubled in the twenty years from
1783. At a national level, one person in every nine
received some poor relief, mainly in the form of
outdoor relief.
• Only one in every twelve receiving relief was in a
workhouse (about 1% of the total population) as this
arrangement was more expensive for a parish.
• The annual expenditure per pauper in a workhouse
in England was £12.3s.6d., while the average annual
cost of outdoor relief per person was only a quarter
of this at £3.3s.8d.
• The Pirton workhouse was not used after 1820.
Outdoor relief.... Housing
• Rented accommodation usually cottages owned by
small farmers, rents paid by overseers at Lady Day
and Michaelmas.
• Rents are paid right through the period from under a
£1 a year in 1731 to £5.6s.0d in 1831.
• Some repairs were carried out on these cottages
mainly thatching.
• General poor could be boarded out with private
contractor.
• 1731 lodging is about 6d a week, board 1s.3d a
week.
• This is usually short term except for orphans.
Clothing
• 1730s child’s shoes 2s.6d., men’s shoes 4s. and
mending 7d......1828 child’s shoes 7s. men’s shoes
12s.6d. Hobnails were hammered into leather soles to
protect them from wear.
• A mix of clothes were made and mended by local
women mainly for men or children. Shifts were made
from dowlas at 14d. an ell or “gounds” from lince wool
at 16d. an ell. Stockings were knitted at 1s.10d. a pair
• Men and boys were made britches, shirts, waistcoats,
stockings and caps. Sometimes “round frocks “were
mentioned. (I believe that this is a working smock.)
• Girls received shifts, bodices, gowns, petticoats, stays,
aprons, stockings and cloaks.
Medical
• The scope of relief extended to cover medical services,
although the 1601 Act did not mention this -- but it
made sense as the parish was responsible for relieving
the sick -- so the quicker they were cured the better.
• A variety of doctors were initially paid separately for
individual patients, but after 1790 a parish doctor was
appointed on a fixed price annual contract ..this rose
from 4 guineas in 1793 to £ 19 in 1830.
• Doctors treated variety of things including fevers, fits
and smallpox. In 1801 Dr Bailly “plaistered the
children’s heads” and later in 1828 treated The Kings
Evil, which is scrofula or TB of the neck. There is also a
record in 1810 of a doctor attending an inquest.
• People were bled and there is a record of “6 leeches
for John Reynold’s son ...2s.6d.”
• Surgeons set legs and in 1749 there is a record of a
women surgeon called Mary Wheeler.
• Paupers were sometimes sent to hospital -- but these
were rare occasions.
• Most of the nursing was carried out by local women.
Their duties include midwifery, caring for people both
in their own homes and the workhouse. Local women
did nursing irregularly and usually for short periods,
but Judith Pitts started when she was 37 and worked
for 20 years until she was widowed and became a
pensioner. She had a long term patient called
“Turner” whom she nursed for 2 years.
• There was a big difference in pay for doctors and
nurses...1731 setting and curing widow Croote’s leg
£3.18s. for the surgeon and 1s.6d. a week for the
local person who nurses her.
• Occasionally a midwife was used for a delivery, but it
is not clear whether this was just a local woman or a
specialist.........In 1749 a midwife was paid 5s. to
deliver two babies. Usually local women,
experienced in childbirth themselves, aided mothers.
Mothers had a period of “lying in.” In 1760 Judith
Trussell was paid £1.15s. for a month lying in when a
baby called James was born.
Smallpox
• There were many instances of smallpox during the 18th century.
Sometimes individuals and sometimes whole families suffered.
Many people survived, but John Campkin died after 11 days of
nursing. In 1785 John Wright survived, but his wife and two
children died.
• In 1786 a separate house was rented for people with smallpox,
but most people were nursed in their own homes as there was
no ‘pest house.’ 1799 was a bad year and the disease was
caught by many in the workhouse.
• The first inoculations took place in 1806 when Robert Taylor’s
children were vaccinated. By 1809 there was “a parish account”
and Dr Foster inoculated 6 people at 2s.6d. a head. There are no
more reports of smallpox after that.
• Some interesting cures were recorded -- Joseph Barber received
6s.3d. for beer when he was a patient.
Death
• There were no undertakers so villagers looked after the
preparation of the body. Village women “sat up” with the dying,
and then washed and laid them out.
• Special clothes or items were bought: for example “cap and
muffler 1s.” and “cap and wool 2s.”
• The coffin was made by the village carpenter Peter Goldsmith at
a cost of 7s. in 1740s rising to £1 by 1818.
• Burial Fees for the minister and clerk were 2s.6d.
• Mrs Lake -- the licensee of the White Horse -- provided the beer
for the funeral at 3d. a quart and Mrs Walker was paid for the
bread and cheese.
• If the pauper had not left a will, the overseers arranged for an
affidavit to ensure that the dying person’s last wishes were
carried out.
Able bodied poor
So far we have seen the organisation of an effective and
flexible system for the relief of the deserving poor-- the
aged, the sick, one parent families etc. It is very difficult
to classify the able bodied. It is possible, however, to
distinguish between unemployed and under-employed,
individual poverty and mass poverty, long term poverty
and short term poverty.
For the greater part of our period the overseers were
dealing with short term, able-bodied poverty, but by
the beginning of the 19th century the failure of the old
poor law to deal adequately with the able-bodied led to
the birth of the new poor law with the feared union
workhouses.
• Initially the overseers had found a variety of parish
work for the able bodied unemployed. Examples
included:
o 1747-1750 Catching sparrows at 3d. a dozen
o 1747-50 Catching moles at 1d. each
o 1754 Paid 6 men for “pocking in the highways “ at 8d.
per day or digging a new ditch across Wetmarsh
o 1763 men women and children stone picking at
irregular times at 1s. a load. April 1781, Richard Smith
the workhouse master organised gangs of
stonepickers. 1782 last organised group of stone
pickers
o 1781 labourers get 2d. a day and 1s. a week working
for the parish
Roundsmen System
• Parish work for the unemployed or under-employed seems to
have died out by the mid 1780s and the overseers adopted the
roundsman system.
• A tradition had already been established for the overseers to
make cash payments to able-bodied persons in employment, if
their wages were too low to support their families, or if their
employers were not in a position to employ them for seasonal
or economic reasons.
• Throughout the slack winter months the overseers sent the
able-bodied poor round the employers of the parish to do
whatever work they could find.
• The employers paid a proportion of the wage agreed ,whilst the
remaining portion was paid by the overseers [between 1s-3s.]
• The overseer’s portion increased the income of the roundsman
to a level thought to be appropriate to his circumstances. These
arrangements were recognised as being temporary.
The end of the Old Poor Law
• By 1831 the cost of relief had risen hugely, in 1731 to
£1.4s; in 1831 to £10.14s.10d. The reasons were:
o The very bad years for agriculture of 1794, 1801 and
1812 and the consequent high prices of corn
o After the Napoleonic War imported corn was banned
and there was a scarcity and consequent high prices
o A rising population ……370 to 758 and same number of
ratepayers
o Low wages for farm labourers
o Mechanisation and improvements in efficiency, which
began to reduce the need for unskilled labourers
o Increased rents
These developments led to the
Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834
The last word
Occasionally there must have been abuses of the whole
relief system, but because the overseers knew the
applicants the abusers were easily identified. An entry
from a local farmer John Kingsley states:
• ‘June 17th 1809 John Wright came to me for relief on
account of being very ill and I relief im of 5 shillings and
on the 19th [he] set off to the Hay Cuntry and [he ]sent is
whife up to me for 7 shillings more saying that if I did no
relief her he would go before Mr Whitbread’ [a local JP].
• John Wright was certainly known to the overseers. His
children were in the workhouse in 1796. Moreover, John
Kingsley, who complained about him, had been a witness
at his wedding to Mary Pestall twenty years earlier!