....Population:  Expanding!

Welcome to our free Somerset village website.  
A runner-up in the Somerset Community Council village website competition 2006

New!
Family research links

The following is extracted from the Charity Commissioners Reports (1819-1837)

Held at Somerset Records Office.

Parish of East Brent

 Mr. Piggott’s Gift. 

Upon the table of benefactions in the church of the parish, is the following statement; viz. 

Mr. Piggott by his last will and testament, gave 10L to the second poor of this parish, in the year of our Lord 1655, the interest thereof to be given in money, by the church wardens and overseers, on Easter. day, for ever” ‘This 10L. has never been invested, but appears to have been received by the Overseers of the poor, and applied to the purposes of the parish, leaving the rates chargeable with the interest:  the sum of 1Osh.  is accordingly raised in the regular assessments for the relief of the poor, and given every year by the parish officers in bread to the poor, on or about Easter-day.

 GIFTS OF WILLIAM BAWDEN, JOHN CHAPPELL, and JOEL KESZARD.

On the benefaction tables in this church are also the following statements :—

Mr. William Bawden gave 5L to the second poor of this parish, in the year 1708, the interest thereof to be given in money, by the churchwardens and overseers, on Easter day, forever.

“Mr. John Chappell gave 6L to the second poor of this parish, in the year 1724’, the interest thereof to be given in money, by- the churchwardens. and overseers, on Christmas-day, for ever.

Mr. Joel Keszard gave 5L to the second poor of this parish, in the year 1742, the interest thereof to be given in money, by the churchwardens and overseers, on Easter day, for ever.”

The three several gifts Last mentioned appear also to have been received and applied to the uses of’ the parish. The sum of  l6s. as the interest of them, is raised out of the parish assessments, and distributed in bread among the poor, in the same manner as Mr. Piggott’s gift before mentioned.

 JACOB DEAN’s GIFT,

Upon the same Benefaction tables in this church is also the following inscription

Jacob Dean, gentleman, by his last will, gave to the churchwardens and overseers  of’ this parish, in, the year of 1803 the sum of  20L the interest thereof  to be distributed on the day after Christmas Day, between 20 poor men who do not receive weekly pay or relief’ therefrom.’’

This sum has also been appropriated to parish purposes, and the interest is raised out of’ the parish rates.

Twenty shillings are annually paid by the parish officers to ‘20 poor men. who do not receive parish  relief.

 ROBERT IVYLEAF’S GIFT.

Upon the same benefaction table it is also stated, that “ Mr. Robert Ivyleaf  gave 5L. to the second poor of the parish, the interest thereof to he paid out of  his estate near Rooksbridge, to be laid out in bread, and given on Christmas day, for ever 1722

The estate at Rooksbridge is a large farm, in the parish of East Brent, the property of the Ivyleaf family, the tenant (of which pays regularly the sum of 5s to the churchwardens or overseers of this parish, who lay it out in bread, and distribute it among the second poor on Christmas day.

Between 1601 and 1834. Application of the old Poor Law was inconsistent, and varied a great deal from area to area.

It soon became obvious that some parishes were more sympathetic towards their poor, and this tended to result in paupers moving into that area from less generous parishes. To prevent this, parliament passed the 1662 Settlement Act

The 1662 Settlement act.

Was based on the practice of returning paupers to the parish of their residence or birth. Residence of a year and a day was required for a person to qualify for relief.

A person had to have a 'settlement' e.g. ‘Belong to a parish’ to obtain relief from that parish. Some of the ways a ‘settlement’ could be secured were:

• Birth in the parish
• Marriage (in the case of a woman)
• Working in the parish for a year and a day

The Settlement Laws sometimes caused problems because they:

• Hindered the free movement of labour
• Prevented men from leaving overpopulated parishes in search of work on the 'off-chance' of finding employment
• Led to short contracts of, for example, 364 days or 51 weeks. A man might lodge in a parish for 25 years, working on short contracts, and still not be eligible for poor relief later in life.

The Workhouse Test Act

In 1723, the Laws relating to the Settlement, Employment and Relief of the Poor, allowed the establishment of workhouses where poor relief would be provided.

This could be done either by an individual parish or by combining of a number of neighbouring parishes, which would share the cost.  Between 1723 and 1750, about 600 parish workhouses were established in England and Wales.

The act also introduced the 'workhouse test' - that anyone who applied for relief would have to enter the workhouse where he or she would be obliged to undertake set work in return for relief. The principle was that entering the workhouse should be a deterrent to casual in irresponsible claims on the poor rates. Only the truly desperate would apply to 'the house'.

This principle was continued in the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act.

 By 1776, there were about 2,000 workhouses, each with between 20 and 50 inmates. The cost of indoor relief was high; inefficient and harsh workhouse management led to increased social pressure for more sympathetic treatment of the poor.

However in 1776, Adam Smith published his Wealth of Nations in which he said that “The State should not interfere and supply relief, but should let the laws of supply and demand operate freely. This would mean that those who could not work should be allowed to fend for themselves - and starve if necessary - rather than having the State provide any form of relief. Further men would work for any wage rather than starve themselves and their families; lower wages would benefit employers and reduce the price of food”.

(Not a nice man)!

The Joint parish poorhouse.

Thomas Gilbert, an MP, first attempted to have this Act passed in 1765. He finally succeeded in 1782.
The Act allowed groups of parishes to form unions and build joint poor-houses for the totally destitute, in order to share the cost of poor relief through 'poor houses' which were established for looking after only the old, the sick and the infirm. Able-bodied paupers were excluded from these poor-houses: instead, either they were to be provided with

1. outdoor relief
2. employment near their own homes

Land-owners, farmers and other employers were to receive allowances from the parish rates so they could bring wages up to subsistence levels. Gilbert's Act is often used to demonstrate the government's humanitarianism but it was even more important in expanding the scope of poor relief and attempting to bring the gentry into closer involvement in poor relief administration.

By 1796 outdoor relief was given without a workhouse test because it was a period of widespread distress and unrest. Also many paupers were not able-bodied and parishes were not big enough to cope with the problems.

Notes on the 1841 census returns for Rooksbridge.

A page from the East Brent Church vestry accounts.

Go to the Workhouse!