Clothing the Poor in Early-Nineteenth-Century England

Abstract

In a pioneering study in this journal, Steven King suggested that parish clothing provision was of fundamental importance in the eighteenth century both in terms of local social relations and the perceived standing of parish authorities. This article tests his thesis for the first decades of the nineteenth century, confirming that parish clothing was indeed pivotal in maintaining a sense of local social justice. However, it takes issue with King's reasons for the relatively high levels of clothing provision enjoyed by the poor, suggesting that they had as much to do with a set of shared values between giver and receiver as they did with considerations of parish prestige or social order.     

The Parish Community Through the Vicarage Window: Nineteenth-Century Clergy Visitation Returns

Abstract

This article uses the visitation returns of the clergy to Archbishop Thomson at his primary visitation of the diocese of York in 1865 in order to look at the relationships which defined the parish community as seen, idealised and criticised by the clergymen of this mainly rural diocese. Their collective view highlights key elements which helped make or break the community with the parish church at its centre: the support given by local landowners; the central importance of the school; and the relationship with the farmers of the parish and impact of farming practices on church attendance. Though the ideal parish community rarely existed it inspired conscientious clergymen to work for its creation in sometimes difficult circumstances. The study also illustrates the value of visitation returns for the local historian and gives pause for thought as the closure of village schools and churches to-day undermines the communities our forebears strove to create.     

The Reception of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement in Three Yorkshire Parishes, 1559–72

Abstract

This article explores how the Elizabethan religious settlement of 1559 was experienced at parish level, up to the year 1572. Churchwardens' accounts for the Yorkshire parishes of Masham, Sheffield and St Martin's, Coney Street, York, are used alongside ecclesiastical court records and other sources to build a picture of local responses to the settlement. The factors found to be significant include the degree to which the reforms demanded a change in previous community practices, and the pace and sequence with which sacred material objects were removed and installed. The latter are viewed as concrete aspects of religiosity which gave meaning to more abstract doctrines for both clergy and laity. The way in which authority was realised in the parishes, through coercion, collaboration, negotiation or conversion is also explored. Most significantly, the ability of lay parishioners to negotiate among themselves, and with external agents of authority during the process, determined the resulting style of local Protestantism.     

The Poor Law,the Parish Apprentice,and the Textile Industries in the North of England, 1780–1830

Abstract

This article combines evidence from a variety of Poor Law sources, including apprenticeship registers and indentures, and minutes of discussions of parish officials, and information from business records, to assess the relationship between textile entrepreneurs and Poor Law officialdom in the development of the early textile factory labour force in the North of England, of which parish children formed an important component. It reveals the distribution of parish apprentices over long and short distances to the early northern textile mills. The impact of such labour on textile manufacturing in the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries will be considered; and finally the experience of parish children as they became accustomed to novel working conditions will be explored. The analysis of Poor Law and business documentation reveals a meticulous record-keeping process, and a formality of procedure not previously acknowledged. It has been possible to trace apprentice children, both individually and in groups, from their parish of origin through their years of apprenticeship to adult employment. Reports of factory visits and correspondence between parish officials and employers are examined to analyse the relationship between parish and employer through the course of the apprenticeship term. It concludes that parish children were more important to the formation of the early textile factory workforce than conventionally believed, and that their apprenticeship enhanced their longer term employability.     

The ethnic classification in the late 19th‐century censuses

The topic of this paper is the ethnic classification used in the last three censuses of the 19th century, i.e. the censuses taken in 1875, 1891 and 1900. The aim is to study the content of this classification diachronically, based on new and supplementary evidence from the parish of Astafjord in the southern part of Troms county, northern Norway. This evidence primarily comes from the parish registers from one decade which, unusually, contain rather elaborate characterizations of ethnic affiliation. This feature of the parish registers gives a unique opportunity to check the corresponding characterizations in the censuses.     

From Langford to South Cerney: The Rood in Anglo-Norman England

Abstract

Two fragments of a figure of Christ crucified from South Cerney parish church comprise the sole survivor of a Romanesque wooden Rood with an English provenance. This paper argues that it is an example of a Triumphkreuz originally located at the chancel arch of South Cerney church and seeks to establish its relationship to both pre-Conquest monumental stone Rood sculpture and wooden Triumphkreuze in northern Europe and Scandinavia. The Triumphkreuz appears to have been a standard feature of the greater churches of Norman England, but how common it was in post-Conquest parish churches is less clear. While church dedications suggest that devotion to the Holy Cross was particularly strong in south-west England, late-11th- and 12th-century mural painting and sculpture of chancel arches in parish churches over a wide area exhibit a close connection with the Rood.     

Welfare Systems and the Parish Nurse in Early Modern London, 1650–1725

Abstract

This article argues that the part played by parish nurses in the capital's welfare system requires radical reassessment. Such women were playing a central role in the lives of the poor by the early 18th century. It will demonstrate that, at least in some of London's large suburban parishes, there existed a surprisingly sophisticated network of parish nurses who played an important part in the overall care package delivered to paupers. Such nurses, often operating on a very substantial scale, were running what were in effect nursing homes for the homeless and sick poor. These women were running multi-functional enterprises. In addition to caring for the sick poor, they looked after abandoned and orphaned children, pregnant women and lunatics. The existence of these individuals has not been hitherto identified in the metropolis, has been almost completely missed by those interested in the history of women's work, and hardly features in the small but growing literature on nursing in early modern England. Such neglect is not surprising, because, as the article concludes, such 'multi-functional' parish nurses, in all probability, only existed in the metropolis for a relatively short period of time. The metropolitan workhouse movement undermined many functions of the London parish nurse. By the mid-18th century, the roles and responsibilities of 'the parish nurse' had become restricted largely to the rearing and nursing of children and infants.     

The Tames of Fairford

Abstract

Based on evidence collected by surveying a sample of Norfolk churches, this paper presents a reappraisal of the presumed ubiquity of chancel screens in late medieval parish churches. Building on this foundation, evidence is presented and discussed regarding the supposed homogenous form of chancel screens, and the relationship of these screens to other elements such as lofts and beams. By considering the broad period of c. 1330–1537, during which chancel screens were being constructed or renewed, this paper sets out the major changes in their structure, decoration and patronage. Whilst perhaps not ubiquitous, chancel screens did achieve and retain a widespread popularity during a protracted period. The paper offers explanations for their prevalence and argues that, in being representative of the gates of heaven, chancel screens were an important element in the setting of the medieval liturgy at parish level. It concludes with a discussion of patronage which is intended to reinforce the points made about the symbolic and physical centrality of these furnishings in Norfolk parish churches.     

THE MEDICALISATION OF A PARISH WORKHOUSE IN GEORGIAN WESTMINSTER: ST MARTIN IN THE FIELDS, 1725–1824

Abstract

Any standard account of the history of medicine in eighteenth-century England would include a survey of the proliferation of medical institutions and charities in the nation’s capital. The eighteenth century, it is well known, saw the foundation of large numbers of hospitals, charitable dispensaries, private mad-houses and infirmaries in London. Such institutions, moreover, often served as a blue print for provincial foundations. However, the eighteenth-century also saw the growth of indoor relief, particularly in the metropolis. Few historians have connected the two phenomena. Those interested in the growth of institutional medical provision have tended to neglect the role of parish workhouses. Using evidence from one of London’s biggest workhouses, that of St Martin in the Fields, this article argues that the medical services provided by the parish workhouse became increasingly extensive, and, for this reason, reliance on external medical provision declined over time.     

Historical and zooarchaeological evidence of horn-working in post-medieval London

Abstract

The 1641 list of members of the Horners' Company, parish registers and apprentice rolls provide information on the location of the horn-working industry in east London, on family relationships and on how horners' careers may have developed. Sawn cattle horncores distinguish horn-working deposits from butchers' and tanners' waste. Horn waste was used as a cheap substitute for brick to line pits in workshops of other trades and in houses and to line field drains in the nearby countryside.     

A British Lead Seal from Northern New Spain

Abstract

It is often suggested that only a fairly small percentage of the buried population was commemorated on stones before the 19th century. However, there has been little empirical study of what proportion is represented on monuments for different periods. This work compares the number of individuals whose names appear on surviving monuments in historical burial grounds, and the number of individuals recorded in parish records. Although there was considerable variation between graveyards, the mean proportion of those registered as having been buried and who were also commemorated was 8·23%, the figure being much higher in rural areas and much lower in urban ones.     

Heeding the warnings: Deng Huaxi and Zheng Guanying’s Shengshi weiyan

ABSTRACT

This article establishes a link between Qing-dynasty official Deng Huaxi (1826–1916) and comprador Zheng Guanying’s (1842–1922) political treatise Shengshi weiyan (Warnings to a Prosperous Age). It suggests that Deng Huaxi’s reforms as provincial governor of Anhui and Guizhou were inspired by Shengshi weiyan. The work did not come to be applied in the 1898 Hundred Days Reform but saw at least partial success in the modernization of the two landlocked provinces. This interpretation supports the scholarly consensus that the geographical extent of the late Qing self-strengthening reforms was contingent on various persons and places and being far more focused on coastal provinces. It also suggests that the nature, pace, and scope of reforms lay at the discretion of governors-general and provincial governors, many of whom possessed few resources with which to implement them fully. The story of Deng Huaxi challenges a common idea about late Qing China: that meaningful reforms relied only on men with deep political connections to the central court and access to private fortunes. It also shows how effectively messages by Zheng Guanying and other theorists could reach local administrators and leaders and how, in provinces not so dominated by conservative literati elites, Western-style reforms garnered much appeal without too much resistance.     

Rethinking Jagiełło Hungary (1490–1526)

Abstract

Historians of the Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania have identified the Sejm (Diet) of 1712–13 as a moment when, after the chaos of the Great Northern War, orderly government might have been restored and some political reforms enacted. Specifically, the efforts of August II to persuade the Sejm to pass wide-ranging fiscal and military reforms have been examined by Józef Gierowski, who argued that August II missed an opportunity at this Sejm to cement an alliance with the envoys (pos?owie) that might have curbed the powers of the hetmans, and gone on to enact further political reforms.

This focus on the king’s agenda, however, overlooks the reform programme pursued independently by the Sejm envoys. The envoys were hostile to the hetmans, but sought different reforms from the king. Examining their agenda allows a fuller understanding of this Sejm, as well as broadening our understanding of szlachta political thought more generally.     

‘In common for everyone’: shared space and private possessions in the English parish church nave

ABSTRACT

Medieval historians have long emphasised the social significance of the installation of fixed and owned seats in English parish churches, but its impact was affective and ideological too. Since the late thirteenth century, church authorities had decreed that all worshippers should have equal access to the nave but seating introduced an object with many of the characteristics of private property into space theoretically held in common. Judges and bishops not only rued this as a corruption of Christian egalitarianism but also feared the opportunities for sensory enrichment, privacy and conflict that came with purchased pews. A new proprietary culture developed in churches that stimulated new practices, affective bonds and ideas about how entitlements and hierarchies from parochial life should or could be transplanted into the nave space.     

Family and community in early modern England: A study of Selston,Nottinghamshire 1550–1699

Abstract

This article is based on the examination of wills made by residents of the parish of Selston over the period 1550–1699. The major features examined here include inheritance custom and practice, providing clues to relationships within the family; the type and pattern of bequests made to kin and non-kin, giving some indication of the respective importance of family and community; and through analysis of the individuals appointed as witnesses and supervisors, the roles played by the wider community, particularly the leading figures of clergy and gentry. Findings suggest a significant change in community relationships after the end of the sixteenth century with a greater emphasis on the nuclear family together with a more detached attitude towards church, clergy, and the wider communal responsibilities such as provision for the poor.     

Holywell Lane: A Squatter Community in the Shropshire Coalfield

Abstract

The thirty or so cottages which lined Holywell Lane in the parish of Little Dawley, about 2 miles from the Iron Bridge, formed one of many squatter communities in the Coalbrookdale Coalfield. Documentary, oral, architectural and archaeological sources are here used to demonstrate the particular features of this kind of settlement, in its buildings, the long periods of tenure by some families, and the variety of occupations and by-employments of its inhabitants. It is argued that such open communities were an important influence on industrial development not just in the Shropshire coalfield, but elsewhere in Britain.     

Society News

Abstract

The railway navvy is an elusive and rather obscure figure for the family and community historian. He is traditionally regarded as a single, hard-working, hard-drinking, hard-fighting Irishman who was a perpetual outsider, isolated from the communities in his working neighbourhood. This article examines these stereotypes through a study of the navvy community engaged in building the Dore and Chinley railway line, linking Sheffield and Manchester, between 1888 and 1894. In addition to reviewing the composition of the navvy workforce, the relationship between the navvies and the resident communities is also examined. The analysis rests primarily on data from the 1891 census but also uses evidence from several other sources, including newspaper reports, parish registers, school records and local authority records.     

Population,Households and Fisheries in the Parish of Hvalsnes,Southwestern Iceland, 1750–1850

Abstract

This is an in-depth study of the parish of Hvalsnes, a small fishing community situated on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwestern Iceland, during the period 1750–1850. The study is inspired by the nordic Coastal Region Project carried out in the 1990s, focussing on the relationship between economic factors and household size and structure. With reference to the concept of ecotype, Hvalsnes is compared to a few farming communities in southern and western Iceland as regards a number of economic and demographic factors. Among the features characterizing the Hvalsnes community was the large proportion of crofter and cottar households in relation to those of independent farmer-fishermen; the former constituted a valuable workforce for the commercial cod fisheries on the abundant Reykjanes banks. At the same time, the study reveals that during the winter season the operation of the fishing fleet was highly dependent on seasonal migration from farming areas. In this perspective Hvalsnes appears to be an Icelandic parallel to Lofoten in Norway. A closer view of the techniques and social organization of fishing in the parish discloses significant differences between its three individual sections. It is argued that these differences help to explain why some sections suffered more, in economic and demographic terms, than others from the natural catastrophes and political changes which took place towards the end of the eighteenth century. However, these changes did not alter the general condition of the landless population: cottars by the seaside and living-in servants in the countryside. Among these groups many individuals continued now as before their seasonal migration between the two ecotypes. Tentatively, it is argued that the seasonal exchange of workforce between fishing and farming communities contributed to an efficient use of the labour capacity of their members.     

Testing Methods of Record Linkage on Swedish Censuses

Abstract.

Research benefits a great deal when different kinds of registers can be combined. Record linkage is an important tool for connecting sources to create longitudinal databases of individual data. In this article, researchers test and evaluate different methods of record linkage used when linking two censuses. By comparing the results of the census linkage with other continuous Swedish parish registers, they find that applying constructed name variables and household links considerably increases the success rate without the risk of introducing bias. Missing links are mainly related to name problems, and appear most frequently among children and when the family structure has changed between the censuses. Faulty links are very few and must be regarded as only a marginal problem for analysis. The study underlines the importance of adapting the linkage process to the special characteristics of the sources.