Poor people travelling through Whitchurch
In the eighteenth and early nineteenth century wandering around the country was a criminal offence. Magistrates had the power to order the removal of travellers back to their place of settlement (this was usually the parish where they had been born).
The 1662 Act of Settlement also authorised the arrest of rogues, vagrants, sturdy beggars, or idle or disorderly persons, and their committal to a workhouses or House of Correction (an early form of prison), or transportation for seven years to English plantations.
During the same period, an informal system grew up of magistrates issuing passes so that people could travel unmolested to a named destination. The travellers could request a night’s board or a few pence for a day’s subsistence from an overseer or churchwarden on their route.
Examples of accommodation and subsistence payments exist in Whitchurch Parish Records (available to view at Shropshire Archives) and are shown below.
|
|
£ |
s |
d |
11/06/1819 |
Mary Butter & child with pass |
|
|
10 |
11/06/1819 |
Mary Barret & child with pass |
|
|
10 |
11/06/1819 |
Margaret Hill & child with pass |
|
|
10 |
11/06/1819 |
Walter Ikin & wife & child |
|
1 |
0 |
12/061819 |
Peter Cunningham an Irishman |
|
1 |
0 |
12/06/1819 |
Thomas Jones & wife with pass |
|
1 |
0 |
15/06/1819 |
Peter Black with pass |
|
1 |
6 |
15/06/1819 |
Paid Mrs Pots for seven days Board lodging & looking after John Maguire, an Irishman sick. |
|
6 |
6 |
16/06/1819 |
Roger Whitaker, wife & children |
|
1 |
6 |
18/06/1819 |
John Walley & John Woolich |
|
|
6 |
19/06/1819 |
John Lawrinson from Nova Scotia |
|
1 |
3 |
20/06/1819 |
Ann Sellers & Jane Fenton & 2 children |
|
1 |
6 |
20/06/1819 |
An Irishman Mariner with pass |
|
1 |
4 |
|
End of page |
|
19 |
7 |
|
|
£ |
s |
d |
21/06/1819 |
Lewis Dias & 4 children an American |
|
1 |
6 |
21/06/1819 |
John Lavison, wife & child Ship carpenter |
|
1 |
6 |
22/06/1819 |
Thomas Hall & 2 children. Going to America |
|
1 |
6 |
22/06/1819 |
A poor woman |
|
|
6 |
22/06/1819 |
Paid Mrs Pots one weeks board, lodging for John Maguire by agreement |
|
7 |
0 |
22/06/1819 |
Paid John Maguire when leaving the town |
|
1 |
6 |
23/06/1819 |
Paid church fees for grave for internment of Asting’s child as per bill ( Parish unknown ) |
|
3 |
3 |
24/06/1819 |
Elizabeth Wood & child |
|
1 |
3 |
28/06/1819 |
John Brown, an Irishman |
|
|
3 |
28/06/1819 |
Poor man on travail |
|
1 |
3 |
29/06/1819 |
Mary Smith & 4 children, an Irishwoman going to Ireland |
|
1 |
|
30/06/1819 |
Relieved a poor woman |
|
|
4 |
05/07/1819 |
John Glyn, a wounded seaman |
|
1 |
3 |
08/07/1819 |
Agnes Brittlebank & two children |
|
1 |
6 |
|
End of page |
2 |
3 |
2 |
|
|
£ |
s |
d |
10/07/1819 |
Amey Holt & two children |
|
1 |
6 |
10/07/1819 |
Hannah Baker & three children with pass |
|
1 |
9 |
12/07/1819 |
Walter Ikin, wife & child |
|
1 |
6 |
12/07/1819 |
Thomas Jones, going to Swansea |
|
|
6 |
15/07/1819 |
Michael Quin, going to Liverpool |
|
|
8 |
15/07/1819 |
Robert Thompson, poor man |
|
|
3 |
15/07/1819 |
E. Nash & three children with pass |
|
1 |
6 |
19/07/1819 |
Three sailors passing to London with pass |
|
4 |
6 |
22/07/1819 |
John Goodwin with pass |
|
1 |
4 |
23/07/1819 |
John Adams with pass |
|
1 |
4 |
26/07/1819 |
Hopkin Williams (Welshman ) |
|
|
3 |
28/07/1819 |
John Simpson, Sailor with pass |
|
1 |
4 |
28.07.1819 |
Poor boy without a shirt |
|
|
4 |
29/07/1819 |
Samuel Burrows very ill with pass |
|
1 |
8 |
29/07/1819 |
Elizabeth Jones & one child |
|
1 |
3 |
30/07/1819 |
Samuel Burrows, ill could not go on, pass |
|
1 |
6 |
|
End of page |
£3 |
4s |
4d |
30/07/1819 |
James Broomhall, wife & child ill |
|
1 |
6 |
01/08/1819 |
Paid Ralph Jones’s poor family |
|
2 |
6 |
01/08/1819 |
Ann King & 1 child with pass |
|
1 |
8 |
01/08/1819 |
Sarah Taylor , 3 children with pass |
|
1 |
8 |
01/08/1819 |
Mary White, 3 children with pass |
|
1 |
4 |
02/08/1819 |
Elizabeth Morris, 2 children |
|
1 |
4 |
03/08/1819 |
Pat Gavvan & wife |
|
1 |
4 |
04/08/1819 |
Sailor Richard Stanton, sick |
|
1 |
3 |
04/08/1819 |
John Simcock, a poor man |
|
|
3 |
05/08/1819 |
Ann Roberts, sailor’s widow with pass |
|
|
6 |
05/08/1819 |
John Lawrence, an old man |
|
|
4 |
05/08/1819 |
B. Abbots |
|
|
4 |
06/08/1891 |
George Cook & wife, both barefoot |
|
1 |
6 |
07/08/1819 |
Richard Twiner & wife with pass |
|
1 |
6 |
08/08/1819 |
Robert Smith, a poor sailor going to Liverpool |
|
1 |
3 |
10/08/1819 |
William Corbet, wife & infant child going to Aberdeen with pass |
|
1 |
6 |
|
End of Page |
£4 |
4s |
5d |
30/07/1819 |
James Broomhall, wife & child ill |
|
1 |
6 |
01/08/1819 |
Paid Ralph Jones’s poor family |
|
2 |
6 |
01/08/1819 |
Ann King & 1 child with pass |
|
1 |
8 |
01/08/1819 |
Sarah Taylor , 3 children with pass |
|
1 |
8 |
01/08/1819 |
Mary White, 3 children with pass |
|
1 |
4 |
02/08/1819 |
Elizabeth Morris, 2 children |
|
1 |
4 |
03/08/1819 |
Pat Gavvan & wife |
|
1 |
4 |
04/08/1819 |
Sailor Richard Stanton, sick |
|
1 |
3 |
04/08/1819 |
John Simcock, a poor man |
|
|
3 |
05/08/1819 |
Ann Roberts, sailor’s widow with pass |
|
|
6 |
05/08/1819 |
John Lawrence, an old man |
|
|
4 |
05/08/1819 |
B. Abbots |
|
|
4 |
06/08/1891 |
George Cook & wife, both barefoot |
|
1 |
6 |
07/08/1819 |
Richard Twiner & wife with pass |
|
1 |
6 |
08/08/1819 |
Robert Smith, a poor sailor going to Liverpool |
|
1 |
3 |
10/08/1819 |
William Corbet, wife & infant child going to Aberdeen with pass |
|
1 |
6 |
|
End of Page |
£4 |
4s |
5d |
13/08/1819 |
Thomas Johnson with pass to Milford Haven |
|
1 |
6 |
13/08/1819 |
John Hughes & wife, sick |
|
1 |
6 |
13/08/1819 |
William Cockerine, seaman, lost one arm |
|
|
4 |
13/08/1819 |
Thomas Mathews & wife, pass from Liverpool to Bristol |
|
|
9 |
15/08/1819 |
John & Catharine Evans |
|
|
6 |
16/08/1819 |
Gateley & Osborn, two poor women going to Bristol with 8 children |
|
1 |
6 |
17/08/1819 |
Esther Foecy, an Irish woman going home |
|
|
3 |
18/08/1819 |
Poor man, broken belly, going to Liverpool |
|
1 |
4 |
20/08/1819 |
John Camel, wife (pregnant)3 small children, with pass |
|
1 |
6 |
20/08/1819 |
B Marshall, sailor with pass |
|
|
6 |
20/08/1819 |
James Courber, lame |
|
|
3 |
20/08/1819 |
Poor sailor, cripple |
|
1 |
4 |
23/08/1819 |
John Davies going to Maidstone, poor old man with pass |
|
1 |
3 |
23/08/1819 |
John Smith going to Chester |
|
|
6 |
|
End of page |
£4 |
17s |
5d |
25/08/1819 |
William Jones, ships carpenter, going to Cardiff |
|
1 |
2 |
28/08/1819 |
Mary Fletcher, poor widow, going to London |
|
|
6 |
28/08/1819 |
Mary White & child going to Norwich |
|
1 |
6 |
29/08/1819 |
A poor sailor with pass |
|
1 |
3 |
29/08/1819 |
John Cummins, sailor going to Liverpool with pass |
|
|
6 |
31/08/1819 |
Gave a poor woman |
|
1 |
3 |
01/09/1819 |
Paid lodgings & victuals to a sick man found on Chester Road |
|
4 |
6 |
06/09/1819 |
A foreigner |
|
1 |
3 |
06/09/1819 |
Two sailors passing from Bristol to Liverpool |
|
1 |
0 |
07/09/1819 |
A poor man |
|
1 |
0 |
09/09/1819 |
Widow & child |
|
|
6 |
10/09/1819 |
John & Joseph Dorrel with pass |
|
1 |
6 |
14/09/1819 |
Patrick Ward, wife & child, sailor to Liverpool |
|
1 |
3 |
|
End of page |
£5 |
13s |
11d |