Ulcombe poor in the late eighteenth-early nineteenth century

ULCOMBE POOR IN THE LATE EIGHTEENTHEARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY F.H. PANTON INTRODUCTION In the course of examining a Vestry Book of Ulcombe Parish for 1821-28, then in private hands, other documents relating to the poor of Ulcombe in the late eighteenth, early nineteenth century, in the County Archives and elsewhere, were also examined. This article reports the results of those studies. PROVENANCE An Account Book of Ulcombe (near Maidstone) Parish Vestry meetings from March 1821 to March 1828, recording requests for and grants of assistance to the poor of the parish, came into the possession of Mr Austen Sillars through family connections, and I am indebted to him for the opportunity to study and collate the information in the book. It is now lodged in the Centre for Kentish Studies in Maidstone. The book is an 8 x 6 in. bound volume of some 200 pages, ruled to take account entries. It bears the sticker of I.M. Hall, Bookseller, Printer and Binder, and a pencilled price of 7/-. On the flyleaf is the signature of J. Bensted. James Bensted was born in Bredgar in 1784 and died in 1852. From 1818 to his death, he farmed at Street Farm, Ulcombe, and from 1821 to 1828, as the vestry book demonstrates, he was a member of the Ulcombe vestry. His son, George, who died aged 85 years, held the farm after him. George Bensted was Churchwarden of All Saints, Ulcombe, for 49 years, and was also a Guardian of the Poor. After him, his son Hugh Bensted took over Street Farm until 1940. The Ulcombe Vestry book was among the effects of Hugh Bensted, which passed through to Mr Sillars. 139 F.H. PANTON DESCRIPTION AND CONTENT The book records the decisions month by month of Ulcombe Parish vestry meetings in 1821 to 1828, dispersing grants of money or goods to the poor of the parish. The format remains the same throughout the book, though the hand-writing indicates a number of different recorders. At Appendix A is a transcript of the first meeting (28th March, 1821) recorded in the book. On one page are listed the applications of those in want, and on the opposite page is noted whether or not the request is granted and at what cost. In many instances the request appears to have been granted, but no cost is noted on the right-hand page. No discussion is noted, and in general no other business than the consideration of requests of those in want is recorded. Of the 34 requests for assistance considered at the March 1821 meeting, 26 seem to have been granted, though most of them not fully. For instance, Mrs. Wickens in want of 4/- was granted 216d., while J. Russell, requesting 2 frocks for girls and 2 changes for boys, was granted 1 frock and 1 change. The amount listed as being granted adds up to £4 9s., though if all the items which seem to have been granted had costs allocated to them, the total amount disbursed probably amounted to more than £10. This entry is typical of each monthly meeting. Below is a summary of the number of applications for assistance, together with the numbers granted (at least in part) and the total amount recorded as having been disbursed. Year Number of Applications Amount listed applications granted as disbursed April 1821 - March 1822 323 277 £55 April 1822 - March 1823 314 246 £57 April 1823 - March 1824 272 226 £93 April 1824 - March 1825 296 228 £102 April 1825 - March 1826 285 243 £117 April 1826 - March 1827 263 208 £88 April 1827 - March 1828 269 212 £119 The total amount listed as spent in the years 1821-1828 was therefore £630, though at a guess if all the amounts necessary to meet the wants granted had been listed, the total amount disbursed in those years would have been well in excess of £1000. An interesting observation to be made is that although the numbers of applications decreased somewhat during the years covered by the Account Book, the total amount disbursed increases by nearly a factor of two. Those who were in need, it would seem, grew needier during those years. The 140 ULCOMBE POOR increase in sums requested is in large part accounted for by the increase in applications to pay rent. The total number of people applying each year for assistance is somewhat misleading, since there was a solid core of people who were, to all intents and purposes, pensioners of the parish, and their names occur with regularity month by month. A detailed survey of the names of those applying in the year 1821-1822 shows that the 300 applications were put forward by no more than 70 different people. A somewhat more cursory examination of the names listed in subsequent years indicates a similar pattern in those years. As might be expected, the drain on the parish purse varied from month to month, according to the time of the year. The summer months from May to September, when no doubt work was available and living comparatively easy, produced relatively few calls on the parish. There are very few if any direct requests for assistance with food, or money for food at any time. The winter months brought requests for clothing, bed linen, blankets, and particularly for shoes. October and November were the heaviest months, requests at that time of the year including those for assistance in payment of rents due. Appendix B is a summary of entries for 1824-1825. The exceptionally heavy expenditure in October 1824 was occasioned by 21 requests for rent money, totalling £85. Most of these were granted, but not in full. Had they, and other grants in that month been paid in full, the amount disbursed would have been well over £100. The growing cost of assistance to the poor caused the Ulcombe vestry, in common with other parishes in the area to search for the ways of coping with unemployment. On 30th October, 1822, we find an entry which records an attempt to cause the richer farmers and gentry to employ extra labour. It does not seem to have come to fruition at this time, because no signatures are appended to it (see Appendix C for a transcription of this entry). On 10th February, 1826, a similar resolution was passed and was signed by 18 members of the Vestry (see Appendix D). How the resolution was applied it is difficult to judge. It may have succeeded in removing some labourers from unemployment, but neither the years 1826/7 or 1827/8 show any significant downturn in assistance to the poor. Other strategies to reduce the Parish expenditure on the poor were also tried. On 28th February, 1827, and 12th November 1827, there are listed the names of persons agreeing to take and house boys at 2/to 5/- per week (Appendix E). And it began to be clear that it might be more advantageous to assist whole families to emigrate to America rather than to have them as a long-term drain on parish funds. The decision to send the Peters and Robinsons families to Quebec is also noted in Appendix E. On 13th February, 1828, a Mr 141 F.H. PANTON Reeves was granted £20 to carry 'Boy to America'; and on 12th March, 1828, George Harrison requested £50 to go to America, Richard Gooding £40 and Peter Bates £50 to go to America. Income for the Vestry is not listed in this book, though there are monthly entries of the following type: Received Elliott for work Paid Elliotts bill £3 l3s. 7s. lO½d. 9d. The total amount received in this way in the year April 1822 to March 1823 was £29 4s. l½d., and amounts of similar magnitude were noted in the book each year. The significance of these entries is not clear, but may refer to moneys gained for work organized by parish overseer, and to his payment for his activities. The amounts recorded as received are not nearly sufficient to pay for the amounts disbursed in the same period. The final note in the book, dated 7th March, 1828, is transcribed in Appendix F. It seems to record the intention to appoint a Mr Stephen Walker to value the parish of Ulcombe presumably for the tithe purposes. DISCUSSION Number of Paupers Similar information on out-relief in similar format is contained in Vestry Books for Ulcombe, for the periods October 6th, 1758 - November 25th, 1775, and May 31st, 1783 - October 21st, 1787, held in the County Archives.1 A cursory reading of these volumes indicates that the number of applications for grants in the earlier years of the eighteenth century was substantially less than that for the 1820s. In 1774-75, the total number of applications was little more than 100 for that year. By 1787, however, the number seems to have increased to something approaching 1821-28 levels.2 It would seem that in the 1820s Ulcombe Vestry entertained requests for out-relief from about 70 regular applicants, and that this number was probably twice that supported in the 1760s and 1770s. Support for this conclusion is supplied in part by Hasted, who in 1798 wrote that the number of poor constantly relieved in Ulcombe was 1 P376/8/1 (Oct. 6th 1758-Nov. 25th 1775) P376/8/3 (May 31st 1783-Oct. 27th 1787) 2 December 1786 seems to have been a very difficult time for the poor of Ulcombe. The Vestry met no less than five times that month, instead of the usual once, and considered over 90 requests. 142 ULCOMBE POOR about 40, casually about 20.3 Again, in the Abridgement of Answers and returns pursuant to an Act of 1818, it is stated that, in 1815, 54 paupers (not including their children), were permanently relieved out of the Workhouse at Ulcombe, while 19 were in the Workhouse, and 49 were relieved occasionally. Accepting that most requests were made for families rather than single persons, we may reckon that between 150-200 people must have been on out-relief in the 1820s and to that figure would need to be added those paupers in the Workhouse. Since the population of Ulcombe in 1821 was no more than about 700,4 this implies that perhaps one-third of the village population at that time could be classed as paupers. On this reckoning, the incidence of poverty in the village was far above the average in Kent, which itself was high among the counties. Elizabeth Melling in her book Kentish Sources, The Poor has pointed out that for Kent as a whole in the early 1800s, about 14 per cent of the population were in receipt of relief. 5 Cost Neither the 1821-28 Book, nor the earlier Books give costs for all the requests which seem to have been granted, and no summation or totals of costs are attempted. In that sense, the Books may be records of decisions for parish overseers to implement, rather than account books. Nevertheless, it is difficult to tie in the relatively modest amounts indicated in the Books as having been disbursed, with other records of expenditure on the Poor. A Parliamentary Committee of 1822 gave the following expenditure by Ulcombe on its poor. 6 3 E. Hasted, History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, 2nd Ed. v, (1798), 385-96. These pages contain Hasted's account of the parish of Ulcombe, which he describes as three miles from north to south and two miles in width, and adds 'It is rather an obscure and unfrequented place, having but little thoroughfare; the quarry hills cross it, and on the summit of which is the village with Ulcombe Place and the parsonage within it.' Under a note on charities, Hasted concludes 'The number of poor relieved here constantly are about 40; casually about 20'. 4 See, for instance, W.H. Ireland, New and Complete History of the Country of Kent, ii, 41. Ireland's account of Ulcombe is plainly lifted from Hasted's second edition (given above), with very few additions or amendments. However, Ireland does add this information 'In 1821 there were 115 dwellings in the parish of Ulcombe; and at the same period, when the last census of the population was taken by order of Parliament, the numbers of inhabitants were as follows: Males 356, Females 310, making a total of 668 souls'. Ireland is quoting from Population Returns in accordance with the Act lGEO IV C94; County of Kent 139. 5 Elizabeth Melling. Kentish Sources IV; The Poor, 147-8, Maidstone. Kent County Council, 1964. 6 Report of the Select Committee on Poor Rate Return, July 15th, 1822. Supplemental Appendix for Kent 59. 143 F.H. PANTON Year: 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 Amount spent on the poor £889/16s £1075/3s £1509/5s £1589/16s £1651/lOs £1955/9s However, these figures are for total expenditure on the poor, and the Vestry Books do not contain any indication of the cost of keeping paupers in the Workhouse, or other expenditure of administrative nature. Some indication of these costs may be obtained from the accounts of the Hollingbourne Union, which, from 1835, grouped together for poor law purposes 23 neighbouring parishes, including Ulcombe.7 Extract from Hollingbourne Union Accounts for Quarter ending December 25th, 1837 ULCOMBE Number of Indoor Paupers Adults M l F 3 3 Children 9 In Maintenance: Provisions per day 15 Farthings 7119th £10/0/2 Establishment: General £51/14/6 TOTALS Number of Out-Door Paupers Total Adults Children 􀀃 1:i l 92 171 Out-Relief: £101/14/5½ Clothing per day 3 Farthings 3/8ths £2/2/9 In Maintenance: £12/2/11 Collector £3/1/8½ Establishment: £54/16/2½ Total Expended: £168/13/7 7 Second Annual Report for the Poor Law Commission 1836, 589 and 629. The formation of Unions such as the Hollingbourne Union, with a central administration and workhouse, grouping together neighbouring parishes was set in train by the report of the Poor Law Commission of 1834. The erection of a central workhouse at Hollingbourne to house 300, at a cost of £5000 was authorized. See also, Ehzabeth 􀁩elling, op. cit., for a fuller discussion of the problem of poverty in the late eighteenth, early nineteenth century, with particular reference to Kent. 144 ULCOMBE POOR The cost in 1837 for the full year may, therefore, have been about £675 for 170 paupers, shared between 15 in the Workhouse at a cost of perhaps, £275, and 156 on out-relief at a cost of £400. To relate these figures to Ulcombe expenditure in the 1820s, before amalgamation into the Hollingbourne Union, we must approximately double them, since the amalgamation into larger units, and the reorganisation of poor relief generally in 1835-56 produced considerable saving in costs. 8 But amounts indicated in the Vestry Books do not in any event approach the £400 figure for out-relief expenditure. Further elucidation must await relevant sources of information, if'they exist. In sum, however, there is clear evidence that in the late 1820s Ulcombe's problems with the Poor, with up to one-third of the village population as paupers, and total costs of up to £2,000 a year, were worse than most of the neighbouring villages. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Captain Swing riots of 1830-31 did not leave Ulcombe untouched. Incidents of assembly and destruction were reported to have taken place in Ulcombe in those years. The reorganization of 1835, with amalgamation into the Hollingbourne Union, seems to have eased the situation somewhat, at least by cutting the costs considerably. 9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I should like to thank Prof. Keith-Lucas for the most helpful comments he made during the compilation of this article. 8 •􀁯tatement of Annual Expenditure of Respective Periods previous and subsequent to the formation of the Hollingbourne Union' 1837. County Archives Ul515/OG1/OG4. In this statement Ulcombe's spend on the poor is shown to have reduced from £2,040 per year (average for the three years 1834,5,6) to £591/7/10½ for the first year of the Union's operation; a reduction of 71 per cent. Much of this reduction was due to the Government's decision that out-door relief to the able-bodied should be discontinued. According to the Second Annual Report of the Poor Law Commissioners (op. cit., 202) 'In the Hollingbourne Union, 1845 paupers were relieved on the 31st April when your order stopping out-door poor relief to the able-bodied came, which caused the number on 5th May to dwindle to 938, or more than half were instantly struck off the poor books, and of these only 12 again applied for relief ... They were before on the roads receiving 9s. a week wages and the rest out of the poor book. Many left for work elsewhere, 23 to the coast. Many refused work until farmers began to employ them to harvest. Reduction of rate has enabled farmers to engage more labourers'. 9 Shirley Burgoyne Black, 'Swing; the Years 1827-1830 as reflected in a West Kent Newspaper', Arch. Cant., cvii (1989), 100-03.R eports from the Maidstone Journal are cited, giving details of a rude and rough interruption of a Vestry meeting at Ulcombe in October 1830, and the burning of the Ulcombe overseer's barn in December 1831. 145 ...... .p.. APPENDIX A ULCOMBE: A VESTRY HELD 28TH MARCH, 1821 Left-Hand Page Right-Hand Page Thos. Austen. 8 shillings G. x 8 shillings Wm. Sage. Pair breeches for self Pair shoes for boy G. shoes for boy Thos. Kemp. 2 pairs shoes for boys G. 1 change and pair shoes boys and 2 changes for boys ½ chd. coals H. Collison 5/- Granted Master Coombes. Pair breeches for self G. 3 frocks for girls and 3 frocks for girls Master Payne. Jacket and trousers for boy G. trousers and pincloth and 2 pinclothes Rich. Web. Pair sheets and pair G. pair shoes for boy shoes boy Jn. Peters in want of rent G. 5 weeks rent or 1/6d per week Mrs Reed for nursing Mrs Colleson 4 weeks at 4/- per week 4weeks Mrs Weller. Jacket and trousers for boy G. trousers and 2 pincloths Ang. Gown for self 2 pincloths boy Granted: £ s. d. 8 0 'Tl 􀀂 i z 7 6 16 0 Robt. Butler in want of 20/- G. 10/- to buy household I 10 0 Barnet Peacock pair shoes for self 0. Jas. Sellen ½chd. coals 0. Richd. Turk. Bed and pair G. Pair blankets blankets Edwd. Bottom. Pair shoes for his I G. Shoes for his wife wife and pair blankets Sam Allen 10/- G. 101- I 10 0 Mrs Wickens in want 4/- G. 2/6d 2 6 Master Chapman. Pair sheets 0. and pair shoes for boy 0. Mrs Hughes. Round frock and c::: pair trousers for her master Round frock and pair trousers r' Mrs Clapson. 10/- G. 6/- 6 0 0 ,,. I Mrs Boorman. Frock and pet- 0. 3:: .j::.. ticoat change to -..l Jno. Russell. 2 frocks for girls G. 1 change and 1 frock for girls tT1 "O and 2 changes for boys 0 Jas. Williams. Pair shoes for girl G. Pair shoes for girl 0 Jno. Sutton. 6/- to by pair shoes G. 6 shillings 6 0 :,;J Jno. Ledger. 6/- F. 5 shillings 5 0 Jno. Cook. Pair trouser for boy 0. Master Tree. Pair trousers for boy 0. Jas. Dungey. 12d for clothes G. 5 shillings I 5 0 Master Town. 7/- and pr. shoes G. pair shoes Jas. Ledger. 9/- for coals 0. Master Busbridge. pr. shoes for G. Pair shoes for self self 2 frocks for girls Master Sandford. Change for self I G. Pair shoes for his wife and pr. shoes for his wife Old Widow Boorman I 4 weeks pay at 2/- per week I 8 0. I-' """ 00 1824 1825 26 April 26 May 30 June 28 July 25 August 29 September 27 October 24 November 29 December 26 January 24 February 30 March TOTALS APPENDIX B ULCOMBE VESTRY: SUMMARY OF APPLICATIONS, 1824-1825 47 wants 46 granted 8 wants 5 granted 20 wants 12 granted 4 wants 4 granted 4 wants 4 granted 7 wants 4 granted 61 wants 58 granted 33 wants 2 granted 22 wants 12 1rranted 39 wants 36 granted 21 wants 20 granted 30 wants 25 granted 296 228 £ 11 10 0 11 6 £ 1 6 0 12 0 2 0 3 0 £ 66 8 0 £ 6 2 6 £ 2 1 6 £ 4 5 6 £ 5 2 6 £ 4 6 6 £102 11 0 ULCOMBE POOR APPENDIX C Extract from Ulcombe Vestry Book 30 October 1822. At a Vestry holden this day - It was agreed from this time that all men out of employ should be employed by those occupying land to the amount of £50 for every such sum at the order of the overseer being drawn by ballott. It is also agreed that every patron occupying land to the amount of £50 should employ one man extra for every such sum over and above the regular number out of employ. Present and Consenting (no signatures) APPENDIX D Extract from Ulcombe Vestry Book 10 February 1826. At a Vestry holden this day in the Parish Church of Ulcombe. Resolved that it is the opinion of this meeting that as often as any laborer may not be able to obtain, constant employment it would lead greatly to the relief of the Parish if every occupier of land above Pye Corner would for every fifty pound per ann. of his assessment and every occupier of land below Pye Corner would for every sixty pounds per ann of his assessment employ one married labourer at the wages of two shillings per day or at such Task (want?] as would enable him by [labouring] to earn that sum [and in ?] that the labourer on daily wages should do a fair days work. Resolved that the Parish will be satisfied if the occupier of the Tithes employs five [?] constantly. Resolved that we who are present will employ our respective proportions of labourers on the above scale and endeavour to prevail on such occupiers in the Parish as are not present to employ the same. J. Wykeham Morton Arther Brownleys Dan. Hodges Tred. Marchant Thos. Cook Thos. Ledger Jn. James Hatch Jm Bensted M. Young Wm. Vinson ????? Woolley Thos. Huntley ????? Norris Wm. Hadley Edw. ????? John Boorman J. Wildesh Richard Williams 149 ..... u, 0 Extract from Ulcombe Vestry Book 28 February 1827 APPENDIX E The following persons agreed to take the undernamed boys from this time until the 11 October. Mr Bensted to take Jas. Rose at 21- Mr Jms. Hitch to take Thom. Giles at 2/- MrD. Hodges to take Wm. Sage at 216d. Mr York to take Jm. Frost at 216d. Mr Boorman to take Edw. Chambers at 3/- Mr Wm. Woolley Jm. Weller at 216d. Mr Knight for Thom. Tonge at 3/- MrBensted for Wm. Fever at 3/- per week per week per week per week per week per week per week per week and it is further agreed that Mr Bensted should send John Peters' wife and three children and Jas. Robinson's wife and two children to Quebec in America provided the expenses do not exceed £5/5s each. No 12 1827 Geo. Fever Wm. Sage Edw. Chambers Wm. Giles John Cl????? Jos. York The above agreement to remain until April 6th 1828. Jemima West to go to Mr James Bates at 1/6 a week until 11 October, the Parish to clothe her and Mr Bates to watch for her. to Mr Field to Mr Bensted to Mr Boorman to Mr Hatch to Hatch to Mr Wm. Ledger at 2/at 216d. at 2/at I/at 3/at 216d. per week per week per week per week per week per week ULCOMBE POOR APPENDIX F Extract from Ulcombe Vestry Book March 7 1828 At a Vestry meeting held this day it was unanimously agreed to have one person by the name of Mr S. Walker to value the Parish of Ulcombe at the sum of ... If the Rev. Geo. Worey feels himself dissatisfied by the appointment of the aforesaid Stephen Walter has free liberty to appoint another to pay for the said person himself. Dan. Hodges Thos. Cook 151 Wm. Ledger Alet Mackenzie