Newcastle under Lyne
|
|
|
|
Staffordshire; Borough of Newcastle under
Lyne Relief of the Poor. - In Newcastle the parochial responsibility for the
relief of the poor seems to have devolved upon the borough council early in the
17th century. It was the council which thereafter undertook the organization and
distribution of relief, including many of the charities, the appointment of
overseers, and the maintenance of a workhouse. This lasted until 1838 when the
Newcastle Poor Law Union, consisting of Newcastle and eight neighbouring parishes
was created and control vested in a board of 18 guardians, six of them
representatives of the borough. [32] Until the later 18th century the corporation was successful in finding
expedients to avoid the need for poor rates, though very occasionally, as in
1630 [33] aand 1699 [34] a levy was imposed. Special income was sometimes assigned to
the poor - part of a fine imposed for contempt of the mayor in 1623
[35] fines
for defective chimneys in 1689 [36]
the
fees paid by two newly admitted burgesses in 1729 [37] But the first main source of relief during this period was the
borough malt mill erected c.1657 to provide for the maintenance of the poor. [38] The mill was formally settled
in trust for the poor in 1687 specifically in order that a poor rate should not
be necessary; if the income from
leasing the mill proved insufficient, the poor were to have also £12 a year out
of the toll of corn ground there. [39] Although
the arrangement at first achieved its purpose [40] the need for new sources of revenue had arisen again by 1730
and it was then agreed to inclose some 8 acres of The Marsh and use the rents in
lieu of a rate. [41] It is not clear whether this scheme was ever carried out, but
by a Chancery decree of 1740 the proceeds of the mill, £45 a year charged on
the market tolls, stallage, and profits from admissions of burgesses, the £30
annual income from Lord Ward's charity, and the rents from lands bought with
other charity money were devoted to poor relief by the corporation in
satisfaction for all gifts made to them for the poor and as a further means of
avoiding a poor rate. [42] The
charity land was sold c. 1795 and the proceeds were applied to parochial
purposes. [43] The
money arising from the sale of the malt mill in 1796, however, was assigned to
the poor [44] and
the £45 and £30 were still paid to the overseers of the poor in 1903. [45] By 1774, however, the corporation was in debt to the amount of £1,600 on
account of the poor, and a rate was thenceforth imposed in addition to the other
charges. [46] In 1775-6 the product of this rate amounted to £584. [47]
In 1782
23 acres of The Marsh were inclosed [48] and,
leased out as building plots, produced an income which was used to subsidize the
rates; this amounted to £131-19s-6d in 1835-6. [49] The
average annual rate in 1783-5 had dropped to £563-19s-6d, but in 1802-3 the
poor and other rates; assessed at 1s-3d in the £. totalled £964-7s-6d. [50] The first reference to overseers of the poor occurs in 1622 from which
time they were appointed- usually two a year - by the corporation. [51] If
a person chosen was unwilling to serve he was required to find an approved
substitute or pay a fine. [52]
In 1720
it was decided to create two paid offices of standing supervisor, and standing
overseer; the fines for exemption were to be £1-10s-0d and £2 respectively,
and appointment was to be in the hands of the mayor and aldermen. [53] At first only one official, described as an overseer, was appointed, [54] but, after the repetition of
the order in 1727, [55] an overseer and a supervisor were elected in 1728 and 1729 [56] and two overseers in 1730. [57] From 1731 there seems to have been only one overseer [58] but, from at least 1786,
there were again two. [59] In 1759 it was resolved by the corporation that a Mr
Cartwright was to be elected overseer for the following year at a salary of £10
[60] Payments to the poor by the
overseers had been under the direction of the corporation from at least 1661 [61] In 1685 the amount of the allowances dispensed was placed under the
control of the bailiffs, the churchwardens, and four others. [62] The corporation was paying
the overseers a minimum of £3-10s-0d from 1720 [63] £10
by 1759 [64] and
£12 with a further allowance of £2 a year for help in collecting the toll of
corn in 1771 [65] In
1766 the overseer was ordered to present accounts each week of the bills for
goods bought on the corporation's behalf; the overseer's accounts were to be
inspected once a month by the mayor, the justices, and four others. [66] At
the beginning of 1771 the accounts were laid before the whole corporation. [67] The
vestry were electing the two overseers and passing their accounts by the 1830's [68] When
by the Rating and Valuation Act of 1925 the office of overseer was abolished,
the Newcastle overseer's functions were transferred to the rating committee of
the borough council. [69] The relief, apart from charities, [70] granted
to the poor of Newcastle at various times from the later 17th century onwards
included weekly and occasional money grants [71] grants in kind, [72] whole
or part payment of rent [73]
grants
for apprenticing [74] and the provision during the 1730's and 1740's at least, of
medical attention, the doctor being given two bags of malt a year, and in 1741
admission to the rights and privileges of the borough. [75] The total expenditure on poor
relief in 1775-6 was £577-10s-0d [76] In
1802-3 £574-5s-7d was spent on out-relief within the borough for 153 adults, 62
children under 15, and 23 persons requiring only occasional help, £223-8s-1d
was spent on the workhouse, into which 18 adults and children were admitted that
year. [77] From the later 17th century, however, there was a steady stiffening in the
corporation's attitude towards poor relief. In 1685 the overseer's expenditure
was placed under stricter control (see above) In 1686, eleven years before the statute requiring such measures, the
corporation ordered that anyone in receipt of weekly pay from the borough should
wear a badge of red cloth in the shape of a castle on pain of losing the pay. [78] in 1717 the
form of the badge was altered to the letters NP in red. [79] By the early 18th century the
corporation order books indicate a reduction in the scale of relief. [80]
A
fine of 10s was imposed in 1707 on all those who relieved vagrants and beggars [81] and
the following year a salaried official was appointed to arrest and punish
vagrants and beggars. [82] In 1731 the poor who were not
in the newly established workhouse had their weekly pay cut by half. [83] In the same year the
corporation ordered that all clothing given to the poor should be of blue cloth;
[84] the colour was fixed in 1742
as green for men and boys, and yellow for women and girls, `that it may be
visible who are clothed by the town' [85] In
1745 it was ordered that no medical help was to be given unless on the
instructions of the overseer. [86]
The town clerk was directed in 1756 to strike off the roll of freemen any
who were paupers or in receipt of pay for themselves or their families, [87] and in 1774 the corporation
decided that too much was being spent on the poor and that in future no part of
their revenue should go to the poor except what was assigned under the decree of
1740. [88] In 1731, following a report from an exploratory committee and the
unanimous approval of a public meeting, the corporation resolved that ` the
houses in Ireland (Higherland) be immediately repaired and converted into a
workhouse'. [89] The standing overseer was
ordered to remove all the poor into the workhouse and to `employ
them in a proper manner and provide necessaries for them' ; he was to
receive a slalary of 4s a week as master of the workhouse . [90] In 1732 a George Alker was appointed to teach the poor to spin
cotton. [91] The master was still paid 4s
a week in 1739, and his appointment included the stipulation that he should live
in the workhouse. [92] The capacity of the workhouse was 40 in 1776. [93]
In
1786 the corporation gave it into the control of the churchwardens and overseers
on a 99 year lease at a rent of £5-10s-0d a year. [94] The overseers were given
notice to quit in 1808 and a 21 year lease was granted to the parish vestry at a
rent of £10 [95] The period was extended to 99 years in 1809 on condition that
the parish should spend £300 on repairs and that the governor should take charge of debtors committed to gaol as
well as paupers. [96] In 1838 the workhouse was temporarily taken over for the
able-bodied poor of the new union by the guardians [97] who on inspection found the
house `extremely clean and well-regulated' with `provisions of the best kind' [98] There were 64 inmates, 29 of
them children, and the accommodation included 12 sleeping rooms, with 33 beds, a
laundry, a bakehouse, stabling for a horse and a cow, and a recreation yard each
for the men and the women. [99] After the building of the
union workhouse in 1838-9 (see below) the corporation regained possession of the
old workhouse [1] but had sold it by 1849 to the trustees of Orme's Charity,
from whom in that year the union clerk was ordered to secure its use for cholera
victims. [2] The union workhouse, a building in Elizabethan style, was erected in the
Keele road, east of the old workhouse, in 1838-9, with accommodation for 350
paupers. [3] An infirmary was added c.1842
[4]
In
1885-6 a new infirmary was built, the earlier building being converted into
wards for the old and infirm [5]
The
west wing of the workhouse, occupied by the women and girls, was burnt down in
1890 [6] and
re-built in 1892-3 [7]
The
casual wards were closed in 1914, the responsibility being transferred to Stoke [8] The building was closed and demolished in 1938. [9] References 32 The min books 1838-1948 and the ledgers 1843-1927 are in the S.R.O. 1 Boro. Coun. Mins. 1835-44,
pp. 206, 207, 223, 235-6, 288.
|