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27
Extract from an account of a society, for promotion of industry in the
county of Essex. by John Conyers Esq. pp 197-204 Dated 5th Feb 1798.
In November 1794, a meeting was held at Epping in Essex, to take into
consideration a proposal for the promotion of industry in that neighbourhood. An
association was formed of 14 parishes, the parochial subscription being agreed
to be one per cent. on their rates, and that of individuals not more than five
shillings each. This with a few benefactions, produced in 1795, the sum of £154.
which was proposed to be set apart as a fund for giving annual presents of
clothing to those children who should produce the best specimens of industry;
and sums of money, not exceeding £10
each, for any such young person on their going to apprenticeship, or service, or
being married, according to the number of annual prizes such young person should
have obtained; and also rewards in money to poor persons who had brought up four
or more children to the age of fourteen years without parish relief, and to
overseers who should distinguish themselves in the execution of their office,
and in the employment of the poor. The society at the same time took measures
for having workrooms and teachers provided in the different parishes, and
spinning wheels and a supply of work for the poor at their own houses; and also
for ensuring to them that they should be paid by their parishes the full price
of their work; which though making a difference of only three or four pence in
the pound, and being a very trifling expence to the parish, was, nevertheless to
the individual who received it, a very powerful reward and encouragement.
Notes :-
The reader is referred for further particulars, to a printed account of the
institution, published for the benefit of the Society, and sold by Cadell and
Davies in the Strand.
The poor, who might otherwise be inclined to spin yarn, labour under great
discouragement, arising from the manner in which they are paid for their work
when finished. The shopkeeper of whom they get their yarn, professes to pay them
at the rate of a penny per hank; but, when the work is returned to him, he
deducts three-pence or four-pence (or in some cases when the trade has been
slack, five-pence) from every pound of wool spun. This is considered the
woolstaplers profit. Thus an indifferent spinner, who makes but twelve or
perhaps ten hanks of a pound of yarn, gets but eight-pence of six-pence for her
work. But this is not the only discouragement. The shopkeeper makes a favour of
supplying her with yarn, and will not supply her with any, unless she will
consent, not only to take out in shop goods the amount of what she earns by
spinning, but will engage to purchase from him alone such necessaries for her
family as his shop will furnish. By these means she is precluded from laying out
her money at any other shop, where she thinks she could get articles of a better
quality, or at a cheaper rate; and is obliged to submit to any imposition, which
a griping shopkeeper may lay upon her. The committee of industry in Essex,
considering their fund as insufficient for the purpose of relieving the poor
from this oppression, by paying them the full price for their work, has
recommended the plan to parishes In that of Chipping Ongar, by the attention of
the Rev Mr Herringham, and some of the principal inhabitants of the parish, this
plan has been carried into execution, and has produced a very good effect. The
parish procures a stock of wool from a worsted maker: this is deposited
at the workhouse; and the poor, upon application to the person who has the
management of this business, obtains from him a ticket which, being taken to the
mistress of the workhouse, she delivers the wool, and files the ticket. The
work, when finished, is carried to the person who gave the ticket; and he
immediately makes a payment in money, deducting, (for the present) four-pence
for every pound of work. This is done merely to prevent carelessness in
spinning, or frauds in reeling; and the groats so deducted are withheld, till
the whole stock of wool is returned to the manufacturer, where every spinner's
work is ticketed with her name. Upon receiving the approbation of the
manufacturer, as to the work, the spinners are paid their groats; and, far from
complaining of their being withheld in the first instance, they express a
satisfaction at having "a lump of money" as they call it, to lay out
in clothing.
At a meeting of the society on the 31st December 1795, 52 children appeared as
candidates for prizes, as spinners and knitters; and 21 parents who had brought
up 4 or more children in lawful wedlock without parish relief. The parents
received donations not exceeding two guineas each, varied according to the
number of their children, and other circumstances; of the children, 31 received
presents in clothing, not exceeding 20 shillings each, according to their
different merits. In the ensuing year, an equal number of parents received
donations, on account of the families they had brought up; and clothing to the
amount of £36-15s was given to 37 children, who had then produced the best
specimens of industry in spinning, knitting, and plain needle work. The children
receive with the premiums, certificates of good behaviour, which they consider
as marks of distinction, and of which they will feel the benefit through life.
In the present year (Jan 1798) donations of clothing have been made to 61
industrious children to the amount of £51-13s and to parents the sum of £23-12s-6d
on account of the families which they have brought up.
The Society was known as :-
The Society of Industry for the hundreds of Ongar and Harlow, and the
half-hundred of Waltham in the County of Essex.
Observations.
This establishment, formed on the same plan as that of the Rev Mr Bowyer in
Lincolnshire, and rendered successful by the great attention given to it by the
trustees of the different districts, requires very little comment. It is obvious
that its operation, by the most pleasing and acceptable means, those of
encouragement and attention, must be to increase the industry and good habits of
the poor in the neighbourhood and greatly to improve the rising generation. The
donations may appear small to those, who have not sufficiently attended to the
circumstances of the labouring poor, to learn that very trifling rewards, given
with kindness, in a disinterested and honourable way, and unincumbered with any
humiliating condition, will do wonders in exciting
the industry and economy of the cottager; and, in attaching him, by every
tie of gratitude and affection, to those, who feel sufficiently the obligation
of their own duty, to become the friends and benefactors of the poor. I cannot
omit taking this opportunity to observe, that every measure of this kind should
be so framed and conducted, that the motives may not merely escape the guilt of
being interested, but be exempt from the discredit of being suspected.
Dated 5th Feb 1798.
Source:
The Reports of the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the
Comforts of the Poor. Vol 1 1798 446 pp
Submitted by Alan Longbottom
Page updated August 06, 2007
by Rossbret
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27 Industry in Essex