Agricultural Labourer In Receipt Of Parish Relief

[Arranroots]

Hi Greensleeves

I believe some of those housed in the workhouse worked "out" and so presumably retained their occupational description.  Others had employment within the workhouse but they tended to be might unpleasant - things like picking oakum - deliberately so, to prevent people from taking an easy option.

I suppose in some cases, it might just have been the whim of the enumerator or other record keeper though!

[newburychap]

Yes, Overseers records, Guardians' Minute Books and suchlike - they tend to be called different things in different areas.

Overseers papers tend to refer to poor relief pre-1834 - because every parish appointed one or more 'overseers of the poor' to manage their statutory requirement to look after the poor of their parish.

The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 changed the system. Groups of parishes were formed into Unions and a Board of Guardians was set up in each union to handle poor relief for all the parishes in the Union.  So Parish Overseers had a lot less to do post-1834.

This is why the Berks FHS CD of Overseers Papers ends at 1834. It includes a calendar (ie a precis) of all known overseers papers that survive in Berkshire (in practice this means all such records held in the BRO - some more may still exist at a few churches). In reality there are a few that were missed - I have seen some entries in the Newbury Borough Quarter Sessions records that should really have been added. That said the book of Newbury settlement examinations is one of the best bits of the CD!

Anyone who is receiving parish relief at home in 1851 is probably not able bodied (or they would be in the Workhouse). Workhouses did take the infirm if there was no family to look after them but their main intake were the able-bodied poor, who were given such a miserable time that they would be desperate to find work and escape the workhouse (which was exactly the idea as working folk were not a drain on the parish rate).  Looking after the infirm in the workhouse cost money and had no secondary effect as they were not expected to rush off and find a job - so out-relief could be a cheaper alternative.

Over the years workhouses did metamorphise into hospitals, but 1851 is too early for that to have happened to any great extent. In 1929 most surviving workhouses were formally converted into hospitals (eg Battle Hospital in Reading & Sandleford Hospital in Newbury). Bradfield Workhouse was out in the sticks but even that became Waylands Hospital.

[Vicwinann]

This is the record:

SELLWOOD, Alexander Head Widower M 81  1770 Agricultural Labourer In Receipt Of Parish Relief, Chieveley, Berkshire (living Cock Land Bradfield Berkshire), so was not in workhouse..

What type of record would they be held in? Overseers papers?

Just checking the Berks FHS records for overseers papers, but they only stretch to 1834.
Vol 5 BRADFIELD UNION Bucklebury, Burghfield, Stanford Dingley, Sulham, Sulhamstead Abbots, Sulhamstead Bannister & Theale.

Matt

Hi Matt,
Alexander (my 3rd great grandfather) was living with his daughter and son-in-law in 1851. I have never found any record of exactly what out relief he was receiving from Bradfield Union,  but it was obviously cheaper to pay out relief rather than house him in the Workhouse. Additionally, none of my direct family ever entered the Workhouse.  Like many other families, when parents/grandparents got too old to work, someone, usually (in my family's case) the eldest son or youngest daughter, took over the responsibility of caring for and housing them.   This happened right up until the late 1940's when my grandparents lived with us. My father was actually the youngest of 2 sons, and is the main reason why he fell out with his older brother (who had been brought up by his uncle) and never spoke to him again. Not that is,  until I lost my temper at my grandmother's funeral and threatened to bang their heads together.  I was all of 15.
Yours
Vicwinann

[Orpheus]

Hello Matt

You may find reference to your ancestor in the Relief Lists (1845-1921) and/or the Relief Order Books (1835 and 1848-1930) for Bradfield Union held at the Berkshire Record Office in Reading.  If he was eventually admitted to the Workhouse he should appear in the Admission and Discharge Registers (1835-1862) for the same Union.

Orpheus

[mountainashmargo]

I am looking for any information on a David Jarman who was born in Caersws in Montgromeryshire in1849.He and Mary Jarman and Elizabeth Jarman are named in 1851 as being in Reciet of Parish Relief. This was in the Esgob and Castle area of Montgromeryshire now Powys,Upper Lianidioes is also mentioned.Upper Llanidioes now comes under Newtown.

[Arranroots]

Hi Margo

You are more likely to receive assistance on the Montgomeryshire board - you will need to specify what information you already have and precisely what you'd like help with (to avoid duplication)>

Welcome to Rootschat! 

Kind regards, Arranroots 

[flipflops]

I recently read a newspaper article that the parish would pay for a doctor's visit if the family was unable to afford it themselves. They had to apply to the parish who would then decide whether the family were in a position to pay themselves (and presumably if the situation was dire enough). The applicant would then be given a docket and the doctor would visit.

In the case I was reading, the parish officials decided that the father could have afforded to pay and refused to help, the doctor said he couldn't attend without a docket so that was that, no money, no doctor, no recovery.