THE PAROCHIAL PARLIAMENT AND THE OLD POOR-LAW.
In these days, when so much is heard in favour of coming back to the
Parochial area as the unit of local government, it may be of interest
just to glance back at the condition of things when, in the last
century, the parish vestry was almost omnipotent, and controlled all
sorts of things, from a pauper's outfit, or from marrying a pauper, to
the maintenance of the fire engine, the repair of the Church, and the
wine used at the Communion! The oldest materials I have found
available for obtaining a glimpse of the Parochial Parliament at work,
both in Royston and neighbouring parishes, have been the Royston parish
books, and sundry papers and accounts which have come under my notice
belonging to neighbouring parishes.
It was customary for everyone attending a vestry to sign his name or
make his mark, a good old custom worth continuing in every parish
vestry--and it was no uncommon thing to find from a dozen to fifteen
names entered. Parish business was not in those days the dry affair it
often is in these days of "getting together a quorum." If the truth
must be told, our forefathers in the good old times had a way of
preventing its being "dry," and the parish accounts I have no doubt in
every village in the district as well as in Royston, still record the
unvarnished tale! The custom was for the clergyman to announce in
Church on Sunday the day and hour of meeting of the vestry--generally
on a Monday--and also the subject which was to engage the attention
{33} of the vestry. Monday morning came and with it the tolling of the
bell to summon the vestry, but this was only the letter and not the
spirit of the Local Parliament, which was forthwith adjourned from the
Church to a more convenient and also more congenial time and place,
viz., at six o'clock in the evening "at the house of William Cobb, at
the sign of the Black Swan," or some other name and house as the case
might lie.
The general practice of holding meetings by adjournment from Church
seems to have been framed on the principle of giving all the publicans
a turn, for in the seven years, 1776-82, the vestry meetings for
Royston, Herts., were held at twenty-two different inns or
public-houses. Here is a typical entry which explains the whole system
prevailing during last century:--
"Ordered that this meeting be adjourned to this Day Month at 4 o'clock
at Church, and from thence to be adjourned to some public-house to
finish the business for the month, during the Cold Weather."
In this way the tradesmen of the town, or the farmer, the blacksmith
and tailor in the village, relieved from the cares of the day,
assembled in the evening on the sanded floor of the old inn, and,
studiously furnished by Boniface with long Churchwarden "clays," puffed
away, until, through the curling fumes which arose from the reflecting
group of statesmen, parochial projects loomed large and a little
business was sometimes made to go a long way! The "licker" and the
fumes inspired sage talk on mild politics, and of enhanced prices to
come, some war that was talked of "in Roosia or som'er out that
country," mixed up with reminiscences of wars that had been, and the
rare prices that had ruled in Royston Market!
There was a blunt honesty and an entire absence of squeamishness in
these public servants of the good old days, and what was considered
necessary and proper on such occasions, both for their own proper
dignity and "the good of the house," they did not hesitate to order,
and for the benefit of posterity down went the candid acknowledgment in
the parish accounts----
L s. d.
Paid at a vestry at Rogersis for licker . . . . . . . . . . 0 3 0
Paid Danl. Docwra what was spent at Easter Monday . . . . . 0 5 0
Danl. Docwra not only kept a public-house in Royston, but also at this
time (1771) was rated for a bowling green as well, and it is possible
that the Parochial Hampdens and their officers, like Drake and the
Spanish Armada, prepared for work by a little play. As to the amount
of "licker" necessary for the efficient control of parochial affairs I
find that the villages had sometimes a different standard, for an entry
in the Therfield parish papers gives ten shillings as the amount spent
at a town's meeting, and a similar amount was entered for Barkway.
Strange as it may appear in these days of Government auditors, {34} the
parish officer then debited something to the parish account at every
turn of his official duty.
Here is one way in which they managed a Parochial Assessment--
"Ordered that six of the principal inhabitants of Royston look over all
the estates in the town, and each send in his own estimated list of
their ratable value to a special meeting, and from those different
lists form a revised list of assessment to be afterwards stuck on the
Church door, allowing objections to be made, and if necessary amending
assessments accordingly, first calling in the assistance of Mr.
Jackson, of Barkway, the land surveyor."
The assessment was evidently a low one, for the highest amount paid for
a shilling rate was 18s., and the lowest 1s. 6d. As to the property
assessed, wool-staplers and maltsters were the principal items. A
shilling rate for Royston, Cambs., produced about one-fourth of what it
does now.
The year 1781 marked a new era in the local Parliament for Royston,
both for the improved local authority then instituted and for the unity
of the town. This was brought about by what, for want of a better
name, I will call the Act of Union, by which the divided parish of
Royston in Herts. and Cambs. was made one for local government
purposes, with one vestry, one clerk, and one beadle, but with separate
overseers and churchwardens. The management of the business under this
Act of Union was placed in the hands of a Committee, consisting of the
churchwardens and overseers, and of eight gentlemen for the
Hertfordshire side, and three for Cambs. The new local parliament was
made up of the following:--For Hertfordshire, George North,
churchwarden, Henry Andrews (the astronomer), and Wm. Cockett, the two
overseers; Tuttle Sherwood, churchwarden, and Thomas Moule and Thomas
Watson, overseers for the Cambs. side; and the following elected
members, viz., for _Herts._, John Phillips, Michael Phillips, Edward
Day, Wm. Nash, Samuel Coxall, Thomas Wortham, William Stamford, junr.,
and Thomas Watson; for _Cambs._, Joseph Beldam, William Butler and John
James.
The above Act of Union was passed as an experiment, and the Parliament
was to be a triennial one, at the end of which period either party was
at liberty to withdraw, but as a matter of fact it was formally renewed
every three years and continued at least until 1809. The first act of
the new local authority was to appoint Henry Watson as vestry clerk at
a salary of five guineas a year, to decide that no poor should be
allowed out of the Workhouse, only the casual poor, and also that
"All meetings to be at the Church at toll of Bell, and adjourn as they
think proper * * their expenses from the Overseer at each meeting not
to exceed a shilling."
If this meant a shilling each member it looked like "Rogersis'" bill
for "licker" going up, but if for all the members together it {35} was
decided retrenchment as well as reform. Among others who were parties
to the agreement, but not in the first committee, were:--John Cross,
John Warren, John Hankin, John Trudgett--what a lot of Johns they had
in those old days!--Peter Beldam, Robt. Leete and Danl. Lewer. The new
Local Parliament had not been in existence long before it began to set
its house in order for business and framed other rules for its conduct.
Instead of being a mere vestry with a chairman waiting for a quorum, it
became an active local body, and, thanks to its methodical five-guinea
clerk, actually had its meetings convened by sending out printed cards,
as appears by the following entry:--
"Ordered that 500 Printed Cards be got from the Printing Office at
Cambridge for the purpose of calling the Committee."
There was no printing office in Royston till the beginning of the
present century. Another innovation was more sweeping, and that was
that the custom of meeting at the inns of an evening was, at least for
a time, abandoned. The meetings were held at Whitehall, at the top of
the High Street, and to make things smart and business-like, a dozen
strong chairs were bought for the use of the Committee room. There was
also a rule about attendances, and any member failing to put in an
appearance was fined sixpence, and if he happened to be the overseer,
the enormity of his offence was marked by a fine of a shilling--"unless
a note be sent to the meeting" [explaining cause of absence]. Here was
a model authority, the like of which the town of Royston has never had
since, considered as a working body, and having a due regard to the
light in which things were then regarded as compared with the present
time.
In glancing at some of the things for which the Parochial Parliament
was responsible, I must ask those readers who, though not resident in
Royston, may take an interest in these pages, to bear with me while I
refer to a matter which exclusively affects some of the townspeople of
Royston. As it was, whether rightly or wrongly, brought into the
parish accounts for Royston, Cambs., for many years during the last and
the present century, it may be convenient here to make some reference
to the property in Melbourn Street, Royston, Cambs., now generally
known as the Cave House and Estate, and its management during the
period of which I am writing. In the first place then, it has really
nothing whatever to do with the Cave, as a property, excepting for the
accidental circumstance that nearly at the end of last century the then
occupier of the Town House, as it was called, Thomas Watson by name,
and a bricklayer, set his men to work during the hard winter of 1790,
at cutting the present passage down through the solid chalk into the
Cave from the house by which it is now entered. An interesting
advertisement of this event which I have {36} found in the Cambridge
University Library is given below. It bears the date 1794.
"ROYSTON CAVE OPENED.--
"T. Watson respectfully informs the public in general and the
antiquarians in particular, that he has opened (for their inspection) a
very commodious entrance into that ancient Subterraneous cavern in
Royston, Herts., which has ever been esteemed by all lovers of
antiquity as the greatest curiosity of the kind in Europe. T. Watson
hopes that all those who may think proper to visit the above Cave will
have their curiosity gratified to the full extent. The passage leading
to it is of itself extremely curious, being hewn out of the solid rock.
"N.B.--It may be seen any hour of the day."
[Illustration: STAIRCASE INTO THE CAVE.]
Since that time this old charity estate has become so closely
associated with the Old Cave--which, by the way, is really nearer to
the houses on the opposite side of the street--that the shop now
occupied by Mr. G. Pool, on the east side of the gate entrance is {37}
generally described as the Cave House, and the tenant for the time
being has become invested with the office of curator of this old
antiquity, while the shop on the other side of the gateway (Messrs.
Whitaker's tailoring department), though equally a part of the estate,
is not often spoken of in connection with the Cave.
[Illustration: Illustration of a portion of the Interior of Royston
Cave]
Any account of the Cave itself would be quite foreign to the purpose of
these Sketches, but it may be of interest to those readers who are not
aware of the variety of curious and ancient carvings which adorn its
walls, to give a glimpse of the interior, showing a portion of the
figures. The part selected for the following illustration is that
showing the High Altar, the Saviour extended on the Cross, with the
Virgin Mary on the one side and the beloved disciple on the other, the
bold figure to the left being St. Catherine and her wheel; the group of
figures below this are supposed to refer to Richard Coeur de Lion and
Queen Berengaria, but a further description would be out of place here,
{38} suffice it to say that for this, and the foregoing illustration of
the staircase cut by Watson in 1790, I am indebted to an excellent
series of photographs of the interior of the Cave and its carvings,
recently taken by Mr. F. R. Hinkins. For a full account of this
interesting antiquity the reader is referred to the book by the late
Mr. Joseph Beldam, a shilling edition of which is now published with
numerous illustrations.
The so-called "Cave" property, left for the benefit of the inhabitants
of Royston in Cambridgeshire, dates back about ten years before the
dissolution of the Monastery. It was originally the Old Ram's Head
Inn. William Lee, of Radwell, Herts., was the owner of the house in
the time of Henry VIII., and by his will bearing date 8th day of
October, 1527, he, among other bequests and directions of a local
character made the special bequest which follows:--
"And as to the disposicon of all my Lands and Tenements which I have
within the counties of Hertford and Cambridge, ffirst I will that such
persons as be ffeoffees to my use imediately after my Decease shall
deliver estate in fee of and in my Tenement in Royston called the
Ramm's head, to certain honest persons as shall be named and appointed
by mine executors to the performance of this my last Will and
Testament. I will that the yearly profitts of the said Tenement, the
Lord Rent, reparcons, and other charges deducted and allowed, then the
Rent thereof comeing nere every year to be taken and retained by two of
the Antient of the said ffeoffees and putt in a Box Locked, and so to
remaine in the safe custody of the said ffeoffees unto such time as any
manner of Tax, Subsidie, and whatsoever any manner of other charges
shall be granted unto the King or his heirs, Kings of England by Act of
Parliament, and then the Money so coming of the Rent of the said
Tenement to discharge and acquit all such Persons as then shall dwell
in the said Towne of Royston, that is to mean within the side of
Cambridge, every man and person after their porcon, and I will the said
two ffeoffees, or their heirs, shall at the end of every three years
make a true and faithful accompt of the revenues of the said Tenement
to the Prior of the said Monastery, or to his successors Priors, and
when it shall happen any great sume to remaine in the said Box then I
will that part of the said sume, that is to witt, all that is more than
four Pounds, shall be disposed in deeds of charity amongst the poor
Inhabitants within the said Towne of Royston by the good Discretion of
the said Prior and successors."
Little thought William Lee that within less than a dozen years
Monastery and Prior would be no more, and still less that the time
would come when no tax or subsidy to the King should be levied directly
upon the inhabitants of the town. The beneficial interest of the
townspeople in the trust, however, remained, and the question arose
how, in the absence of any such levies and charges upon the {39}
towns-people by King and Parliament, as were common enough in his day,
the provisions of the benefactor's will were to be interpreted.
During nearly the whole of the reign of George III., and also during a
part of that of George II., the Parochial Parliament for Royston,
Cambs., made short work of that knotty point, by simply treating the
Estate as parish property; the houses were let and rents collected by
the Overseers, and the revenue is duly entered in the year's parochial
balance sheet, with the names of the tenants, while the feoffees seem
to have stood by and tacitly approved of so simple an arrangement.
The Charity is still in the hands of feoffees, and at the time of
writing this a new scheme for its administration is under the
consideration of the Charity Commissioners.
Naturally an important part of the functions of the Parochial
Parliament was that of providing for those who could not, and often for
those who would not, provide for themselves. In many villages this had
to be done by the Churchwardens and Overseers meeting after service in
the Church on Sunday afternoons. In Royston, however, and probably in
the larger villages, the business was transacted in pretty much the
same way as the Vestry business already referred to.
Whether in the villages or the town the "indoor" relief of the poor was
at best like a system of farming on short leases; indeed, "farming the
paupers" was the usual description of it, and the Vestry advertised,
not for a master of the Workhouse, but "a Workhouse to let," was the
very common form of announcement when the Overseers were in want of
someone to "farm" the paupers.
What a village Workhouse was like may be gathered, by making due
allowance for the difference in population, from the following
particulars of the palatial establishment which did duty at Royston
during the last, and for a third of the present century. It stood on
the west side of the Warren next the London Road (now Godfrey's
terrace). It was a thatched building, occasionally mended with clay
from the clay pit in the Green Walk valley. It had no water supply of
its own, for the parish paid Daniell Ebbutt 5s. a year for the use of
his well in 1774, raised to 7s. 6d. in 1777; while in 1805, water cost
L4 a year; probably purchased of the water carrier at the door. It had
a garden, for the parish paid, in 1772, for "Beans and Tatos" to plant
in it. There was also a pig-sty attached, and the whole place was
insured against fire for only 10s. a year premium, for L250 on the
building and L50 on the contents.
The Workhouse children were taught to spin, and had the decided
advantage of being taught to read and write, apparently, for their
"schooling" cost the parish 2d. a head, paid to Henry Watson. The {40}
Workhouse was regularly visited by two members of the Committee
appointed in rotation to that office. In villages the Workhouse
administration was open to the inspection of any ratepayer. Before the
union of the two parishes in Royston there was a separate Workhouse for
Royston, Cambs., situate in the Back Street. For a time after the
union, two houses were used in Royston, Herts.--the "Old House" and
"Whitehall." A Workhouse master or contractor, for feeding, clothing,
employing, and taking care of the poor, generally did this for a fixed
lump sum up to a given number, with about 2s. per head above that
number, or a price per head all round, he taking their labour. The
lowest figure I have found was that paid at Royston, Herts., in 1781,
and at Barkway in 1792, when in each case the contract was for only 1s.
4d. per head! There was not much to be made out of that, and in bad
times there was sure to be an application to be released from the
contract or for compensation. In fact the parish had more difficulty
about that one subject of contracts for "farming" the paupers than any
other thing. If they got a good man he soon found that it was not
worth his while to stay; if they got one satisfied with the price he
did not improve the paupers or give them much for the money. Here is
an offer by the Royston Joint Committee in 1784, and a kind of dilemma
not uncommon under the old poor-law:--
"Order'd to offer Mr. Kennedy at rate of 2s. a head for fifty persons
certain, and if more, to pay at same rate, he to provide three hot meat
dinners every week."
Mr. Kennedy, like a sensible man, declined the offer. It was then
ordered to advertise for a successor to Mr. Kennedy, but Mr. Kennedy
did not feel disposed to be succeeded, and declined to quit the House
without notice! A candidate came all the way from Grantham, but on
arrival declined, and Mr. Searle, another candidate from Wisbech,
accepted it, and something like an Irish eviction scene ensued. Mr.
Kennedy, installed at Whitehall, was obdurate, and with two rival
masters even the paupers were in a dilemma and inclined to "take
sides." Some evidently stood by the old master, and the Committee gave
these notice that "if they did not get out of the place and provide
themselves with homes within a month they would be turned out."
Failing to get Mr. Kennedy out of Whitehall, the Committee turned their
attention to the Old House on the Warren again, and a deputation waited
upon Mr. Kennedy and asked him "if he would be so obliging as to let
the parish officers remove the oven, coppers, and the rest of the goods
[parish property!] from Whitehall to the Old Workhouse" at or before
Lady Day when the lease of Whitehall expired. But Mr. Kennedy was
master of the situation and his appointment included the hire of the
house, and the dead-lock continued. The parish so far {41} humbled
themselves as to offer Mr. Kennedy, if he would leave, to pay him
anything he desired for his trouble, and "to provide him with lodging
at any Inn in the town he might think proper." Mr. Kennedy was given
till "next Sunday" to reply, and he then sent a message, apparently by
one of the paupers, obstinately stating that he "had thought of all the
inconvenience he could that would attend him in complying with what the
gentlemen requested him to do" and that "Mr. Kennedy could think of
nothing but his agreement." Another attempt with a substantial bonus
was held out, but Mr. Kennedy was not to be conciliated. Two days
afterwards another ruse was tried by a notice to Mr. K. that there was
a complaint about the clothing of the paupers as being "unfit for
publick appearance at Church," and that they "appointed Mr. Bunyan to
appraise the clothes and fixtures." The redoubtable Mr. K. was again
equal to the occasion, and refused Mr. Bunyan admission! Eventually he
vacated the premises upon the time of his appointment expiring, when
Mr. Bunyan's valuation went against Mr. K. to the tune of about L50,
for the recovery of which Mr. K. was threatened with Mr. Day, the
attorney, but somehow covered his retreat and disappears from our view!
As to the treatment of paupers, this was so far considerate that a set
of new rules framed in 1785 were actually submitted to the paupers for
"hearing their objections to the rules," which were then "settled
between the Committee and the paupers"!
Where, in some of the surrounding parishes, the parish officers catered
for the paupers in the "House," entries for "bacca" and "snuff" (bought
by the parish) are as frequent as tea and sugar in the accounts. In
some cases, as in the parish of Barkway, the Workhouse and care of the
poor were let to a labouring man. Thus in 1771--
"Thomas Climmons, labourer, agreed to farm the Workhouse and maintain
the poor of the parish of Barkway, undertaking to provide good
wholesome eatables and drinkables and decent wearing apparel for L143
for one year. All persons paying rates being entitled to inspect the
place. Signed, Thomas Climmons, his mark." Thomas Jordan, blacksmith,
signed a similar agreement with "his mark" in 1776, as did William
Clearing, labourer, with "his mark" in 1777.
Of the kind of characters the old Workhouse contractors had to deal
with, and of the state of things to which the laxity of oversight
sometimes reduced the establishment, the following is interesting. It
is a minute of the Royston Joint Committee in the year 1794--
"At this meeting Mary May, Eliz. Flindall and Mary Lucas, spinsters,
appeared before the Committee and promised to do the work now set them
by Mr. Searle, and promised to behave well, and in future not to swear,
or sing any improper songs, which if they do, Mr. Searle is desired to
have them put in the Cage and kept with Bread and Water {42} until the
Visitors or Committee release them, which is not to be done until the
paupers are convinced that they are not to be wholly _Mrs. of the
Workhouse_"!
The manner of giving out-relief was pretty much of a piece with that in
the Workhouse, though had it been administered by efficient and
independent officers it would have been both humane and sensible, as
based upon the principle of helping those who helped themselves. But,
unfortunately, the weaker side of human nature was too strong, and the
system pauperised scores of people in order to prevent their becoming
paupers, if I may be excused a couple of paradoxes. The object of
out-relief seems to have been to help all sorts of people in all sorts
of ways to tide over a temporary difficulty, but unfortunately these
temporary difficulties multiplied so fast on the hands of the parish
Overseer as to become chronic, and that officer became the father of
the parish, and the dispenser of all sorts of things from out of the
parish cupboard.
The claims upon the Parish Overseer were constant and of the most
varied character. Were Joe Thompson's children ailing? Then the
Overseer sent in the parish doctor to bleed the poor little mites,
though they might ill spare the vital fluid, and the cost of the
process to the parish, when a quantity were operated upon, was 6d.
apiece, as appears by the Therfield parish accounts, though individual
cases of "letting blood" were usually charged a shilling each.--Was
"Nat Simmons' gal" short of a petticoat? Then, the Overseer provided
the needed article.--Had widow Jones broken her spinning wheel or her
patten ring? Then the cooper and the blacksmith were called in by the
Overseer to repair the mischief.--Was "Old Nib"--they had a curious
habit of calling nicknames in the parish books of last century!--was
"Old Nib" short of capital for carrying on his business of buying
doctors' bottles? If so, a small instalment was forthcoming from the
Chancellor of the Exchequer. Had even the respectable journeyman
carpenter cut his finger? Then he too got a grant upon signing a
promissory note. In this way the casual disbursements of the Overseer
amounted to a considerable sum, and covered the greatest variety of
claims for help--from paying a person's rent, or taking clothes out of
pawn, to mending leather breeches or supplying cabbage plants for the
paupers' gardens!
The comparative isolation of the rural folk was aggravated by the old
laws of settlement. To nine men and women out of ten, and to
ninety-nine children out of a hundred, the world was bounded almost by
the parish, and the parish a man belonged to was an important
consideration in those days. Indeed, Sir Mordaunt Martin, a kind of
Canon Blackley of the last century, proposed a scheme for fining a
farmer a half-penny a day for every man he employed not belonging to
{43} the parish! also that all males above 18 in default of paying 2d.,
and females 3/4d. or 1d. a week for a rainy day, should be committed to
prison. Then, a man could not leave his parish and go to live, or even
lodge while at work, in another parish without a licence; that is to
say a certificate setting forth the parish to which he legally
belonged. If he did he was liable to be taken before a magistrate by
the Overseers and Churchwardens, and if a man "intruded" (that is the
word used in the old informations) in this way into a parish not his
own, he was liable to be taken back again, not because he was a pauper,
but simply on the ground that he was "likely to become chargeable."
Not half a bad way of keeping out objectionable characters!
Cases are entered in the Royston Parish books of young men working at
Cambridge having to come to the parish officers at Royston for their
certificates before they could remain and lodge in Cambridge! A common
resolution by parish vestries was one directing the Overseers to
inquire if there were any persons in the parish not belonging to such
parish and without certificates. In many parishes, as at Barkway, old
lists are still preserved of persons licensed, so to speak, to come
into or go out of the parish to live. In this way the old parish
authorities always had a hold upon a man or woman instead of waiting,
as in the present day, until it becomes necessary to hunt up their
settlement, and with no machinery for getting at them when once they
get away. It may seem strange that a Royston man or woman could not
cross over the road, say in Melbourn or Baldock Street, and change
houses without a parish licence, and yet this was the legal effect of
this old restraint.
Here is a specimen of such a removal over the road:--
"These are therefore in His Majesty's name, to require you, the said
Churchwardens and Overseers of the poor of the said parish of Royston,
in the county of Hertford, to remove and convey the said E---- H----
from out of your said parish of Royston, in the county of Hertford, to
the said parish of Royston, in the county of Cambridge, and her deliver
to the Churchwardens and Overseers there, &c."
We have seen that the poor of Royston, Herts. and Cambs., were treated
as of one parish at the end of last century, but in the beginning of
the present century there was a hitch in the arrangement, and the
machinery for conveying the paupers "over the road" came into force
again, with this difference, that instead of the removal of an
individual pauper there was a whole exodus to be provided for, which is
thus recorded:--
"Ordered that the paupers in the Workhouse belonging to Royston,
Cambridgeshire, should be taken to-morrow (Nov. 4) to their own parish
and presented to the Overseers of the Poor, and if they refuse to
receive them to take the sense of the parish upon it on Monday at
Church."
{44}
One cannot help lingering in imagination over that comical exodus, with
the head man of the parish of Royston, in Hertfordshire, leading in
procession the whole band of paupers belonging to Royston,
Cambridgeshire, back out of Egypt, or the old Workhouse on the Warren,
down the High Street, over the Cross, to be handed over to the head man
of Royston, Cambs., to whom they belonged! There was old Widow B----
in pattens and a part of a red cloak; "Old Nib" in his greasy
smock-frock, little Gamaliel in mended leather breeches, and he of the
one arm who gave no end of trouble by stealing down to the "Red Lion"
to beg of the passengers on the coaches--a limping, shambling,
half-serious, half-comic, procession, worthy of a Frith! But what were
the Cambs. officials to do? They had no promised land, no house in
which to accommodate the immigrants! I think it is doubtful whether
they accepted them, and whether that momentous event of "taking the
sense of the parish" really came off I am unable to say.
The Royston Parochial Parliament had control of the Fire Brigade. The
Fire Engine, or rather the engines--for there were two engines in those
days as well as now--were kept in the Church-yard, and in 1781 we find
this note on record as to their use and management:--
"Ordered that the person who has the care of the Engine be allowed five
shillings for himself, if on any alarm of fire he gets the Engine out
of the Church-yard in good time, and one shilling each for the
assistants, not exceeding six; and that if he plays the Engine at a
Fire he be allowed 10s. 6d. and his assistants 2s. 6d. each."
They had a blunt but sagacious method of dealing with incompetence as
appears by this further order:--
"And in case the Engines, or either of them, shall be unfit for working
at any time when called for, that a new person be appointed."
Vagrancy was dealt with by a system of "passes," by which they were
able to pass through and obtain lodgings in places in the county, at a
county charge, worked through the parish Overseer.
Naturally one of the things that perplexed the minds of parish
vestrymen during the last century was not how disease might be
prevented, but what were the most favourable circumstances under which
the usual run of accepted diseases could be passed through!
Small-pox was considered as one of the fates, and, like cutting your
teeth, the sooner over the better! On this principle it was no
uncommon thing for persons when advertising for servants, &c., to add
this precaution--"One who has had small-pox preferred." Here is a
specimen advertisement:--
"A lady's Woman, a very creditable person of about 63, and has had
Small Pox."
{45}
Among sanitary matters, the propagation of modified small-pox by
inoculation was the foremost question in the practical politics of the
parish vestry. For this form of small-pox, introduced to forestall the
natural visitation of the disease, persons would come distances from
the rural districts to the towns--about as the moderns go abroad to
take the baths--to pass through the process, and their presence in the
town was sometimes objected to. On one occasion we find the Royston
Vestry assembled for the purpose of "considering the improper way
practised by several people (not parishioners of Royston) having their
families inoculated for the small-pox, and remaining in the town during
their illness, and the impropriety of the surgeons encouraging such
proceedings. Agreed that the surgeons be waited upon with a request
that they will not in future inoculate any person in their own houses
unless such person so inoculated be removed in a proper time."
In 1788 this old question of inoculation brought together the largest
attendance at any Vestry in Royston for a century, excepting perhaps
that upon Church rates in later years. This Vestry was held in the
Parish Church "for the purpose of taking into consideration and finally
settling the business respecting the small-pox and the inoculating the
poor of the town at the parish expense." Whereupon, says the old
record, "The parish divided upon the question and there appeared
twenty-five for inoculating the parish at the parish expense, and
seventeen against it. It is therefore ordered," &c.
In fifteen years the inoculating majority had disappeared, for in 1803
upon the question of small-pox _versus_ cow-pox, a meeting was held to
consider "whether a general inoculation with the _cow-pox_ should
immediately take place in this town, which was agreed _nem. con._"
At the end of the century we thus see that the question of a small-pox
prophylactic was wavering between the monstrous assumption that
everybody must necessarily have small-pox, and had better set about it,
and the milder notion of vaccine as an antidote, if the real thing
should come. The old custom of variolation had not been discarded, and
the experience of the Gloucestershire milkmaids had not crystalized
into the form of vaccination to be handed down by Jenner. At the
beginning of the century we find this item:--
"Order'd that there is no necessity for a General Inoculation, there
being no small-pox in the town (except in the Pest House), and that the
Overseers are hereby order'd to suspend the Business of a General
Inoculation _either with the Cow or Small-Pox_."
In general sanitary matters the local Parliament meant very well, but
the remedy for a grievance was a long way off. The constable was the
Inspector of Nuisances, and he must have sometimes come across heaps of
dung in the street. If he did find such a nuisance he had {46}
instructions "to make presentment to the Quarter Sessions if need be?"
A very dignified, but still a slow rate of getting the town clean, Mr.
Dogberry!
There was one respect in which the pauper of the last century was made
equal with the prince--whatever his vicissitudes in life he was bound
to be buried in wool when he died. They might "rattle his bones over
the stones," but he was certain to get his pound of wool to be buried
in, not as an act of consideration to the pauper, but as an important
piece of that extensive legislation for the encouragement of the
woollen industry which figures more often in the Statute book of this
realm than any other subject. With every funeral was required an
affidavit that the deceased when buried was it "not wrapped up in any
suit, sheet, or shroud, but what was made of sheep's wool only." A
carpenter's bill for a pauper's funeral generally read "for a coffin
and a pound of Woole for A.B.," with frequent items for beer, as "for
beer for laying out old Grig, and putting him in the coffin," "laying
out, one pot of beer," "putting in coffin, one pot of beer," and
"carrying to church, two pots of beer," &c., &c.
The casual disbursements of a parish afford, both for their subject
matter and style, a variety of curious entries.
The years 1769 to 1773 afforded abundant evidence of the terrible
prevalence of what are now considered preventible diseases. Over and
over again as a reason for temporary relief being granted, the phrase
is added "Bad with feaver," or "A Bad Feaver," and many are the entries
which refer to Small-pox.
Of relief in kind perhaps the following item is one of the most
original in the history of the Poor-law:--
L s. d.
Gave James D---- for an Ass . . . . . . . . 0 8 0
to which is added that the Overseer paid to Mr. Beldam this J. D.'s
rent.
A system which afforded a man a house rent free and provided him with a
donkey for his business was, to say the least, rather different from
Guardians in the leading-strings of the Local Government Board!
Nick names in the old parish accounts are abundant and also many
Christian names not often used now. Thus:--Peg Woods, Nel J----, Old
Nib, Royston Molley, Old Grig, and Hercules Powell. The last named was
the Parish Constable in 1780, and he had a name at least calculated to
warn off offenders!
One common characteristic of these entries of the Overseers, but more
especially in the Parish Constable's accounts, was the extraordinary
liberty taken in the spelling of words! In a general way Dogberry,
especially, was a spelling reformer, in so far as he went in for a
phonetic spelling, but many entries occur in old constable's accounts
which are governed by no principle ever yet laid down by scholars, with
the {47} result very often that it would be impossible to settle what
the word intended could be but for the comparative study of it, as it
turns up in a variety of literary dress in different documents always
with the same context. Here is the result of a little investigation
into the handling of one of the commonest of the long words which found
their way into the old Parish Constable's bills:--Diblegrates,
dibcatkets, dibelgrates, dibhegrats, dipplatakets, dibicits, diblicits,
dibblegats, dublicits, duplicates.
It took the Parish Constables of Therfield 37 years to solve the
problem of spelling that word of three syllables! and the honour of
spelling "duplicates" correctly belongs to one, John Groom, who was
Parish Constable for Therfield in 1801.
One of the most frequent items in the Churchwardens' accounts for
parishes in this district, during the last half of the eighteenth
century, was that of vermin killing, and entries for polecats and
hedge-hogs were jumbled up with items for bread and wine for the
communion, &c.! Why the farmers should have had such an antipathy to
hedge-hogs I am not aware, considering the amount of good the modern
naturalist finds them doing. About the middle of the last century any
person killing a hedge-hog in Therfield and taking it to the
Churchwarden received 4d. for his trouble, and 21 hedge-hogs were paid
for in 1788. The price after this went down to 2d. for a hedge-hog and
4d. for a polecat, but at Barkway the price of a hedge-hog was still
4d., while at Nuthampstead the price for sparrows, as appears by "the
sparrow bill," was 3d. a dozen.