PAP 082

The Poet and The Paupers

XIII.082


In practice, large industrial cities such as Leeds found that the New Poor Law became more expensive to administer than the Old. Partly this was because the Settlement Acts were abolished in the name of freedom.Under the Old Poor Law a parish that did not wish to support non-native-born paupers could have them removed by order to their native parishes. For instance, just before Christmas 1833, the Chiddingly Vestry discussed removal orders issued against it by Brighton and Hailsham. It decided to challenge the orders and instructed Richard Lower to prepare the necessary papers for submission to the Quarter Sessions, for it was cheaper in the long run to incur the costs of a court action than to support a pauper family for an indefinite period. However, during the 19^th century, when the northern industrial cities expanded so rapidly, cities like Leeds found themselves swamped by an influx of new citizens, which brought with it a proportionate increase in the number of paupers. Hence the additional cost of the New Poor Law. Such matters were of less importance in a rural parish like Chiddingly whose population increased by three hundred between 1831 and 1851. Its Vestry probably welcomed the New Poor Law, although there may have been some who lamented the loss of power it gave them in influencing other people’s lives and in managing a budget of between Ł1,000 and Ł2,000 each year. However on April 13^th, 1835, the Vestry left the Old and entered the New order with the election of farmer Edward Dray as its representative on the Board of Guardians that was to administer the new Union of twelve parishes grouped around Hailsham. Three months later it formally thanked Richard Lower and remunerated him “for his trouble in keeping the Overseer’s Accounts as heretofore.” (The amount of the remuneration is not stated in the Minutes.) Finally, on November 16^th, 1835, it passed the following resolution: “To appoint a proper and efficient person to assist the Overseers in their duties, that is to say, to make and collect all the poor’s Rates, to attend the instructions of H.M. Commissioners and to the Board of Guardians of the district, to make all parochial lists and other documents which from time to time it may become the duty of the Overseers to perform.”

In practice, large industrial cities such as Leeds found that the New Poor Law became more expensive to administer than the Old. Partly this was because the Settlement Acts were abolished in the name of freedom.Under the Old Poor Law a parish that did not wish to support non-native-born paupers could have them removed by order to their native parishes. For instance, just before Christmas 1833, the Chiddingly Vestry discussed removal orders issued against it by Brighton and Hailsham. It decided to challenge the orders and instructed Richard Lower to prepare the necessary papers for submission to the Quarter Sessions, for it was cheaper in the long run to incur the costs of a court action than to support a pauper family for an indefinite period. However, during the 19^th century, when the northern industrial cities expanded so rapidly, cities like Leeds found themselves swamped by an influx of new citizens, which brought with it a proportionate increase in the number of paupers. Hence the additional cost of the New Poor Law.

Such matters were of less importance in a rural parish like Chiddingly whose population increased by three hundred between 1831 and 1851. Its Vestry probably welcomed the New Poor Law, although there may have been some who lamented the loss of power it gave them in influencing other people’s lives and in managing a budget of between Ł1,000 and Ł2,000 each year. However on April 13^th, 1835, the Vestry left the Old and entered the New order with the election of farmer Edward Dray as its representative on the Board of Guardians that was to administer the new Union of twelve parishes grouped around Hailsham. Three months later it formally thanked Richard Lower and remunerated him “for his trouble in keeping the Overseer’s Accounts as heretofore.” (The amount of the remuneration is not stated in the Minutes.) Finally, on November 16^th, 1835, it passed the following resolution:

“To appoint a proper and efficient person to assist the Overseers in their duties, that is to say, to make and collect all the poor’s Rates, to attend the instructions of H.M. Commissioners and to the Board of Guardians of the district, to make all parochial lists and other documents which from time to time it may become the duty of the Overseers to perform.”

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