PAP 074

The Poet and The Paupers

XII.074

XII: AN ABORTIVE SCHEME
If the November Riots yielded no great improvement in the material conditions of the Chiddingly paupers, neither did they in any way solve the problems the Vestry faced in administering the Poor Law. The Poor Rate continued to be levied – at 13s. in the Ł in 1831, 1832 and 1833; applicants continued to appear before the Vestry requesting relief; children still had to be “put out”. Another special Vestry meeting was convened on September 24^th, 1831, to consider projects “for the effectual employment of the Labouring classes”, this time with the recipient of the Vicarial Tithes, the Reverend Whitworth Russell, in the chair. It passed the following resolution: 1. Every farm to employ one man to every Ł25 of rental to the Poor Rate. (This was simply a re-affirmation of the resolution passed ten months earlier.) 2. A Committee to be appointed to consider the best ways in which to achieve the meeting’s objective, this Committee to consist of the Reverend Langdale, Mr. Samuel Funnell, Mr. William Holman, Mr. William Guy and Mr. Edward Dray. (All the laymen were moderately substantial farmers, though not as important as the likes of Thomas Day Esquire, Thomas Guy and Robert Reeves). 3. This Committee to have the power to hire land or to take other work as desirable. (An early example, it would seem, of a council using direct labour.) 4. The Earl of Chichester’s proposals be gratefully accepted and two families recommended. 5. Certain families to be recommended to the parish officers and two chosen. The Earl’s proposals were not specifically described in the resolution but they must have been that His Lordship would pay the expenses involved in assisting two families to emigrate to America, for this is precisely what the Vestry did eighteen months later. One of the families chosen has already been described, that of cooper Thomas Funnell, his wife Ann and their nine children. The cost of sending them to America, exclusive of their expenses as far as Shoreham where they would board a ship, was Ł59. 4s. 0d. The other family was that of Edward Roberts, a labourer with a wife and six children. They cost the parish Ł40. 2s. 0d. In addition the parish paid for the emigration of two bachelors, Edward Roberts and James Gower, at a cost of Ł8. 10s. 0d. each.All had to pay for themselves as far as Shoreham and all had to sign the following undertaking:

XII: AN ABORTIVE SCHEME

If the November Riots yielded no great improvement in the material conditions of the Chiddingly paupers, neither did they in any way solve the problems the Vestry faced in administering the Poor Law. The Poor Rate continued to be levied – at 13s. in the Ł in 1831, 1832 and 1833; applicants continued to appear before the Vestry requesting relief; children still had to be “put out”.

Another special Vestry meeting was convened on September 24^th, 1831, to consider projects “for the effectual employment of the Labouring classes”, this time with the recipient of the Vicarial Tithes, the Reverend Whitworth Russell, in the chair. It passed the following resolution:

1.     Every farm to employ one man to every Ł25 of rental to the Poor Rate. (This was simply a re-affirmation of the resolution passed ten months earlier.)

2.     A Committee to be appointed to consider the best ways in which to achieve the meeting’s objective, this Committee to consist of the Reverend Langdale, Mr. Samuel Funnell, Mr. William Holman, Mr. William Guy and Mr. Edward Dray. (All the laymen were moderately substantial farmers, though not as important as the likes of Thomas Day Esquire, Thomas Guy and Robert Reeves).

3.     This Committee to have the power to hire land or to take other work as desirable. (An early example, it would seem, of a council using direct labour.)

4.     The Earl of Chichester’s proposals be gratefully accepted and two families recommended.

5.     Certain families to be recommended to the parish officers and two chosen.

The Earl’s proposals were not specifically described in the resolution but they must have been that His Lordship would pay the expenses involved in assisting two families to emigrate to America, for this is precisely what the Vestry did eighteen months later. One of the families chosen has already been described, that of cooper Thomas Funnell, his wife Ann and their nine children. The cost of sending them to America, exclusive of their expenses as far as Shoreham where they would board a ship, was Ł59. 4s. 0d. The other family was that of Edward Roberts, a labourer with a wife and six children. They cost the parish Ł40. 2s. 0d. In addition the parish paid for the emigration of two bachelors, Edward Roberts and James Gower, at a cost of Ł8. 10s. 0d. each.All had to pay for themselves as far as Shoreham and all had to sign the following undertaking:

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