which the present series of accounts commence. The mention of this date is incompatible with the statements frequently made that the first Act for the compulsory relief of the poor dates from 43rd Elizabeth (1601), the fact being that the Act of that year is the earliest now remaining in force, and that inasmuch as the preceding Acts were repealed, they are overlooked. Here, however, are accounts of forty years earlier, from which some extracts have been made in order that the origin of the present system may be traced, and in order that a comparison may be made with the conditions under which the poor were relieved three centuries ago -a comparison which cannot fail to excite "that lively faculty of the human mind which is delighted with the effort it makes in turning back to past ages, in being conversant with manners and characters totally different from the present, in bringing back to view scenes that have long vanished, and in tracing the progress of human improvements from their embryo state to their comparative maturity." From these extracts it will be easy to see that the system of to-day has been handed down for hundreds of years to be practised with remarkable similarity. True it would not be found convenient, as in 1561-2, to distinguish the parishioners by their trades and occupations; yet it will be seen that the relief to the poor was given weekly, that the "boarding out" of children recently adopted in many parishes is no new idea, that relief in kind has always been recognised, that outdoor medical relief is not of modern origin, that the removal and chargeability of lunatics was actively attended to by our forefathers, and that the law of settlement was then, as it is now, by no means free from difficulty and hardship. Delicacy forbids the reproduction of many of the entries relating to the enforcement of this branch of the law. The specimens given are from both sides—receipts and payments-so as to exhibit the sources of income as well as the channels of disbursement, though the former have, even at this early period, already assumed much of the bald character of the present-day rate-book. A page of the earliest of the Overseers' Accounts in the series, showing some of the entries of the poor-rate for the second quarter of the year 1562, and the last page of the accounts for the half year ended at Midsummer, 1568, showing payments for " making the poore men's badges" and "the poor menes lycences," are reproduced on pages 83 and 84. 1561 Item. To hunts wief for ye healinge of a scalde head..... Item. To Watson, ye chymeney sweeper ... [This is a remarkably early mention of such an occupation. See the extract from the churchwardens' accounts for 1664, at p. 69.] Item. For apparell for the boy wch Io Roiall hath Item. To Bargers widowe for the healinge of a childe wh. had a scalde hed Receipts ... 1562 Item. Of Robt. Ardenals, barber Item. Of Olyver, the waterman iijs. vijd. ijs. viijd. vjd. vjd. ijs. viijd. ijs. ijd. * From 1561 to 1572 the Receipts and Expenditure are entered quarterly. They amount for 1561 to £33 and £29 respectively. See note to the year 1590, page 91. F ijd. xijd. xijd. Item. To a powre woman being a suyte at the Lawe... Item. To Alice Gason fr keping of a girl disseased Item. Fr. the chardge of a winding sheete for a poure woman whiche died in Thambrey (The Ambrey) [Burials without coffins were common in 1611; see Vestry Minutes of 24 April, 1611; and in 1694 (Vestry Minutes, 6th February) the Vestry forbade the provision of coffins for pauper interments.] ... 1562 Item. For bringing of straw from Mr. Woeleyes for the xvd. 1565 Item. Paide to Thomas Payne at sundry tymes to by ijs. xxd. Item. Paid to Joane Whelpdone towards her jorney into ... ... vs. xxd. Item. Paid Richard Harrison, sent to the Spittell at Knightsbridge [Among the streets and places in this year's rate is "Pettie ffraunce," so that the theory attributing the derivation of the name to the settlement of refugees after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) is disproved. The name probably took its origin from the settlement of French merchants trading at the Woolstaple.] Receipts 1566 Money Rec. for the poore at the tyme of Comunyon Payments ... Item. Paid to a poore mayden, towards the curing of her VS. iiijd. [See the illustration on page 84, as marked on the right hand side. licensing of beggars continued, notwithstanding the establishment of workhouses, for at least a hundred years, as shown by the following items in the churchwardens' disbursements for 1652-3: Paid to Mris White for fifteene ticketts of pewter for Paid to Mr. Morris, Ironmonger for fifteene yards of Payd for to (two) quer of paper for the hole year |
