Editorial

Some 32 members attended our first talk for the winter season and were entertained by Pam Rollason from Aythorpe Roding, who spoke about Essex Poor Houses, and the development of the Poor Law in England.

Following on from Pam’s talk, much of this edition of the newsletter is taken up with the theme of poverty and the response of the church and parish in dealing with the problem.

For our meeting in November we have Keith Lovell, who will be talking about History through Essex Pub Signs.

The office of Overseer was established by the Poor Law Act 1597/8 and made compulsory by the Poor Relief Act 1601. It superseded the less formal office of Collector of the Poor.

At least two persons were appointed yearly by each vestry, subject to the approval of the Justices of the Peace, to levy a poor rate and supervise its distribution. They were unpaid and selected from among the parishioners.

Most of their duties were transferred to the Guardians of the Poor in 1834, leaving the Overseers with the duty of assessing and collecting the rate, although the legislation enabled the parish to appoint paid collectors under the control of the Overseers. The office was abolished by the Rating and Valuation Act 1925.

The Overseer was required to keep accounts and present them at each meeting of the vestry in order that the latter could keep strict control of the money that was being spent. The following is an example of the accounts kept by the Constable and also the Overseer for Stapleford Tawney in 1745.

A paper book bound in vellum, 16 inches by 6, and 2 inches thick – “This book was bought by John Harris, in the year 1746, for the use of the parish of Stapleford Tawney,” – is written on the first page.

Thomas Franks, Constable of Stapleford Tawney, 1745

His disbursement for the year was £1 15s 6d, including “a return to Epping 1s 6d or to Ongar 2s 6d”. Another item was “for searching for Arms, 2s”.

John Harris, Churchwarden, 1745

April ye 30

July ye 13

October ye 12

Note that one shilling to the Apparite for citing to the Visitation at Rumford, April 18, 1746, is charged above.

1745 Overseer’s Account

April 21

Relieved the widow Taylor for 50 weeks at 2s per week.

1746

June 19

Both “County Bridge Money” and “ye Warrant” occur for several years.

To be continued.

Jane Luther bequeathed a sum of 5 shillings annually, to be paid to the clerk of the parish, for weeding the gravel path from the high road to the church-porch at Stapleford Tawney.

Editor’s note: There is no date for the bequest mentioned in the article, but it is believed it was made around 1750.

Whilst working on the Vestry Minutes for Stanford Rivers recently, I came across a piece of paper that appears to have provided a meal for the church mouse. However, on reading it—or the bits that were left—I discovered dastardly deeds afoot in Stanford Rivers.

To the Minister, Churchwardens and Overseers and to the Constables and other officers of the parish of Stanford Rivers in the County of Essex.

Whereas complain hath been made unto me one of His Majesty’s Coroners of the said County of Essex that on the first day of June instant the body of one William Freshwater was buried in your parish and that there…… to suspect that the said William Freshwater died other than a natural death.

These are therefore by virtue……… His Majesty’s name to charge and command……… forthwith cause the body of said William Freshwater…… taken up and safely secured in order that I with my……… may have a view thereof and proceed therein acc(ording)…… day of …. June and…… thirty………

Given under my hand
Robert Bartlett.

A check on the burial register for St Margaret’s reveals that a William Freshwater, 48, of Sesslands—or possibly Cesslands—was buried on 7 June 1830.

How the story ended remains a mystery. Was William murdered? Perhaps some further research will reveal all.

On the north wall of the tower is a bequest board which reads:

1838

Sir John Smyth of Hill Hall, Baronet, left the sum of fifty pounds to the poor of this Parish.

1840

The Reverend Sir Edward Bowyer Smyth of Hill Hall, Baronet, gave the sum of fifty pounds, as an Augmentation to his late Brother’s Legacy, and invested the joint sums in the purchase of £109, 3 per cent Consolidated Bank Annuities, in the names of Henry Soames, Rector, William Bowyer Smyth Esquire, and Francis Tanner, Churchwarden, in order that the interest of the said joint sums should be expended in Coals, Clothing, or Food, to be distributed in each year among poor inhabitants of this Parish, at the discretion of the Rector for the time being.

On 17 October 1817 the Stanford Rivers Vestry met and it was resolved:

"The parishioners also agreed to pay all persons who will destroy the sparrows in this Parish in the following manner—for every dozen sparrows four pence and for every dozen eggs two pence—to be paid by application to Mr Jones, Churchwarden."

From the Vestry Minutes 16 April 1781

Reference is made in the minute book to a workhouse being built for the employment and maintenance of the poor of the parish in 1769 at a cost of £300. The workhouse had been built on land near the church.

The cost of the building was met by a loan of £250 from Mr James Grove of Shonks Mill in the parish of Navestock.

From the Vestry Minutes April 23rd 1831

Application having been made to His Majesty's Justices of the Peace acting in and for the Division of Ongar in the County of Essex assembled as a special session of the said Division at the Town Hall in the parish of Chipping Ongar in the Division aforesaid on the twenty seventh day of August in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and thirty one, by the churchwardens and overseers and guardians of the Poor of the parish of Stanford Rivers in the said Division for the consent of the said Justices or any two of them to the sale of the old Workhouse, two cottages, buildings, yards and gardens thereto belonging, and a close of Hoppit of land adjoining containing altogether about three acres with the appurtenances situate in the parish of Stanford Rivers aforesaid pursuant to the foregoing resolution of the inhabitants of the said parish of Stanford Rivers assembled at a parish vestry held at the church of the said parish of Stanford Rivers on the twenty third of April last past for the purpose of enabling the said churchwardens, overseers and guardians of the poor to pay and discharge the proportion of the expenses payable by them in erecting, fitting and furnishing of a convenient House building and offices at the parish of Stanford Rivers aforesaid for the reception, accommodation and employment of the poor of the said parish of Stanford Rivers as well as the poor of the several other parishes of Abbotts Roothing, Bobbingworth, Greensted, Little Laver, Shelley, Stapleford Abbotts, Stapleford Tawney, Stondon Massey and Great Warley, in the County of Essex securely incorporated therewith under the provisions of a certain Act of Parliament passed in the twenty second year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third entitled "An Act for the better relief and employment of the poor."

Now we whose names are hereto set and seals affixed being two of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace present at the said special sessions do, in pursuance of the authorities vested in us by virtue of the above mentioned Act, and several Acts of Parliament following, namely an Act made and passed in the forty first year of the reign of His said Majesty King George the Third entitled, "An Act to amend the laws for the relief of the poor" and another Act made and passed in the first and second years of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, entitled "An Act to amend the said Act of the twenty second of George the Third," hereby consent to the sale of the said workhouse and the said two cottages, buildings, yards and gardens thereto belonging, close or Hoppitt of land and premises with their appurtenances to Thomas Wilson of Highbury Place in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, for the sum of £420, and so direct that the said sum shall be applied for the purpose aforesaid and otherwise conformably with the provisions of several Acts of Parliament.

Given under our hands and seals at the place and on the day and year first above written.

J. Burrell and H. J. Earle

It was the custom in the Middle Ages for documents to be dated by the year of the Monarch's reign. Thus in the example in the previous article on Stanford Rivers Workhouse,

"An Act to amend the said Act of the twenty second of George the third,"

The year that the Act was written was 1781/82, the regnal year of George III being 1760, commencing on the 25th October when he came to the throne.

Thus each regnal year during the reign of George III ran from 25th October to the 24th October the following year.

Regnal years were used in the twentieth century, but usually by then the Anno Domini date was given as well.

Thomas Plume was born in Maldon in 1630. Facts about his life are few, but we do know that he was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford and at Christ's College, Cambridge. At the age of 28 he became Vicar of Greenwich and later in 1679, he was also installed as Archdeacon of Rochester. Both of these posts he held for the rest of his life. He is mentioned in the diaries of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn who heard him preach in his church at Greenwich. When he died in 1704, he was buried at Longfield in Kent, and as was his wish, his tombstone even omits his name.

At his death, his books and pictures were bequeathed to the town of Maldon with the intention that they were to be used by the local clergy and any gentleman or scholar who so desired. During his lifetime, Plume had provided a permanent home for his collection of books by converting the derelict church of St Peter's, the nave of which had collapsed in 1665. Thomas Plume paid for this to be replaced by a handsome red brick building in the domestic fashion of the period and he had the tower rebuilt in a traditional Gothic style. The upper storey housed his library and Maldon Grammar School and later the National School occupied the lower room.

About 7,000 books and pamphlets had been amassed by Plume and left to the town. This is a sizeable collection and much greater than other similar private libraries of the period. Because he bought second-hand books in mixed lots at auction, the collection contains works dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, and because he never properly sorted them, there is a random character to the resulting stock of the library.

As might be expected of a high-ranking clergyman, over half the books are theological in content, with published sermons and commentaries on the scriptures. The library also reflects the ideas and advances made in the 17th century in Natural Philosophy; chemistry, medicine, physics, mathematics and practical mechanics are included. So, too, are books on astronomy. Whilst Plume was Vicar of Greenwich the first Royal Observatory was built in his parish and later he founded the Chair of Astronomy and Natural Philosophy at Cambridge University.

As far as is known, Plume never had any of his own writings published, but he did edit and arrange for publication a collection of sermons by his friend Dr John Hacket, the Bishop of Lichfield, a copy of which is in the library. Plume wrote a biographical memoir of Dr Hacket as a preface, but he was careful to retain his own anonymity and only referred to himself as a friend.

In his will, Plume provided funds to pay the salaries of future library keepers who were expected to be university graduates and men who knew books. He also directed that twenty shillings a year were to be spent on new books.

Most of Plume's books have survived the intervening years, although approximately 700 are missing from the original collection. Some 2,000 other titles have been added, including the library of the Revd Russell Norwood, Librarian from 1850 to 1901, a bequest from Dr J. H. Salter of Tolleshunt D'Arcy and books from the Maldon Literary and Mechanics Institute and Beeleigh Abbey.

Due to the foresight of the bequest, the library is still managed as a private Trust and since 1988 the Trustees have had the support and assistance of the Friends of Thomas Plume's Library.

Taken from notes by Dr W. J. Petchey.

The library, which was founded in 1704, is open on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 2 pm until 4 pm, and on Saturday from 10 am until noon. It is situated in Market Hill, Maldon.

The Ongar Hundred Workhouse was built in 1830. The architect is not known.
After 1834 the building was extended to serve more fully the needs of the
Ongar Union. It was altered again in the 1920s, essentially to its present
form.

Originally, the two wings of the workhouse appear to have housed two
dormitories. The governor’s rooms occupied the centre of the workhouse. His
authority was “assisted by a canted semi-hub”. Hence, the layout of the Ongar
Union Workhouse allowed the governor some visibility over the associated
building and yards. However, this visibility did not extend to that permitted
by the more elaborate, hexagonal designs of some of the later workhouses.

Following the lead given by the county of Nottinghamshire, the poor-law
inspectors of Chipping Ongar demonstrated both foresight and initiative in
building a workhouse in advance of expected legislation. The Ongar Hundred
was an incorporation of ten local parishes, which had been formed under
Gilbert’s Act of 1782. The act had encouraged neighbouring parishes to
combine for the administration of the poor-law and to set up workhouses
under appointed inspectors. A quotation from the act indicates its intention:

“It is not the object of this Plan to have many Persons capable of Labour
kept in the Work-houses; it is rather wished to have them placed or hired
out to such Employments as they are most capable of, and if they cannot
earn their whole Subsistence, the Deficiency to be made up out of the
County Fund.”

The Poor-Law Amendment Act of 1834 took away the responsibility of parishes
for the poor and instead invested that responsibility with Boards of
Guardians. The guardians, now locally elected, oversaw the operation of
these new Poor Laws. George Cuttle has provided a very detailed description
of the responsibilities of these guardians and their activities within a
number of Essex unions including that of Chipping Ongar. Much of the basis
of his book has come from a meticulously assembled collection of press
cuttings now housed in the Essex Record Office. These cuttings provide a
fascinating insight into the operation of care for the Chipping Ongar poor.

The recorded deliberations of the Ongar Board were various. Certain topics
occurred frequently: the recurrent outbreak of diphtheria; the purity of the
water in the local brooks; persistent transgressions by the itinerant
peapickers employed locally and the gipsies in Lambourne; administration of
the contracting for provisions and services for the workhouse. The cuttings
originate from the turn of the previous century, of course an era
contemporary with the development of the motorcar and mass communications.
The board’s deliberations are usually revealing, often serious, sometimes
tragic, but they can be occasionally funny when viewed from a distance,
separated in time.

Echoing the performance measures of the present day, statistics were
regularly collected on admissions. The board discussed these figures. From
the sample below, it may be concluded that Chipping Ongar was ‘average’, a
middle-of-the-table workhouse, but the level of ‘pauperism’ was still
noteworthy.

“Figures about paupers: Capt. Hervey, the L. G. B.
Inspector, attended and made a statement concerning the pauperisms of the
district. Ongar stood 5^th in Essex, and 26^th out of
the 54 Unions in the Eastern Counties. Their percentage was 3.9, as
against 1.8 Rochford. In 1885 the population was 458 paupers, a percentage
of 4.3. In 1906 the population was 9,829 and the number of paupers was
402, a percentage of four on the population. In 1905, there were 386
paupers so that there was a slight increase between 1905 and 1906.”

Considerable friction existed between peapickers and the local community,
but time was given to their needs in council meetings. Contaminated drinking
water was a concern.

“Mr R Waltham, who is a large farmer and pea grower at Stanford Rivers,
made a serious accusation against other peagrowers at the Ongar Rural
District Council. He stated that some cases of peapickers were treated
like wild animals, and had to sleep on the ground, and had to drink impure
water. This accusation has been levelled before. The Rector of
Doddinghurst (the Rev. F. A. Adams) once informed a Chronicle writer that
he had seen peapickers compelled to drink water from tubs in which both
their persons and clothes were washed. . . .”

The above press cutting led to some discussion in the meeting of the
guardians. This discussion suggests that tasks were set to positively deter
vagrants from seeking respite in the workhouse.

“Stonebreaking ‘A Disgrace’ – The master
[Mr. John Underwood] reported that a casual inmate who had refused to
complete his task had been taken before the justices and sent for 14 day’s
hard labour. The man broke 2 cwt. of stones in three hours and then
refused to do the remaining two, saying he had done enough. – Mr Browne:
I should think so, too. I tried stone-breaking the last time I was at the
House, and I could do nothing with it at all, notwithstanding that I have
done smithwork for years. Yet you ask a man who goes into the ward, and
knows nothing about it, to do 4 cwt. In nine cases out of ten it is
absolute inability, which prevents him from doing it. – In answer to
Mr. Browne, the Master said he thought the man had been sent to Springfield
Prison. – Mr Waltham: The system all over the country which is reducing
the number of vagrants is to keep men for two days and make them break
12 cwt. – Mr Browne: It is a greater disgrace, then . . . .”

The board sometimes took a wider view. In any case, who really wants to
drink beer with arsenic in it?

“All Vote for Pure Beer – The Local Government Board
circular letter on the subject of arsenic in beer was read. – The Chairman
[Mr. Lawrence Marriage, Q.C.] We all vote in favour of pure beer. – It was
resolved that Colonel Lockwood, M.P., should be asked to support the Bill
in Parliament. . . .”

The health of the warden appeared to cut little ice with the board, and the
doctor’s suggestion of a voyage as part of the recuperation for the warden
is ridiculed.

“Sea Trip or Sea Salt. – The Chairman
[Mr. Lawrence Marriage, QC] read the following note from the doctor’s
book: – ‘The Master is now convalescent, and I am of the opinion that if
he had a short sea trip it would be of permanent benefit to his system’ –
The Chairman: I should like to have one very much indeed.
[Laughter.] It would suit my nerves very well. – The Rev. John Howard:
Tidman’s sea salt would do for him. He’s all right.”

Then there were the recurring operational difficulties that arose. The
discussion at the meeting below extends to issues related to competitive
tendering. Despite the assumption of a less pressured lifestyle a century
ago, the Master was able apparently to buy bread and leave a telegram at
Chipping Ongar late in the evening.

“The Master [Mr. John Underwood] reported that on Feb. 18^th
Mr. Stannard, of Brentwood, the contractor, failed to deliver bread at the
Union-house. At nine o’clock at night he (the Master) had to get a trap
and drive to Ongar, where he bought bread, and left a telegram to be sent
to Mr. Stannard. No answer was received, and no bread was delivered until
Saturday, when the Master received a wire from Mr. Delarue, of Pilgrim’s
Hatch. Mr. Delarue subsequently brought bread to the house . . . .”
With reasoned apologies from Mr Delarue, the contract was continued until
the end of the term.

There are recorded the tragic events also. The case of a five-year-old boy
from Stanford Rivers weighing just 23 lbs, clearly malnourished, was
investigated by both the police and the NSPCC. Remedial action taken was to
commit mother and father to hard labour, three months and six months
respectively! A 46-year-old man with a disability which prevented him from
undertaking regular work was found dead on a footpath in Stapleford Tawney
because of “exposure and want of food”. These are not isolated cases in the
Ongar Union. In its entirety, the work of George Cuttle and the press
cuttings provide a closely observed and valuable commentary on the operation
of the Ongar Union Workhouse and its Board of Guardians. More importantly
they illuminate, pointedly and concisely, some of the living conditions of a
rural region of one hundred years ago.

With winter drawing on and if you find yourself at a loose end why not consider taking part in this worthwhile project?

The purpose of the project is to record the place names in tithe, enclosure awards and other Essex documents and is looking for volunteers to help with further recording.

The project has three aims.

To record names of roads, streets, fields, farms, houses, woods, inns, rivers, streams, mills, owners and tenants from old documents and maps, dating from current Ordnance Surveys, through 19th century tithe maps, estate maps, medieval, Anglo-Saxon and (occasionally) Roman documents, parish by parish.
To explore local areas in each parish where there are current or earlier names which suggest their history, industrial or agricultural use (milling, cloth making) or archaeological remains (such as former buildings and burial mounds), to see if any evidence still exists.
And to make available this information to any person or group who wish to use it for further research into history, archaeology, genealogy, linguistics, philology or related subjects.

Recording is done by volunteers who may be individuals, groups, or local societies, on record forms or discs, templates of which are supplied by the coordinating committee. This enables a consistency of recording across the County. This information is put into a database which is available for research.

The Project is coordinated by a committee of the County Record Office Archivist and County Archaeologist, Victoria County History of Essex, amateur and professional historians and archaeologists, and is a scheme of the Essex Society for Archaeology and History. The website is hosted by Essex University.

Those interested in recording, working with maps and with computer skills may obtain further information from:

The Essex Record Office
Wharf Road
Chelmsford,
Essex
CM2 6YT

Colonel Charles Henry Fehler Christie, D.L., J.P., V.D., of the Wilderness, Ongar, who died on 30 June, had been associated especially with the Volunteer movement, he having long been Colonel of the old Ongar Troop of Volunteers. He was J.P. and D.L. for Essex, and with his wife had been much interested in the inmates of Ongar Union. He was buried in the Cemetery at Ongar on 4 July. He leaves a widow and sons.

The parish of Stanford Rivers is purely agricultural, containing a tract
of land of good quality. It is well situated within 20 miles of the London
market, tenanted by persons of capital, and paying fair wages, and not over
peopled; yet, with all these advantages, it was at one time pauperised to a
great extent.

In the year 1821 the expenditure amounted to £1,191, composed of the
following items:—

In the year a Select Vestry was established, which effected some reduction;
and in the year 1825, a gentleman of the name of Andrews, the occupier of a
considerable farm, determined, with the concurrence of the rest of the
parishioners, and the support of the very intelligent and experienced
magistrate, Mr. Oldham, to make a bold effort to put down pauperism. The
weekly pay was at once struck off; and in the year ending March 1826, the
account stood thus:—

At the commencement of the new system, very numerous applications were made
to the Select Vestry, but they were strictly examined. Where relief was
necessary in cases of illness or real distress, it was liberally granted;
but refused unless considered requisite; and the labourers, by degrees,
learnt to depend on their own resources. The rates gradually diminished,
and the money expended on the poor alone, which in 1825 amounted to £834,
was in 1828 only £196. The Vestry determined that all capable of work should
be employed, and that no relief should be given but in return for labour.

The labourers improved in their habits and comforts. During the four years
that this system was in progress, there was not a single commitment for
theft, or any other offence. Mr. Andrews once put this question to a
supporter of his plan:—

“What do the poor give in return for that which they receive from the poor
rates?”

After a pause he thus answered his own question: “They give their honesty,
their veracity, their industry, and everything that tends to make a man a
good member of society.”

In the year 1830, after the death of Mr. Andrews, who fell a sacrifice to
his great exertions, the expenditure of the parish was rising; and Mr. Capel
Cure, a principal proprietor, introduced the plan of an incorporated
workhouse, as is related by Mr. Becher, in his evidence before the House of
Lords. Ten parishes united to erect “the Ongar Hundred Workhouse”, under
Gilbert’s Act, by the medium of 3¾ years’ poor rate. The expense amounted to
£3,181.

The sale of the old workhouse at Stanford Rivers defrayed their medium with
£100 left over. The expense for diet, which was before 3s 9d per head is now
below 2/-. No “allowance” is given on account of large families; but the
children of those parents who are unable to maintain them are taken into the
house, where they attend in the school, are taught to read, to sew and knit
stockings, which are given out for distribution in the united parishes.

There is no assistant overseer in this parish, but the accounts are kept
accurately by a schoolmaster, at Ongar, who acts as vestry clerk.

The salary of the surgeon is £25.

Twenty-seven allotments of 20 rods each have been let this year to labourers
at 6s. per allotment, free of rate and tithe; it is proposed they should hold
the land by lease, from the 1st of December. The crops are great and the
land is considered a great benefit by the labourers, who are enabled to
raise potatoes, instead of buying them at great disadvantage at the retail
price.

The opinion of the rector of the parish is that morals and general conduct
of his flock are improved since the new plan has been adopted. Under his
auspices, with the assistance of the deputy-visitor of the workhouse,
several charitable institutions have been formed; which by making additions
to the deposits of the poor, tend to encourage in them habits of providence.
Mr. Capel Cure, to whom the district is indebted for the introduction of the
improved workhouse, continues his services as visitor. While many parishes
in the neighbourhood remain in a pauperized state, this parish is entirely
cured to the mutual advantage of the payers and receivers of rates. It is to
be observed, however, that the circumstances are favourable, there is no
surplus population; a considerable portion of the land being pasture, the
pressure on the capital of the occupiers has not been so great as in arable
districts, and that fair wages are paid.

Free Access to Online Information Services

Essex Libraries provide a very valuable service in the licensing of free Internet access to a number of information sources. All you require to access these services is a current library card to Essex Libraries and, of course, an Internet connection.

The procedure is as follows. Access "Essex Libraries" through Google or some other search engine. The home page for Essex Libraries lists all the various services that are provided. Click on "Free Access to Online Information Services". The next screen will list the following sources:

Encyclopaedia Britannica
World Data Analyst
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
X Refer Plus
Grove Dictionary of Art
Grove Dictionary of Music
EBSCO Magazines Online
Gale Magazines Online
Newspapers Online
Times Digital Archive (1785–1985)

Click on the relevant source to access. At some stage on accessing, you will be requested for your library card number adopted as a password. Then just follow the on-screen rules for each source.

Essex Libraries should be congratulated on this forward-looking initiative.

In 1836 there were letters written to no less a paper than
The Times, regarding the harsh treatment of an old widow
seeking aid from the Ongar Union and who was expected to survive on
1 shilling per week.