The Poor Law in Bampton

The Poor Law In Bampton 1601 to 1909

by

Miriam James

A Bampton Archive Publication

£10

The Poor Law In Bampton 1601 to 1909 by

Miriam James

A Bampton Archive Publication

A Bampton Archive Publication www.bamptonarchive.org

First published January 2015 Revised January 2016

Unless otherwise stated, passages quoted are taken from the Bampton Vestry Records, housed in the Oxfordshire County Record Office, Cowley.

Text in italics uses spellings as per the original entry.

BCA-33/A January 2016

The Poor Law In Bampton 1601 to 1909

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The Poor Law in Bampton The history of people who cannot survive without help stretches back into pre-history; how are we to aid people who have too few resources to sustain life? At what stage should we step in and try to help them? Do they deserve help? Is their poverty self-inflicted?

By helping them, are we encouraging them to neglect their own resources?

These problems are still not solved; and maybe they are insoluble.

But we can look back and see how attempts to solve them were made in the past, and perhaps wonder whether our own methods are any better than those of the people of Bampton during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Pre-Reformation care of the poor Until the Reformation of Henry VIII, the great monastic foundations of England largely took care of the problems of unemployment and poverty. In Bampton, the members of the town’s population would have been able to look to the Minster Church for employment, and to the Exeter Diocese which provided its clergy, for help in times of need.

The effect of the dissolution of the monasteries After the Monasteries were dissolved, the buildings and land were sold off to rich buyers, and poor workers could no longer rely on the new owners of the great estates to employ them. Senior monks and nuns were given pensions, and there was always work for people who could read and write; but the poor and illiterate were only useful as agricultural workers. If they could not work for their keep, their need to be fed and housed was largely left to the people of the place where they lived, and many of them became vagrants, wandering from one village to the next in search of work or food. They were 7

seen as a danger to settled existence - rogues and vagabonds, not to be trusted: “Hark! Hark! The dogs do bark! The beggars are coming to town! Some in rags, and some in tags, and one in a velvet gown!”

Penalties for begging By the end of the sixteenth century the problems created by the number of vagrants throughout the country had become serious enough for laws against them to be introduced. The “undeserving poor” could be driven out of town by whipping; later Acts stated that vagabonds should be burned through the right ear. If they went on begging, they could be imprisoned and even executed. Beggars were punished and sent back to their native parishes.

Before the end of the sixteenth century, a distinction was made between those who could work but chose not to, and the people who could not be expected to work. An Act of 1572 established the punishment of sturdy beggars and the relief of the impotent poor; but by the end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign the problem was still there; a new law was needed to control the growing threat of crime.

The Elizabethan Poor Law The Elizabethan Poor Law, passed in 1601, tried to make the situation better. It was a national Act, covering the whole of England and Wales, and it legislated for a compulsory poor rate, the creation of ‘overseers’ of relief, and a provision for ‘setting the poor on work.’

Under this law, the parish became the basic unit of administration for the Poor Law, responsible for looking after its members in finding them work and making sure that they had shelter and food enough to support life.

This was an important step forward in recognising that poor people were the responsibility of their community. The wealthy people of each parish were expected to support the needy ones. A rate was levied in every parish; and each parish had to provide work for the 8

unemployed people among its members.

The system was carried out through the only existing form of local government, the vestry of the parish church, answerable to the Justices of the Peace. The ratepayers elected the members of the vestry from the landowners who paid a rate, collected every month, based on the amount and value of land they owned. They were under the chairmanship of the vicar of the parish.

The Bampton vestry members met every other week, generally in the vestry of the parish church, where there could be a fire to warm them during the winter. Decisions made at the meetings were posted up on the door of the church, where all the parishioners would see them.

Overseers of the poor Every year the members of the vestry had to appoint two officials, or overseers, as well as the other parish officers, such as the surveyor and the constable. One of the two overseers dealt with the needs of poor people of the parish. He had to assess the worth of each landholding in the parish, and fix the amount that its owner was expected to pay by establishing a rate based on the acres assessed.

He had to collect this ‘Poor Rate’; the money collected was then distributed to the members of the parish who needed help to survive.

(The other overseer had the even harder job of seeing to the upkeep of the roads in the parish). The appointment changed each year; a list of Bampton overseers in 1775 shows that it came round every 10 years or so.

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Overseers of the poor: 1764 to 1770

Legacies to the poor of Bampton and Weald In Bampton, as in many other parishes, rich people left money in their wills to be used for the poorer members of their society. In 1674 Edward Cotton – an absentee vicar of Bampton - left fifty pounds to be invested by the vicar and churchwardens for the benefit of parishioners who went to church; nobody was to have less than half a crown or more than ten shillings. This was a large sum: sadly, there is no record of the money reaching the poor people of Bampton, and it has been suggested that it was spent by the executors.

A few years later Richard Coxeter was more specific in his legacy of £10 to be invested in land to raise money for apprentices. Mary Dewe left £200 in her will of 1763 to be used “in employing the Poor of the Parish of Bampton aforesaid in some Manufactory under such Rules and Regulations as they shall think fit.” A century later Thomas Dewe left £300 to the poor of Bampton and Weald. But even when they were properly used, these legacies were quite inadequate to deal with the problem of housing and feeding the poor people of the parish. See Appendix for transcripts of the wills.

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The will of Edward Cotton (1674) See appendix for transcription

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Laws of Settlement The people who qualified to receive help from the parish rates were defined by the Poor Law Relief Act of 1662. This set out the conditions for ‘Settlement’, to establish which parish a person belonged to – the place of settlement – and that parish became responsible for him. To prove settlement, certificates were given to members of the parish; these certificates had to be produced before any money would be given to them from the rates.

There were several ways of acquiring settlement in a parish: by being born into the parish, or having been resident there for forty days; by holding an office; by being hired for over a year and a day; by marrying into the parish; by renting a property worth £10 a year, or by serving a seven-year apprenticeship with a settled resident.

The care of the poor in Bampton and Weald During the first years of the 1601 Poor Law, we have no record of how it applied in Bampton, though by 1642 there was an overseer for the poor. The Bampton vestry also appointed overseers for Weald, and until about 1758 for Cote and Yelford as well.

In theory, the minutes of vestry meetings were kept in the ‘vestry book’, specifically bought for that purpose; in practice they were not always written down. The overall impression is that notes were kept at the meetings of the vestry, and were written up later when the vicar had time to attend to it.

The vestry books Bampton’s first surviving vestry book was bought on April 29 1718; and the first entry exhorts the user: Remember Well & Bear in Mind A Faithfull friend is hard to find Sic dixit Leo Fell, 12

The will of Edward Cotton, with a conditional legacy to ‘poor housekeepers of Bampton in the bush’ (1674) while on the next page a longer rhyme urges generosity towards the poor: Bring the poor that are cast out to thy heart Hide not thyself from thine own flesh Charge them that are rich in this World to doe good that they be rich in good Works.

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Give Alms of such things as ye have; thou shall not glean thy field; thou shall leave to the poor.

Take heed that you do not your Alms to be seen Of men’s But when thou dost Alms let not thy left hand know what thy right hand dothe.

Hoc Script: Domino tertian siapriles Ann Dom 1735 The following page reminds the reader, in large letters, to

Remember ye poor while the next, dated May 3rd 1735, describes it as The Overseers Book 1732, so the verse must have been inserted later.

Conditions of apprenticeship One purpose for which the book was bought is shown in an early entry, concerned with apprenticeships of young members of the parish: May 11 1718 Memorandum that Robert Lovill was Apprenticed to John Sandyland only cloathing him Francis Bason was Apprenticed to Widow Pawling only cloathing him Will. Lavill was Apprenticed to Will. Carter giving to him £9.0.0 Joseph Arpod Apprenticed to Ralph Fowler giving to him £9.10.0 Anne Bason Apprenticed to Edw. Carter giving to her £4.4.0 Perhaps the annual amounts paid to apprentices varied according to their age and experience, or maybe Robert Lovill and Francis Bason, the two boys who only received clothes – and perhaps their keep – were too young to expect payment as well. The entry also 14

demonstrates that boys were put out to apprenticeships as early as possible; and that girls received less than boys.

April 1719: Payments from Thomas Horde’s legacy

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The Poor Rate The money to pay the Poor Rate was collected from the landowners of Bampton and the surrounding villages of Aston, Cote, Weald, and Yelford, on a scale based on the amount of land they owned.

In 1718 the overseers met in Bampton church, and recorded the basis of the tax imposed on the landowners to pay the Poor Rate for that year. The landowners are listed more or less in order of size of holding, with the amount of the rate beside each entry; the rate was to be paid at 6 shillings a yard: A Tax by John Sandelands and Richard Toyes Overseers of ye Poor of Bampton & Weald Yelford Haddon & the Parsonage by ye consent of the parishioners att a meeting in ye Church May ye 4th 1718 att 6 shillings ye yard Land for ye Relief of ye Poor of ye Said Parish.

The highest tax was paid by Jno Lenthall Esq, of Yelford, who paid £2.10.0; Allen Horde Esq, of Weald, also paid £2.10.0. At the other end of the scale there are thirty-nine entries for Cottages & Measuages, most of whom paid 9d; though Mrs Edmond paid 2s 3d for her house & Cottages, while Widd. Haskins or son paid only 3d.

By August of that year the tax had been lessened to five shillings ye yard Land for Relief of ye poor of ye said Parish; John Lenthall of Yelford still paid £2.10.0, while Ann and Edward Carter, at Haddon, paid three guineas a year in rates.

The list of ratepayers takes up four pages, but the amounts given on each page are not added up, either at the bottom of each page or at the end of the list. In spite of this it was signed as a true record by the vicar, Thomas Snell, and by four other members of the vestry.

Maybe none of them was confident enough to do the additions or to challenge the amount.

By November of that year, the rate has been raised to 6s a yard 16

Accounts for ratepayers in 1718 17

for ye Relief of ye poor of ye said Parish.

The handwriting of this entry is less legible, but the amounts contributed were added up at the bottom of each page, and the total was worked out in pencil; though an extra 3d was added at the end; perhaps that was what would now be called ‘constructive accounting.’ It was signed as correct by the vicar and by four members of the vestry.

1739: The Certificate of Thomas Newman 18

Variations in the amounts paid The payments by the two overseers for the poor – one each for Bampton and Weald – to the poor people of the town were accounted for every two weeks on a fairly regular basis. On April 20th 1718 the total paid out amounted to just over £5.0.0; in May, £4.9.6 was paid to 27 paupers; by August this was reduced to £3.0.9, and by mid-December to £2.18.0, paid to twenty paupers. Most of the payments were for 2 shillings a head – 12d per week, or £2.12s.0d a year. More was paid to households where there were children, although on April 20th Mrs Bassons Girl got only one shilling for the two weeks.

Two weeks later, on May 4th, Mrs Bassons Girl received £0.0.0 - nothing at all. On May 18th the total payments amounted to £4.9.6; by then the Basson children were living with various families around Bampton.

Most payments were made to widows and children; the latter, like the Bassons, were often taken in by other families: Yelford Child at wid Carpenters received three shillings, Harry Moors Girl & Jno. Bassons boy att ye Widd Akers were paid six shillings and six pence, and Robert Lavels boy at Harry Collin got three shillings – evidently the going rate for each child. The total paid out each fortnight for the keep of the poor varied between £3.16.6 and £4.0.0; a weekly payment for about twenty people.

The first workhouse in Bampton By 1722 parishes were obliged by law to build ‘poor houses’, or ‘workhouses’ for poor people who could not manage on their own.

By that date Bampton had already acquired a workhouse, first mentioned in an entry for 1719. It seems to have held up to twelve people. In the years following, entries in the ledger showed a rent for the workhouse of £1.15s.0d for half a year: though the amount varied slightly from year to year, perhaps depending on the number 19

of people housed.

On February 22nd 1719 the entry of payments made by the vestry reads: Nottified Bassons Boy, Lavels boy, Ballatts Boy & Wm Stom att ye workhouse 0.15.0; This indicates a rate of 3s 3d for each of the four boys for two weeks; the same amount as had been paid to ye Widd Akers for looking after Harry Moors Girl & Jno Bassons boy. Two weeks later there were five boys in the workhouse, at a rate of 3 shillings each a fortnight, and payment for their keep was made to the workhouse.

The Poor Rate also paid regularly for material for clothes; these payments were often made so that their recipients could go to work, when they might be provided with a coat and breeches, or ‘a shift’ in the case of girls. Sometimes money was given to repair clothes: Pd for stuff to line Robert Lovels Breeches 0.0.4 and occasionally for a late payment: Pd ye late Overseers money of Rachel Carpenter as was forgotten last year: 0.12.0 There were payments for people who were sick, and for shoes for Argoods boy, for 2 pair of stockings for Robert Lavel & Bassons Girl.

John Griffing was paid twelve shillings for 6 hatts as his Bill showed – a large output for an item of clothing, presumably for six people. George Akers received sixpence because his wife was sick; Goody Collingwood, also sick, received the same. A letter from Mr Powell cost fourpence – the cost of a letter was then paid by the person who received it, not by the sender.

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There is also an entry for a meeting to discuss the possible letting of the workhouse; the meeting is entered as having cost the ratepayers ten shillings – an early example of municipal entertaining, perhaps.

Other payments for poor people The ratepayers were evidently expected to help the poor of Bampton in other ways as well as their upkeep. In April 1719, two women, Ann Pawling and Mary Carpenter, were both involved in lawsuits; Ann Pawling’s was tried in a London court, and her travel expenses were paid, together with the cost of sending someone with her as far as the southern boundary of Bampton parish at New Bridge: Pd for Letter from London about Ann Pawling 0.0.7 Pd for Mr Hamorsly for an Order for Ann Pawling 0.3.0 Spent at ye Agreement of Ann Pawlings Buissness 0.1.4 Pd Tomoson Fox for going to new bridge with Ann Pawling 0.0.10 Pd ye Carrier for ye Carridge of Ann Pawling to London 0.6.0 For House hire & Expences going to London about Ann Pawling 2.10.0 Mary Carpenter’s case involved her being moved to Oxford: her moving expenses were paid, and a lawyer was hired at the parish expense: Pd for an order to Remove Mary Carpenter 0.3.0 Pd Daniel Carpenter for Carying Mary Carpenter to Oxford & for horse hire & Expenses 0.13.10 pd Mr Hawkins for Moveing ye Court in Mary Carpenter’s cause 0.10.6 At the same time there was a quarter’s rent to pay for the workhouse, of £0.19.6; while 10 shirts were made for ye Boys as was Putt to Apprentices 0.3.0 Jane Kitchen for making for Trinders girl a gown &Petticoat ye boy for a Wescoat 0.2.6 21

as well as a Coffin & shroud & other Expenses for Jno Cook 0.9.0 and Writing Ye Taxes & Disbursements 0.15.0 The last was presumably paid to the overseer, as expenses. An extra strain was put on the finances this month, because no rent was received of Poors Cottages.

Thomas Horde’s gift Fortunately poor relief was not the only source of income for poor people at this time, especially for the young: there was a charitable gift from Thomas Horde of Cote toward ye apprenticing of poor children; wch is disposed of in y manner following: £22.0.0 was distributed equally between William and Francis Lavell, Joseph Arpod and Anne Baston, while a payment was made on ye town-account in ye apprenticing ye foregoing & following children: viz Willm Lavel 3.10.00 Francis Lavel 5.00.00 Joseph Arpod 2.14.00 Sim’s Girl 3.3.00 Matthews’s Girl 2.2.00 Tot 16.9.00 less 3.5.6 Due to ye Overseers 13.3.6 The accounts were signed as correct by two vicars of Bampton, Thomas Snell and William Stephens, together with Ralph Fowler, Thos Hammorsley and John Cooper, and allowed by us, John Dewe 22

and Richd. Coxeter. Nobody seems to have queried the unaccounted £3.5s.6d.

Rates and taxes The overseers’ tax for 1719 was 6 shillings per yard land; while the tithe tax was £1.16.0 for Weald and £2.2.0 for Bampton. Allen Horde, of Aston, was the largest single taxpayer, at £2.8.0; William & Edward Carter, of Haddon, paid £3.1.0 between them.

By autumn the tax situation was looking less gloomy: on 30 August 1719, 6 shillings ye y/land for the relief of ye Poor.

Cottagers mostly paid 9d, some 4d; three paid 3d each. In December of that year the usual rate of 6 shillings a yard was levied, but the following March it was halved, to 3 shillings a yard land; we are not told whether this was because paupers’ needs were less or because the ratepayers protested.

In spite of the possible shortfall, the same six young people remained in the care of the workhouse, at a rate of 3 shillings each; and there were regular fortnightly payments of 18s.0d to the workhouse all through the spring of 1719. By June of that year, Wm Stamp had left, lowering the amount paid to 15s.0d.

In April, the young people in the workhouse needed new clothes, while one of the boys was leaving to go to Witney and needed kitting up: Pd ye Widd Carpenter for Knitting 3 pair of Stocking for Bassons boy Lavels boy & Tallatts boy 0.1.10.5 Pd ye Widow Carpenter for making a shift for Moors Girl 0.0.3 Pd Henry Moor for going to Witney for Talletts boy to Ride Postilion 0.1.2 Spent at a meeting about Talletts boy going 0.1.0 Pd for two Pair of Stockins for Talletts boy 0.1.6 Pd for a shirt for Tallats boy 0.2.0 Gave Tallats boy 0.1.0 23

Pd for a pair of Stockins for Bassons Boy 0.0.9 Pd for making two shirts for a boy at ye workhouse 0.0.6 Pd for a year’s rent for ye workhouse 3.10.0 Pd Nan Cris for a pair of stockings for Moor’s girl 0.1.7 Widd Carpenter to make stockings for ye Children att ye workhouse 0.0.7 Three years later, in October 1723, there were seven people in the workhouse. The following month, five men and boys received money in the workhouse; two weeks later their number had increased to six. By February 1724 there were only four boys and men in the workhouse; on August 2nd the number had gone down to two boys, who were paid 7s 6d for two weeks; the next payment was only 6s.0d.

Flexibility in the workhouse The number of people in the workhouse continued to fluctuate: in August 1730 there were eight people were accounted for, including six children. In October the number increased to 13. The people in the workhouse were able to leave it, and to return if necessary: the following February, paid to the workhouse being gone out of the workhouse Richd. Potifer £1.19.0, but two weeks later, February 20 Paid to the workhouse too pound being gone in again Richard Potifer After that there were regular payments for Richard Potifer included in the payments to the workhouse, until on 15 July 1732 Paid Rich Potifers charges to go to London about his eyes: £0.12.6.

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Additional payments to the workhouse were made for a Pound a half of wool for ye workhouse £0.0.4 for mending shows at ye workhouse £0.0.6 and for making 8 Shifts to ye workhouse £0.2.8.

As the numbers of paupers in the workhouse varied, the amounts paid out changed: on November 12th, a shilling was subtracted for Pat Carpenter coming out.

More surprisingly, the rent seems to have fluctuated as well: on December 8th 1732 Pay Mr Fowler half a year’s Rent for ye workhouse due at Michlems £1.0.0 the rent was evidently paid on a half-yearly basis, due at Lady Day and at Michaelmas, and was perhaps geared to the number of residents.

The entries for 1733 show the various other payments to the workhouse: Payd. ye Woman of ye workhouse for Making five shirts for ye Children there; Paid to Mary Carson for maken a gound for a garl at the workhouse For maken all churts and shifts for the Worckhous 3 0 Do. For maken aprons for the Worckhous 7 For maken 6 hankerchfs for the worckhous 3 and in August, a charge of £1.0.0 for a New Pott for ye workhouse.

During 1734, there were regular payments to the workhouse for £1.6.0; though sometimes Cooks Girl being gone out a week reduced the 25

bill to £1.5.0 for two weeks at a time, while Cooks Girl was paid a shilling att Betty Webbs.

Outbreak of smallpox In August of 1734, there was an outbreak of smallpox in Bampton, which spread to the workhouse: hunts boy being ill of ye small pox was taken out of ye house.

By the middle of September, three boys in the workhouse had the smallpox, and at the end of the month, Goody Akers for 6 weeks waiting on the Small pox was paid £0.7.6. At the same time pd to the workhouse Woman for making 11 shifts £0.3.8; perhaps these were for the invalids to wear.

Regular payments were also made to the poor people living in their own homes; they were paid every two weeks, with the exception of Harry Akers, who received regular payments of 1s every three or four days during July and August, and on other occasions as well.

Was this to dissuade him for spending his money on beer? Or was it just that he or his wife was a ‘bad manager’?

Certificates of residence In accordance with the law, settlement certificates had to be produced before relief could be granted. In 1739, Thomas Newman was able to show that he qualified for poor relief because he had served an apprenticeship in Bampton, although he had no other qualifications. An undated document gives a list of certificate men; eight men are listed, with their wives, and seven children; there is a note that three other men should produce their certificates; and, incongruously at the end, the comment Wild to go for a souldier.

Restrictions on labour employment; The harvest of 1740 was exceptionally poor, so putting a strain on the ratepayers. The following year a note appears in the vestry book on 27 September 1741 stating that the landowners of Bampton 26

agreed that they would not employ anyone from outside the parish, from Michaelmas, on 29th September, until Epiphany, on 6th January – the start of the new ploughing year. This was to apply even if they held a certificate; a fine of 20 shillings was imposed as a deterrent. Sixteen members of the vestry, led by the vicar, signed the agreement. The reason for this embargo was the increasing price of corn; winter was always a bad time for poor relief in farming areas, though the reason is not mentioned here, probably because it was obvious to a farming community. In spite of this, the tax on land remained the same, at six shillings ye yard land, for the relief of the Poor of the said village.

“A list of certificate men�

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Taxpayers’ revolt By the middle of the eighteenth century there is an entry dealing with the administration of the Poor Law, which is, ominously, one of a protest by the ratepayers. On March 12th 1749 the Church Warden & Overseer were authorized by the vestry to apply for a levy on the people who had not paid the Poor Rate: March the 12th 1749 Tis this Day resolved in vestry that the Church Warden & Overseer shall apply to the Justices to levy a Distress upon thos that refuse to pay their Legal Taxes for the Relief of the Poor of Bampton & Weald.

The assessment of the poor Three years later an entry shows how the recipients of the Poor Rate might be assessed. On May 24 1752 it was Agreed by the vestry that the Overseer of the Poor be allowed to pay Two Pounds and twelve shillings in discharge of two years Rent for William Ellis, the said Ellis having been allways industrious and reduced to the necessity of applying for this Assistance by the long sickness of his late Wife.

The entry is signed by the vicar, Mr E Taunton, and by four other members of the vestry. It demonstrates two of the prerequisites for giving assistance from the Poor Rate: that the people receiving it should be deserving, and that they should be resident in the parish.

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August 1742: Tax declaration for the relief of the poor of Bampton, Weald, Yelford, Hadden and Cote by the overseers of the poor

The parish workhouse The following autumn we learn how much money was needed to support children, and also that there was a parish workhouse in Bampton: though whether this was a different building from the 1719 workhouse is not made clear.

Sept 17 1722 It is this Day resolved by the Parishioners in vestry that Elizabeth Sparrowhawke, the three children of James Dod and the three Children of Thomas Frippe who are now maintained abroad at the Parish Expense be put into the Parish workhouse, and the usual weekly pay, and that the two Children of Thomas Capes and the two Children of Elizabeth Hewlet and the Daughter of Elizabeth Tripp be allowed no more than three pence per week each.

It was, presumably, cheaper to house these six children, with Elizabeth Sparrowhawke, in the workhouse, than to pay for them to be kept at a parish somewhere else; while the other five children, at a cost of 1s 3d a week altogether, were to go on living at with their parents.

We do not know where in Bampton this workhouse was, but 29

evidently it could sometimes be more expensive to keep a child in the workhouse than at home: on June 3rd 1735, It is agreed that the fiveteen Pence a week each for six young Children be allowed the keeper of the workhouse for 4 weeks from this day.

“Fifteen pence” – one shilling and three pence – was a large advance on three pence a week.

At the same vestry meeting it is minuted that It is this day resolved that the Overseers shall not be allowed to pay any rent for the future for William Golding although there is no reason given for this non-payment. At the same time there is the hint of a warning about the safety of the furniture and equipment in the workhouse: Resolved that an Inventory of the Goods belonging to the workhouse be taken as soon as is convenient, and that the Goods be called over at least every six months.

By 1752 the payment for twelve people in the workhouse amounted to £1.18.0. Six shillings of this went to Carpenters children and the same amount to Fells children; Widow Hopkins got a shilling, and Jane Carpenter received one shilling and six pence; two shillings went to Diana’s bastard. At the same time, 1 shilling and 6 pence was paid: for 2 pear of stockens for ye workhouse, 2/6 for a shirt for Widow Akers, 7d for some crape to make Goody Winch a cap; while on May 11, 12, 14 and 15 gave Old Winch 1s 0d, which seems a large outlay. Perhaps it was because his wife had just died: 30

Paid Mr Wright for a 6 penny loaf and a dozen of ale and a pound of chees used at Old Winches Wife’s funeral.

Fifteen pence a week seems to have been the going rate for children’s keep in the workhouse: On July 3rd 1753, It is ordered this in vestry that the workhouse Woman be paid 15d per head for 6 young children until further orders. It is likewise agreed that the fiveteen Pence a week each for six young Children be allowed the keeper of the workhouse for 4 weeks from this day.

June 1750: Provision of linen for the workhouse

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June 1750: The Overseers are allowed to establish a workhouse

An inventory of the workhouse There was continued anxiety about the state of the workhouse possessions, perhaps as a result of the many children housed there: on June 3rd 1753 it was resolved that an Inventory of the Goods belonging to the workhouse be taken as soon as is convenient, and that the Goods be called over at least every six months.

On the same date, the Parish was to engage for the rent of a house for William Arnold for one Year.

Provision was also made for clothes for the poor of the parish, not only for decency and warmth, but so that they could go to work: That William Griffin be allowed a shirt his wife one Shift each of ye four Children 2 changes of linen and one of them a pair of Shoes That Elizabeth Ford be allowed a Gown That Elizabeth Hewlet be allowed a pair of Shoes for each of her two 32

children & a pair of breeches for her son.

On 30th September the overseers agreed to lend money to William Fuller: It is agreed that the Overseer advance to William Fuller for the present relief of his family five shillings and any further moderate sums as at his discretion he shall find requisite.

By November of that year, the vestry had evidently decided that William Fuller could be trusted to balance his budget, and agreed to pay him on a regular basis: Nov 18 William Fuller allowed five shillings per month till Candlmass next.

This allowance, lasting until Christmastide officially came to an end at Candlemas on February 2nd, would take him through the worst of the winter.

November 1754: Allowances to the poor

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Clothing for the poor Clothes were quite often needed to enable poor children to start to earn their own living: there are three entries for 7th October 1753 which provide for this, though the grant to Mr Mallam for Frances Bushy is evidently not a gift but a loan: Oct 7 1753 Aggreed that the Overseer provide necessary coaths for Mary Puddle, so as to enable her to go into Service Sometime agreed that twentyfive shillings be advanced to Mr Mallam towards clothing Frances Bushy, which money is to be repay’d to the Parish out of the said Bushy’s wages.

Aggreed that two shirts be allowed to Richard Lindsey, and to his Son Richard on consideration of his going into service into another Parish A Waiscoat a pair of Briches a pair of stockings a pair of shoes and two shirts.

It looks as though the parish was prepared to pay generously to make sure that young Richard Lindsey moved to another parish, where he would cease to be the responsibility of the people of Bampton.

Allowance was also made for sick people in the parish: Nov 25 Agreed that the Overseer provide for the Cure of the wife of Giles (illegible) Women were rarely referred to by name; generally they were described by their status as the wife or daughter of a male parishioner: Allowed two shifts and a pair of shoes to the daughter of Richard Cook.

Allowed a pair of Cards to the wife of William Griffith the ‘cards’ would have been an aid to earning her own living by carding the shorn wool of the fleeces before it could be spun.

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On April 7th 1754 it was Agreed that old Kelsey be allowed a Shilling a Week till further Order: while in the autumn of that year, Nov 3rd 1754 Allowed by this vestry a foul-weather coat for Sam Smith Son. Allowed thirteen Shilling towards his years Rent – that a shift and coarse Gown be allowed the Daughter of the Widow Parker.

November 1754: Allowances by the overseers: and an enquiry in the workhouse

Embargo on those without certificates An entry of the same date shows that the vestry members were afraid that people from outside Bampton might be using the workhouse; the people living there were required to bring their certificates of residence to prove that they qualified to enter the workhouse: Ordered that the Overseer enquire after all Inmates and warn them either to 35

bring Certificates or leave the Parish.

In the spring of 1755, the vestry had evidently relented on its resolve not to give any more assistance to William Goulding, though he had to go into the workhouse to receive it, and it was not paid to him but to the overseer: April 20 1755 Overseer to get 6d a week for Wm Goulding to be in part of the workhouse.

1755: Allowances to the poor

February 1755: Election of Robert Broad to care for the workhouse 36

July 1755: Cuts in the allowances

April 1755: William Griffin’s children to have new clothes

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1755: An allowance of six pence a week to be in part of the workhouse

Rising costs Allowance could be made to the workhouse in times of higher prices: in the autumn of 1756 it was ordered to pay to the people in the workhouse an additional three pence per week each by reason of the dearness of provision: Such payment evidently did not come under the discretion of the overseers, and was in addition to the usual allowance of 6d a week in summer and a shilling a week during the winter.

The keeper of the workhouse was also allowed money for her own children and for heating fuel: Feb 20th 1763 We do agree to allow the Widow Ellixander the keeper of the workhouse Three shillings per week towards the maintenance of her own children to begin at Xmass last & to be paid for wood during the discretion of the Parishioners. and she evidently had other duties: Feb 20 1763 38

Agreed to allow the workhouse Woman for Eliz: Cooper’s lying in 2s 6d a week.

Payments to people who did not live in Bampton Occasionally money was paid to people who had left Bampton for various reasons, including being in prison or in hospital: April 12 1757 It is this day agreed by vestry to alow Rich Foards now in Brideswell five shillings for subsistence, while in January 1761 Ordered that the Overseers of the Poor for the time being do pay two shillings and sixpence a week towards the maintenance of William Carter now a lunatic and in the Hosptal of Incurables London so long as he continues in the said Hospital and the same to Mr Wm Baston and such other persons as he shall procure to Mr Edward Carter his brother having by a letter to the Overseer undertaken to find his brother in cloaths.

William Carter was not the only member of the parish to be confined as a lunatic: others had been sent to the asylum called Bedlam, a shortened version of ‘Bethlehem’: Apr 16th 1780 It is this day agreed in vestry that Rebecca Wright (in case of admittance) shall be sent to Bethlem Hospital & her fees paid by the Overseers & all other charges as may be necessary; and 8 August 1784 At a vestry held this Eighth Day of August 1784 It is agreed that the ChurchWardens and Overseers do use their best endeavor to get John Hinchin removed from his present confinement into Bethlehem Hospital & 39

that they do immediately write to the Steward of the said Hospital in order for his admittance.

The vestry evidently expected to recover the sums paid to families while the head of the house was imprisoned: Dec 25 1770 At a vestry held this day it was agreed to let Jos. Johnson be discharged from his present confinement upon condition of his or his father paying the expence the parish has been at concerning his wife and family in hisabsence.

Sometimes money was paid to widows for them to go and live outside the parish: Jan 11th 1767 It is this Day agreed to Allow the Widow Richens one shilling per week provided she goes to live with her son at Littleworth in Berks. while another widow was allowed to come back to the parish: Taken out of the Parish Chest 6th Novm 1763 the Certificate of Philip Brooks from the parish of Widford in order to remove Rachael his Widow to this Parish.

Apprentices When children were old enough to work, they were legally supposed to be found apprenticeships, preferably within the parish: March 2 1760 It was this Day unanimously agreed by all the Parishioners present in vestry that such poor Children as by law are liable to be bound out to Apprenticeships, shall be forthwith put out to the Farmers and others in the Parish who by Law may be obliged to take them in such order as shall be most equitable and agreed upon.

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Illegitimate children Another responsibility which weighed heavily on the overseers was that of illegitimate children: Janry 11th 176 Ordered that the Overseers do forthwith require Security to be given on Account of the several Bastard Children of Mary Beechey Sarah Prestage Elizabeth Wells Mary Horne Hannah Robinson and Mary Bishop.

Resolved that any Woman that shall for the future be delivered of a Bastard Child shall be punished with the utmost severity.

This entry was important enough to have been signed by 13 members of the vestry, instead of the more usual half a dozen.

The parish evidently paid for the upkeep of illegitimate children, but expected their fathers to reimburse the money: Aug 28th 1771 An order upon Tho Minnion for the maintenance of a Bastard Child on the Body of Sarah Yarnton put into ye Church this day; Aug 29th 1796 We do agree to Oblige Simon Denton to pay the Money he is indebted to the Parish to maintain the Child or sue him.

Between 1791 and 1834 there were nine warrants for the arrest of putative fathers of bastards who had been born in Bampton, and between 1805 and 1835, 33 Bastardy Orders were issued; this meant that the father of the child became responsible for payment towards its keep, so lessening the demand on the heavy rates for those years.

Extra bread from charity bequests Sometimes in a good year there might be an extra distribution of bread, though under strict conditions: 41

April 12 1775 Whereas it appears from the Accoounts of Mr Lissett Treasurer of the Charity Lands belonging to the Poor of Bampton & Weald that upon the late advance of the Rents of the said Charity Lands the Quantity of Bread to be distributed among the poor of the said parish may be considerably improved It is hereby ordered that sixty-six two-penny loaves be weekly distributed among the said poor at the usual time after divine service on every Sunday in manner following, a two penny loaf every week to each of the poor persons whose names are mentioned in the List this day signed by us against whose name the letter W is set, and one two penny loaf every other week to each of the other poor persons mentioned in the said list but in case any of the said poor shall neglect to attend divine service on any of the said Sundays not being hindered by sickness he or she or they so absenting themselves shall forfeit the said Bread.

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1768 October: A new workhouse

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The new workhouse By the summer of 1755 the old rented workhouse was apparently proving inadequate, and a new one was looked for: June 8 1755 Overseers to take a house for to be a workhouse at their own discretion, but there is no subsequent mention of this workhouse. Thirteen years later the matter was raised again: 28th October 1768 Public Notice having been given in the Church for this purpose It is agreed Resolved and Ordered that a workhouse capable of employing and lodging sixty persons or more with proper outbuildings and Conveniences be forthwith erected and built in Rosemary Lane for the Reception of the poor of Bampton and Weald and that the Trustees of Mrs Mary Dewes Charity having agreed to pay Carriage of all necessary materials it is further agreed resolved and ordered that such Timber as will be necessary for such Erections and Buildings now standing on the poors Closes in Lew Bampton and Weald be forthwith felled and cut down for that purpose and that the Residue of the Expences of the other Materials and of Compleating the said Buildings and of Furnishing the same be raised by subscription to which the Lords of the Manors are requested to contribute and that such part thereof as shall not be so raised be paid out of the poors rates of Bampton and Weald.

In spite of the careful forethought in suggesting where the money for the new workhouse might come from, matters went forward slowly. It was not until April the following year that the plans were ready for inspection: At a vestry held this second day of April 1760 pursuiant of notice for that purpose: It was Resolved and ordered that Mr Robt. Yatman Mr Edw. Church and Mr Thos Sammure on behalf of Weald and Mr Wm Lissett Mr Wm Roberts 44

and Mr Joseph Singleton jnr on behalf of Bampton together with the Trustees of Mrs Dewe’s Charity be and are hereby appointed a committee for erecting and ordering the building of a workhouse pursuiant to a plan this day produced by Mr Frederick and unanimously approved of.

The new workhouse was built to house 30 poor people; there was a similar sized workhouse at Black Bourton, and another at Burford, as well as smaller ones in other villages near Bampton.

At the same time the members of the vestry realized that new fittings would be needed, although they were determined that these should be minimal: April 30th 1769 It is this day agreed by vestry that the Church Warden & Overseer of the Poor shall immediately examine the poor in the workhouse & provide such things as are absolutely necessary.

By the spring of 1772 the new workhouse was evidently completed: March the 8th 1772 At a vestry this day held it is ordered that the Overseer of the Poor shall pay upon demand to Wm Lissett so much Money as he shall be out of pocket concerning the workhouse when finished.

The following month Edward Herring was appointed overseer of the workhouse for three years at a rate of ÂŁ170 a year, and in spite of the increased expense, the rate remained the same: July 12th 1772 It is this decided in vestry that John Lewis the Overseer of the Poor shall collect a Tax at sixpence in pound rent.

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1790: A map showing the position of ‘The Poor House’ in Weald in the late 18th century

April 1772: Edward Herring elected to run the workhouse for £170 a year

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Gilbert’s Act 1782 The main purpose of Gilbert’s Act was to encourage the setting up of workhouses in areas where there were none; as such, it did not apply in Bampton, where the workhouse was already established. The Act did, however, draw the attention of the vestry to the need to tighten up the existing arrangements, and their management by a Board of Governors; the workhouse was to be regulated by a ‘visitor’, who would look into its running, and report to the vestry.

Perhaps as a result of this, in 1787 there is a hint that the accounts were in a muddle: March 18 1787 By order of vestry Sam B shall be paid by the Overseers the sum of fourteen pounds thirteen shillings & four pence on acct of his having pd. an Extra sum towards the County Rate. N.B. The sum of four pounds to be deducted & kept in the Overseers hands in order to pay two orders which remain unpaid.

Two weeks later, Aprl 1st 1787 It appears by the Overseers Accts that Sam Beechey is paid to the 15th of this month.

Ordered in vestry that the sd. Sam Beechey be paid no more money ‘till the expiration of that time; & that the poor shall be relieved at the discretion of the present Overseer ‘till further ordered.

The overseers evidently realized that a closer eye should be kept on the accounts; after three weeks an examining body was set up to look at the workhouse affairs: At a vestry held this 22nd Day of April for the purpose of Electing proper persons for examining into the state of the poor of Bampton workhouse, ordered that the Church Wardens and Overseers for the time being Thomas Dunscombe Wm Lissett Wm Roberts Joseph Shingleton Thomas 47

Guy Ebenezer Willims Wm Stephens Robt Yeatman and Robt Hudson be & they are hereby appointed a committee for Inspecting and Ordering all affairs relating to the poor in the said House & into whatever order & determination the said Committee shall make touching the Clothing provisions & Labour the Master of the workhouse shall abide keep & perform and for the due performance hereof the said Committee or any two of them shall visit the said workhouse one day in every week from the Day of the Date herof to Easter next ensuing on purpose to see that their orders are duly observed & kept Witness hereto, Wm Lissett Joseph Singelton Robt Hudson for Wm Roberts Thos Guy Willm Stivens Thos Townsend Robt Hudson Simon Collins NB The said Committee are to visit in the following order viz Wm Roberts & T Dunscombe, Wm Lissett & Joseph Singleton, Thomas Guy & Wm Stephens, Robt Hudson & Ebenezer Williams.

There are no entries in the vestry book for the following three years, so we do not know whether these weekly inspections had any effect.

In the spring of 1790 the workhouse needed a new ‘farmer’: on this occasion the vestry were determined to make their decision in comfort, and arranged to meet in a private house - perhaps because only three men had turned up for the meeting in the Church: March 28th 1790 at a vestry held this day it was agreed to ajourn to meet at Mr Kings on Monday Evening the 29th Inst at six of the clock to consider of a proper person to farm the workhouse.

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Two weeks later, on 9th April 1790, it was agreed that Benjn. Tanner shall as heretofore take care of and maintain all the poor of Bampton and Weald for the term of two years to commence from the 16th of this Instant and for the yearly sum of 170ÂŁ payable as aforementioned, and shall also abide & perform all such singular the Articles Govt & agreements.

After this commitment to make sure that the workhouse was properly administered, there is no entry in the vestry book for some time, so there is no record of the results of this enquiry; but two years later, the payment made to Benjamin Tanner for farming the workhouse had risen to ÂŁ200: At a meeting held this Eighth of April 1792 agreeable to previous notice it was agreed to let Benjamin Tanner continue to Farm the workhouse for the Term of two years to commence from the 16 day of this present Instant for the sum of two Hundred pounds per Annum subject to the same rules articles & conditions in all respects as those of the last agreement.

The two hundred pounds had to cover the maintenance of the workhouse and the relief of paupers; Benjamin Tanner also had to find work for the able-bodied poor. If there was any money left over, he could keep it for himself.

Two entries show the amount of care that the vestry took to look after the poor people in their charge. One concerns an allowance for an orphan given to an elder brother, who had asked for financial help: 5th day of October held according to the public Notice given last Sunday It was represented that Willm Faulkner lately belonging to this Parish has departed this life at Kentish Town near London, leaving there living one Child with John Faulkner (his son) there residing, and the said John Faulkner hath applied & requested to be allowed 1 shilling per week from 49

this Parish for and towards the maintenance of the said Child there It was purpose aforesaid to be paid by the Overseers of this Parish to commence from the 17th day of March last and that the Overseers do pay unto the said John Faulkner the sum of one guinea for considerations of his keeping and maintaining the said Child since the Death of his said Father to the Date last above mentioned.

One shilling a week doesn’t seem a lot; but it probably meant the difference between life and starvation to John Faulkner and his young sibling.

The other case needed more imagination: At a vestry held this 16th day of April 1793 Mr Andrews having recommended & advised Mary Leats to drink Sea Water, it was ordered that the Overseer do forthwith procure a sufficient quantity for that purpose.

How? Where from? Was somebody sent to Weymouth to collect it?

Or was sea water available, perhaps at a price, in large towns?

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January 1783: Everyone in the workhouse must work - with the exception of those with large families

June 1779: All back rates have to be collected before a new one is applied for

March 28th 1790: “A meeting to consider of a proper person to farm the workhouse�

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Examination of the Poor Rate The assessment of the Poor Rate was evidently still not satisfactory, and at the end of the financial year 1791-2 there had been complaints from the ratepayers that their assessment was not fairly done. On 1st April 1792 the overseers were empowered to examine the basis of the Poor Rates, which are very unequally assessed in proportion to the respective rents‌ and report at the next meeting hereafter.

By mid-April a committee had been set up to look into the inequality of the poor Rate, headed by Robt Hudson and Thomas Townsend, to examine into the present Poor Rate and to make such alterations and amendments regard being had to the rents and the annual value of the Lands, as in their wisdom they shall see just and reasonable.

In August 1793 an inspection of the management of the workhouse was set up, to see if the rules Orders and Articles under which the same was to be farmed are respectively fulfilled, and to make such further and other enquiries as to them shall seem necessary and the result thereof report at the next vestry.

The result of the inspection was not satisfactory. Three members of the vestry - one of them, the J.P. Mr Whitaker, was also the largest landowner in Bampton - went to look at the Poor House, and on 11th August 1793 they reported that the terms of its farming were not being fulfilled and kept; several articles were missing, and the clothing of the poor was particularly inadequate; so the three members were appointed as a Committee with the Overseers for the time being to visit the P House 52

and inspect the Management of the poor therein; and such things as the committee shall deem necessary to provide for the said poor in the P House.

If they found anything inadequate, the Committee could step in and provide it, and the expenses attend of the same to stop and retain from the monthly payments by the said Farmer.

It is noticeable that the language of this report was much more formal: perhaps Mr Whitaker was able to call on professional help to draft it.

Six months later, in April 1794, and in spite of the report, Benjamin Tanner was reappointed as heretofore to take care of & maintain all the poor of Bampton and Weald for the term of two years.

For this he was paid ÂŁ170; and he also had to abide and perform all and singular the articles and agreements contained in an Agreement between the then Church Wardens & Overseers of the said workhouse.

He had to maintain the workhouse, find work for the able-bodied poor, and relieve the paupers committed to the workhouse. However, this time the vestry was determined to keep a closer eye on him: It is further agreed that in case the said Benj Tanner shall not fulfill all and every the said Clauses and Articles that the Committee immediately proceed to the election of another Master or Farmer of the Poor, and allow quit and deliver up the workhouse Utensils together with the care of the poor of this parish.

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Inflation and the rise in the price of wheat Within a few years a more serious threat to the payment of a Poor Rate began to be felt, not only in Bampton but in all the wheatgrowing areas of England. The price of wheat, and therefore of bread, had started to rise alarmingly.

The system of collecting rates for land and distributing the money among the poor of the parish had gone on steadily through the eighteenth century, at a rate of £150 to £200 a year; but in 1794/95 there was an abrupt change in the basis for it. Local industry was in decline, and Oxfordshire wages, like those in other wheat-growing areas, were falling behind. In 1796 the Bampton vestry paid an allowance of an extra three pence per week because of the dearness of provisions.

The regular payment of rates suddenly began to increase, following the rising cost of bread. In the last three years of the eighteenth century, the rates rose to around £600 a year and by 1801 they more than trebled to £2,003. Some of this huge increase could be paid for by the growth in the income received, especially by the owners of larger amounts of land. To some extent, the shortfall in the rates could be supplemented by other means: the Bampton Friendly Society, founded thirty years earlier, was revived in 1797, but it could only make minimum payments. The conventional church charities were overwhelmed by the demand, and could only pay out a third of their prewar amount. The Earl of Shrewsbury, one of the largest landowners, protested that he paid proportionately more than other property owners. The vestry agreed that Charles Stephens, of Kencot, should look into the matter, and that a new assessment should be made of all lands. The poor people of Bampton were becoming increasingly dependent on the rates.

It was clear that a closer eye must be kept on the operation and finances of the workhouse. On 19th February 1799, it was decided that 11 persons should be appointed to look into the state of the 54

poor of Bampton and Weald: two of them were to visit the said workhouse at 12 o’clock in every week; they also had to make sure that the poor of the workhouse attend Divine Worship twice every Sunday clean and decently cloathed; and that all members of the said Committee visit the workhouse in turn monthly.

To reinforce the new closer supervision, all the Members of the said Committee are to meet in the Vestry room after Evening Service on the first Sunday in each month for the purpose of conferring together and of hearing complaints from the poor who may not have been relieved by Mrs Pearce according to her agreement.

The signatories to this agreement show how important it was: they include the vicar, Mr Richards, and the largest landowner Mr Whitaker, who was also a Justice of the Peace, together with five other large landowners, the Churchwardens, and the overseers themselves.

Crisis By 1801, the number of people claiming poor relief from the rates had risen almost every year for seven years. The income from charity funds had sunk to trickle, and in the spring the weekly payments had risen to a total of £60; a chart shows the growth of expenditure on poor relief in Bampton between 1780 and 1806. Farmers were subsidised to keep labourers employed and to prevent wage cuts. The money collected by the vestry had to be topped up by the overseers themselves. That year the expenditure on poor relief reached an unprecedented two thousand pounds; and while the following years brought a slight relief, the rates remained at double the amount of their prewar levels; in 1802-3 a total of more than three hundred people – one-third of the population, and more than double the national average - claimed poor relief.

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A new superintendent of the poor was appointed in 1812; perhaps Benjamin Tanner had proved as unsatisfactory as the vestry had feared.

Mr Benjamin Dutton, of Witney, had been recommended as a proper Person to superintend the management of the Poor of this Place; and on 7th June he was interviewed for the post; but as few parishioners attended at this meeting it was resolved that it would be proper to have the sense of a larger meeting; Two weeks later, on 21st June, Mr Dutton was appointed by the vestry to superintend and manage the poor.

He was to be paid at the salary of Forty Pounds after discussion under the Directions of the Overseers & vestry of the parish, to beholden for that purpose from time to time and his employment was back-dated to June 7th.

The introduction of a new superintendent of the workhouse did not lessen the problem of the increase in the rates, nor of the distribution of money to poor families: an enquiry into Mr Dutton’s accounts at the end of July 1812 showed that the several sums allowed the families‌ have been reduced in consequence of the advance of wages during the summer; people had been forced to borrow money against their future wages.

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During the three years before 1815 there was an average of 114 people ‘on relief’ in Bampton, most of them permanent paupers; and their number went on rising until 1821.

There were other expenses to be paid on top of the basic rates. In August 1812, an apothecary was appointed to look after the sick poor of this parish; he was to be paid eighteen guineas annually, and was asked to attend the monthly vestries of this parish.

In the spring of 1814, the members of the vestry realized that a complete overhaul of the poor’s rates was necessary, to make them more equal. They appointed Mr Dixon, who was already busy with the details of the Bampton inclosure, to produce a report, at a cost of a hundred guineas – raised by way of rate – and to accomplish the business by Easter next if possible.

With the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in the summer of 1815, the war came to an end; but after harvest that year the vestry agreed that bread should be supplied at reduced prices, to be settled and agreed upon by a committee, adopting a similar plan of supplying the poor as is usual in surrounding parishes.

By August, Mr Dutton was hearing complaints that the ratepayers were overreached, and a committee of three was set up to recommend him to revise the rate; evidently the hopes placed in his ability to act quickly had not been fulfilled.

On 7th November 1815, the situation was so bad that members of the vestry agreed that they would only employ labourers who were parishioners of Bampton during that winter, with a £5 penalty to endorse their decision. The need for this may also have become more urgent as soldiers returned from fighting in France; but the five-fold rise in the amount of fine since 1741, when it had been 57

fixed at 20 shillings (£1.0.0), shows how seriously the members of the vestry were alarmed.

7th November 1815: No outsiders to be employed on Bampton farms from November until May

Assistant Overseer The vestry had already appointed an assistant overseer in 1817, realizing that the office of overseer has become excessive burdensome and that it is expedient that an assistant overseer should be appointed and the post was taken by Thomas Robinson. Gilbert’s Act gave vestries power to pay a salary to the guardians of the poor and the governors of the workhouse; and this was adopted by the Bampton vestry. The salary was to be £50 a year.

After a further two years, George Frost was appointed to the post of parish clerk; by 1825 he had also taken on the farming of the 58

poor, and was being paid the sum of ÂŁ40 a year as assistant overseer.

He organized a smallpox inoculation in Bampton, and by 1829 he had also become schoolmaster and organist. Three years later, at his suggestion, the vestry agreed to allow the larger landowners to take on additional labour from among the able-bodied poor on payment of an extra charge on their rates.

1821: The Enclosure award to the workhouse The growing professional approach to these parish appointments was echoed by the reforms to farming methods made possible by the enclosure of the common lands of Bampton.

The award of the enclosure of 1821 shows the land allotted to the workhouse. It amounted to just over ten acres, including the Poor House & Garden of half an acre in Weald. The churchwardens of Bampton for the time being retained four acres in Churchland Close and two in Rye Close; and they were also awarded new enclosures of nearly an acre in Little Nipnams and one and a half acres in Bampton Meadow, to the south of the town.

These new allotments would have allowed them to grow crops without reference to other farmers; but ten acres of land could not have been enough to supply the most basic needs, and the demand for money from the rates went on unchecked.

The following year, David Miller, of College Farm, complained of the heavy poor rates, and was allowed rent relief and help with essential repairs to his farm in spite of having lands in a very superior state of cultivation. As the rates continued to rise, it became clear that a new method of local relief was needed in Bampton and the surrounding parishes.

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1821 Enclosure Award to the Bampton Churchwardens for the workhouse

The Poor House at enclosure number 875

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The Bampton Bread Scale In various places in the wheat-growing areas, schemes were adopted to link the price of bread to the money paid to the poor. The most famous of these was the system adopted by the magistrates at Speen - the ‘Speenhamland System’ - which linked the amount of wages to the price of bread, and the number of people to be fed. In other places, ratepayers tried to bridge the growing gap between the price of bread and the number of people claiming relief without similarly increasing the rates.

In Bampton, the method used became known as ‘The Bampton Bread scale’. Introduced in 1821, it set up an elaborate system of preference, allowing underpaid men the largest share of bread and a clothes allowance of 4d a week. There was a lessening scale for unemployed people over 12, for children under 8, for smaller

The Bampton Bread Scale of 1821

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children, and for infants. Ten years later, payment on poor relief had sunk to about 15 shillings below the average level for Oxfordshire.

1821 ‘An Assessment for the necessary Relief of the Poor of the Township of Bampton and Weald’

The Select Vestry Bill As well as receiving substantial land holdings under the Enclosure Act, the richer members of the vestry now gained more power in making decisions for the poor. By the Select Vestry Bill, holders of small amounts of land, worth up to £50 a year in rates, were to have one vote; men with more land than that were given more votes: up to six for each £25 of rateable value. The poorer landowners were no longer able to outvote the richer ones. On 10th December 1820, a vestry meeting elected 13 ratepayers who were to make the decisions which had until then been made by the vestry as a whole, so concentrating power in the hands of the richer ratepayers.

A cartoon of 1845 shows Thomas Rowlandson’s view of a select vestry, with six stout bewigged men sitting around a table drinking, 62

while poor people in rags peer hopelessly through the window and attempt to get in through the door, and are driven back with a stick.

At the left of the cartoon, the doors of the workhouse are ominously visible.

Thomas Rowlandson, ‘A Select Vestry’, 1806 © The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University.

Postwar hardship In the years after Waterloo, the situation of labourers became increasingly difficult. Various schemes were tried in Bampton, to make sure that everyone who could work was employed. In 1818, a standard adult wage in Bampton varied according the size of the workers family and was between six pence and two shillings a day; but this scheme floundered because some employers would not follow it and by 1822 there were 80 workers who could not be employed. Five years later workers who kept pigs, donkeys, chickens 63

or dogs were refused payment, and in the following year, only the able-bodied and boys were employed as farm workers, though work was found for others in the hated occupation of road-mending.

1834: The Poor Law Amendment Act By 1832, the national administration of the Poor Law had become so unwieldy that Edwin Chadwick was appointed to look into its working. Two years later, his Report on the Relief of the Poor laid down entirely new ways of managing the growing problem.

Each parish was to become part of a larger ‘Poor Law Union’, with a Union workhouse where the poor people of the area would be housed and fed. This was a more centralised system that could be controlled by a central board. Under the New Poor Law, Bampton became part of Curbridge Union, which included Witney. From now on, the people of Bampton who were too poor to manage without help were to go to the Union workhouse where they would be housed and fed, and found work to supplement their keep. The system of ‘outdoor relief’ was abolished.

There was a national outcry at the imposition of this Poor Law Bill, and in October 1834, when the House of Parliament burned down, many people thought that “There’s a bonfire for the Poor Law Bill!”

There was even a question of whether Bills which had been burned in the fire were still valid, “and many swore when home returning, They saw the Poor Law a-burning!”

Conditions in the Union workhouse Admission into the workhouse had to be authorized by the Board of Guardians at their weekly meetings, when applicants would be interviewed. They then went into a probationary ward, where the workhouse medical officer would examine them to check on their 64

state of health and if they had an illness they would be placed in a sick ward. Children generally had their hair cut off.

One of the stipulations of the New Poor Law was that the workhouse must be ‘less eligible’ than any alternative – that is, that nobody would choose to go there if they could avoid it. Children – even babies – were separated from their mothers; husbands from their wives; food was to be just enough to sustain life, carefully weighed out for each meal. The drink was water.

Paupers were allowed to leave the workhouse but they had to give ‘reasonable notice’ so that their clothes would be given back to them. If a man had a family, they all had to leave at the same time.

When poor people went into the workhouse their clothes were exchanged for a uniform; if they managed to leave the workhouse, they could have their own clothes back, but few people managed to get together enough money to leave.

A newspaper illustration from The Penny Satirist (6 September 1845), depicting the inmates of Andover workhouse fighting over bones to eat 65

The conditions in workhouses were designed to put people off.

Work was found for them to do to earn their keep: breaking stones; crushing bones; and unravelling old ropes which could be reused as hemp. This could lead to misuse: in 1844 the Board of Guardians visited the workhouse at Andover, and found that the male inmates were gnawing the shreds of meat off the bones. A cartoon showing this ‘Andover Incident’ portrays them as subhuman creatures with simian features; perhaps this was the middle-class view of poverty.

The New Poor Law in Bampton It was not until 1849 that the new mechanism for the care of the poor was formally put in place for Bampton. On April 5th of that year, at a proclamation at the Town Hall at Witney, it was declared that James Perkins and Edward Jeeves were to be the overseers of the poor for the following year. A printed certificate – with gaps for their names – was issued, with a list of their duties. One of these was that the rates were to be reviewed; and an lnspection of Rate to be allowed to every inhabitant of the parish, at a cost of one shilling; that is, beyond the reach of poor people.

Appeals could be made against the rate - and when this occured, the overseers were advised to employ an attorney. Failure to pay the rates within seven days could result in seizure of the goods of the non-payer.

All letting of parish lands and houses had to be done under an order of the Poor Law Board in London.

In case of ‘sudden and urgent Necessity’, payment of relief of the poor could be made, though not in money, and medical relief was only to be allowed where a case of sudden and dangerous illness might require it.

Dead people could be buried, so long as the guardians ‘did not derive 66

any personal pecuniary benefit from the burial of such Dead Body’.

The overseers were also to be in charge of keeping lists of ratepayers, of owners, of Parliamentary Voters, of Jury lists; and in case of neglect of Duty or disobedience of any lawful warrant or order of JPs, for willful disobedience, 5£ for first offence, 20£ for second, for third will the indictable for a misdemeanor.

The intention of the commissioners was clear: there were to be no exceptions to the new rules.

The end of the Bampton workhouse With the building of the Union workhouse on the edge of Witney, many of the duties of the overseers of the poor became obsolete, though the vestry continued to elect two overseers of the poor and two surveyors of the highways. In 1861 it was suggested that an assistant overseer should be appointed; an amendment was moved to quash this, but the original motion was carried, and Mr John Teale was appointed, with a salary of £15 a year; he also received £3 a year as Assistant Surveyor for the Highways of Bampton.

The following year only two men – one of them the vicar - turned up for the meeting to nominate the overseers of the poor and by March 1864, Mr Teale’s salary had risen to £21 a year. He supplemented this by, for instance, revising and recopying the Valuation List, and by making and collecting the Rates for the Cattle Plague, earning a further £2 for each of these.

There are few references to the duties which the overseer still had to carry out: what, for instance, was the best means to adopt with regard to James Hughes, who was crippled? Could he be taught a trade ‘out of the house’ – that is, not in the workhouse? Henry Smith was in a lunatic asylum at Littlemore, might his mother be made responsible for his support? But as most of the abject poor 67

had been moved to the union workhouse the former lists of paupers were not relevant.

In November 1865, Mr Teale died and at the following vestry meeting, only one person turned up. Two weeks later the next vestry meeting appointed his son, also Mr John Teale, as assistant overseer at a salary of £12 for the half year from Michaelmas until Lady Day – 29th September to 25th March. By the following February, Mr John Teale was one of the men signing the minutes of the vestry, and in March 1866 he was re-elected by a large majority, with a salary of £18 a year.

Mr John Teale’s powers increased gradually; he was appointed to collect the Highway Rates for Bampton and also for Weald, for £4.10s; he was asked to again revise and recopy the Valuation list, and to make and collect the Rates for the Cattle Plague; while by April 1868 he was one of the men who decided how much should be spent on the renovation of the Church.

Mr John Teale was also part of the group who ordered that there should be a different basis for the assessment of rates: starting on 29th September 1869 the money should be paid by the owners, rather than the occupiers, of all rateable hereditaments. This decision took the liability for rate payment into the hands of the larger landowners and away from their tenants, concentrating the payment of rates – and the decision as to how they would be spent – in the hands of the richer landowners.

Under the New Poor Law, the former workhouse in Bampton had become redundant. It was sold off in 1840 and the money raised was used as part of the parish contribution to the new Union workhouse to be built on the hill between Witney and Curbridge.

The Curbridge Union The Witney Poor Law Union included 32 parishes, with a total area of 108 square miles. The Union workhouse was a large stone building, 68

erected for the accommodation of 450 persons, on the Burford road about half a mile north-west from Witney and in the parish of Curbridge. The average number of paupers there during 1852 was 300; and the average weekly expense of each pauper was 2s. 2d.

The Curbridge Union workhouse was built on what is now Tower Hill, looking over the wooded valley towards the church. It was designed by George Wilkinson, the son of a Witney builder, in a shape which fitted the restrictions put on its inhabitants. By the provisions of the New Poor Law, the people who were housed there were to be kept in separate areas of the workhouse according to their age and sex; men, women, boys, girls; and Wilkinson’s design allowed for this by designing a building with separate wings for each group, so that its plan looks like a four-spoked wheel. The accommodation for the resident staff was on the upper floor of the main building.

At the centre of the cross there was a low domed roof, topped with a circular lantern that may have held a bell, adding an incongruous grandeur to the bleak building.

Early aerial photograph of the Curbridge Union workhouse taken from the north-west 69

In front of this building there was an administrative block; and to the north side there were steps up to the chapel, which could also serve as a refectory. The workhouse was reached through an arch into its courtyard, with gates that could be closed at night. Today only one block of the building remains, the rest having been pulled down. The chapel still stands however, though now converted into an office, along with a freestanding gothic-type arch which perhaps is part of the ruins of the gatehouse.

To the south-east of the workhouse lies the quarry from which its stone came, with a lime kiln beside it; builders in Witney found their materials close at hand.

Plan of the Witney Union workhouse at Tower Hill, Curbridge

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The Curbridge workhouse chapel in 2014

The main block of the Curbridge workhouse in 2014

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Conditions in the workhouse Before the workhouse was built, one of the guardians of the Witney Poor Law Union wrote to the newspaper, warning of the hardships that the inmates would suffer: First, I find upon entering, your own clothes will be exchanged for the workhouse dress, the men in plain grey cloth, the women in a check bed gown, over their other garments. Their own clothes to be cleaned and returned when they can maintain themselves. The men are then passed to their wards, and the women to theirs, and the children to other wards, according to age, sex, and other circumstances. Your food, according to its kind, will be good, and served up by weight and measure, all sitting down in large dining rooms, one of which will be a Chapel to those of the Church of England. Dissenters will be allowed to go out to their own place of worship, upon condition of immediate return. No pauper will be allowed to go out without leave, and that but upon a particular occasion.

Food: - Breakfast - Bread and gruel.

- Dinner - Meat and potatoes three days, the other days soup.

- Supper - Bread and cheese or broth.

No teas or beer allowed, except to the sick.

Children will have their hair shorn close, be kept clean, and educated.

Now, in conclusion, I hope no industrious person will take alarm at this statement. If they cannot maintain themselves they are sure of food and clothing. We know that no manly mind would choose this manner of life; but such persons are to be respected even here if they cannot avoid it. Now these are the most material things in the new system, the hardest measure of which appears to me to be a separation of man and wife; but, as this is under the authority of Parliament, and the house is so constructed, the only resistance you or I could possibly offer is to strive to maintain our own independence.

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When Dickens wrote ‘Oliver Twist’, although Cruikshank’s wellknown illustration of ‘Oliver Twist asking for more’ was shown as comical, the scene in the workhouse was not a parody.

Oliver Twist asking for more, as drawn by George Cruikshank in 1834

The workhouse census returns The census returns for the Union workhouse revealed various aspects of the living conditions there. In ordinary households the members are generally listed in the return in order of age or importance; but here they are given in groups of men, women, boys and girls 73

perhaps as the returning officer went from one room to the next, entering the names of paupers in each room in turn.

In 1851, the census returns showed that 11 people from Bampton were living in the Union workhouse in Curbridge. Their ages ranged from 67 years old to ten. Five of them were men, four were women, and there were two boys aged ten and 13. There were three Burleys, and Ann Hearn, aged 29, was presumably the mother of William Hearn, aged ten.

The census of 1871 showed that ten people from Bampton were living in the Union workhouse. Five of them were ‘scholars’ – children at school – and two were infants; Eliz Hopkins, aged 30, was probably the mother of three of the children; Catharine May Hopkins, aged 84, was perhaps her mother-in-law. There were three Clark children, aged 11, seven and one; and 71-year-old Ann Orpenford.

There were no men from Bampton recorded in the workhouse that day.

The 1881 census also gave details of the staff of the workhouse.

The Matron was a widow, while her daughter worked as the schoolmistress; there was a nurse, a porter and a gardener. There was also a woman visitor, a guest of the Matron. There were 211 inmates in the workhouse; nine of them were born in Bampton.

Five of these were men, described as ‘labourer’, aged between 49 and 73. There were two women, one a laundress and the other a needlewoman, a ten-year-old girl, and a six-year-old boy called Aitchison Chas Hieatt, described as ‘grandson, scholar’, but with no indication of his grandparents, nor of the reason for his oddly pretentious name.

Ten years later the census of 1891 gave the number of people born in Bampton as 12. There were two men of working age, both ‘farm labourers’; three boy scholars – none of them with the same name as the adults; six adult women aged between 84 and 17; and one girl scholar, with the same surname – Collis – as two of the boys. One 74

of the women, a ‘farm labourer’ was labelled ‘imbecile’. Four of the women were described as ‘gen. labourer’.

The names of people born in Bampton were in each case different from those listed in the census returns for other decades; no paupers from Bampton stayed in the workhouse long enough to appear in two returns running.

The end of the Poor Rate in Bampton The building of the Union workhouse, and the embargo on payment of a poor rate to anyone outside it, brought an end to the responsibility of the select vestry for paying for the poor. The payment of the rates began to be used more widely: for street lighting; for a fire engine; and for public health. In 1894, Bampton and Weald came under the jurisdiction of Witney Rural District, though the vestry went on meeting.

The account of the Poor Law should perhaps end with the provision of the national Old Age Pension in 1909, when men and women over 70, who were of good character and earned less than £31.10.0 a year, were allotted five shillings a week each, or seven shillings and sixpence for a married couple. The pension was not paid through the vestry, because of its association with the shame that was still felt by paupers, but by the Post Office, and half a million old people benefitted from it.

In Flora Thompson’s Lark Rise to Candleford, Flora remembers that when she worked in the Post Office at Candleford the people who received their first payments were amazed at the benevolence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer: “At first, when some of them came to pick up their pension at the Post Office, tears of gratitude would roll down their faces, and they would say as they picked up their money, ‘God bless that Lord George!’ for they could not believe that one so powerful and munificent could be a plain Mister [Lloyd George].”

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Appendix: Examples of wills that mention Bampton The will of Edward Cotton In the Name of God Amen I Edward Cotton of Silferton, Clerke being mindeful of my mortality Doe make this my Last will & Testament ffirst I give unto my Nephews & Neeces three pounds apiece in Lieu of forty shillings apiece given them by my father Item I give unto the poore housekeepers att Bampton in the bush in Oxfordshire and to the parish for the use of the said house keepers fifty pounds my will being that it shold bee put out on good security by the Vicars & Churchwardens of the said parish & the interest thereof paid to the such parishioners as are not Chargeable to the parish And who duely frequent theire Church & receive there the holy sacrament of the Lords supper And to such persons of honest & religious Lives as may encourage industry & piety provided allwayes that no one have Lesse then halfe a Crowne & no one more then ten shillings the money to bee disposed of by and with the Consent of the three Vicars and to such persons as they shall appoint reposeing this Confidence in them that they will not by partiality misplace any Charity or so dispose of what I give as to ease the parish thereby of that releife which is due from them to the poore.

The will of Richard Coxeter In the name of God Amen ye Eight day of November in ye 33 yeare of ye raigne of or Soveign Lord Charles the second by the grace of god of England Scotland ffrance & Ireland Kind & Queene defender of ye faith etc. Anno dni 1681 I Richard Coxeter of Weald in ye parish of Bampton in ye county of Oxon gent being of pfect mind & memory (blessed be God for ye Same) doe make & ordaine This my last will & testamt in manner & former following ffirst I bequeath my Soule into the hands of God my Creator trusting only to be saved by the mercy of Jesus Crist my Savior & redeemer, And my body I Comitt to ye Earth whereof it was made to be interred in the parish Church of Bampton aforesaid (if it shall please God I shall dye there), at ye discetion of my executrix hereafter named hoping for a glorious resurrection at ye Last 76

day, Also I give & bequeath unto the use of the poore of Bampton & Weald ye sume of Tenne pounds to be paid within Two yeares after my decease for ye placing out of Apprentices out of the said Towneships only to Tradesmen not living within the parish of Bampton aforesaid According to ye discretion of Stephen Phillips Dr of divinity & Thomas snell Batchelor of divinity Two of the Vicars of Bampton aforesaid Richard Dewe of Bampton aforesaid gent & the heirs male of me the said Richard Coxeter or the major parte of them & in case there shall be equallity of voices in such placing forth of Apprentices then that part or side which my heire Male shall give his voice or suffrage shal be followed & have the suffrage, and my desire is yt land may be purchased therewith as soone as conveniently may be & in the meane time that upon putting forth of the same money reall security shall be taken by bond to prevent the losse & damage thereof.

The will of Mary Dewe In the last Will and Testament of Mrs Mary Dewe of Weald in the Parish of Bampton in the County of Oxford Spinster is the following Devise I Give and bequeath to the Vicars of Bampton aforesaid my said Exectrix Thomas Trollope Browne of Greatford in the County of Lincoln Esquire and Mr Gascoigne ffrederick of Bampton aforesaid the sume of Two hundred Pounds to be applied by them and the Vicars of Bampton for the time being and the Heirs Executors or Administrators of the said Thomas Trollope Browne and Gasgoigne ffrederick in employing the Poor of the Parish of Bamton aforesaid in some Manufactory under such Rules and Regulations as they shall think fit or shall be hereafter established by Authority of Parliament And all the rest Residue and Remainder of my Personal Estate I Give and bequeath to my Dear Sister Jane Dewe whom I appoint sole Executrix of this my Will Dated 24th September 1763

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