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PITSTONE PARISH GOVERNMENT 1

On 24th April 1829, a group of men led by the Rev. W. Shepherd gathered in the vestry of Pitstone parish church. This particular meeting, traditionally called by the churchwardens during the month following Easter, received the Warden's accounts for the year past and appointed new wardens - Mr. Thomas Woodman of Barley End (by the Minister) and Mr. John Tompkins, farmer, butcher and parish clerk (by the Meeting). It was agreed then that payment for polecats and other vermin, excepting sparrows, should be abolished and that the payments for singing in church should be voluntary. It was approved that only those parishioners who sent their children to Sunday school should be eligible for parish relief, that the Sunday School teacher should be paid £2 for her past year's work; that a survey should be made of the interior of the church {that thanks should be given to the Countess of Bridgewater for a donation towards communion plate; that an exchange of pews might be made; that the overseer should "go and see the family of Harwood, and act according to circumstances"; that £280 be transferred to the bank; that Mr.Atty, the Countess of Bridgewater's agent, would query the builder's accounts and that more specifications be given on repairs to pews and pulpit. The record of the meeting was signed by some of those present - the Minister; John Tompkins, churchwarden; Samuel Ware Smith; Samuel Hawkins of Pitstone Green Farm, and Joseph Simmons, farmer of Little Barley End; and the uncompleted meeting was adjourned forthwith for a fortnight.

This extract From the Pitstone Vestry Book gives some indication of the range and weight of responsibilities undertaken by that precursor of the modern parish and parochial church councils, knows as The Vestry,

As in parishes all over the country at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the day-to-day ordering of life in Pitstone was the responsibility of the Vestry officers, whose authority complemented, supplemented and finally supplanted that of the Manorial Court.In Pitstone, the administrative function of the Court Baron had ceased by 1800 and so the Vestry assumed responsibility for old manorial activities such as the regulation of the commons.

Records of the working of the Pitstone Vestry are fragmented. The Vestry Book itself, in which were recorded the business of the meeting and, in varying detail, the names of officers and of some of those who attended, begins in 1815 - when there was a single entry - and then lapses until 1821.

From that time, there are records of several meetings each year, rising to ten meetings in 1832 and eight in 1833, by which time the problem of parochial poor relief was reaching its peak. After the Poor Law Act came into effect in 1835, much of the responsibility was transferred to the local Union. From 1837, the chairman of the Vestry was named, the Minister of the parish, who frequently attended, taking the chair by law when he was present.

In addition to the surviving Vestry Book, there is a Churchwardens Account Book for the period and a Surveyor's Book which covers the first seventeen years of the nineteenth century, thus just overlapping the first recorded Vestry Meeting.

The Officers of the Pitstone Vestry, appointed annually, included Churchwardens. Overseers of the Poor, Surveyors of the Highway (or Stone wardens) and Constables or Headboroughs. In addition, Mention is made of the election of charity Trustees, and Guardians to the Poor Law union once that had come into operation.

One churchwarden was always chosen by the Minister. During the recorded period this position was held only by one of the larger farmers - James Stephens, Peter Parrat and James Proctor of Church Farm, William Newman and Thomas Woodman of Barley End. The second, or parishioners' warden was elected at the Vestry Meeting. John Tompkins the butcher held this position almost continuously for nearly fifty years until his retirement in 1830. Francis Tompkins, a small fanner, and Humphrey Tompkins, farmer and carrier, were parish churchwardens, as were Moses Williamson of Brook End and Thomas Jellis, farmer and sometime publican of the Bell and the Ship Inn. There was no property qualification for wardenship. The wardens were responsible for all church matters, including the church rates and the upkeep of the fabric of the church, and much Vestry time was taken up with discussion of them: a full account of these activities will be found in Chapter No? but the wardens account book throws some light on parish government generally and will be referred to more fully below. The Overseers of the Poor were required to collect and dispense the poor rate, agreed in Vestry, and to undertake the overall burden of social welfare and employment of the poor. In this they were, in fact, assisted by the churchwardens. They were "substantial householders" elected from among the larger farmers including one woman, Mary Tompkins, widow of Tompkins of Yardley Farm, the Hawkins family of Pitstone Green farm who, as nonconformists, were never churchwardens, and the miller from Brook End, Francis Beesly.

The two Constables, who in earlier days would have been appointed by the Manorial Court, were responsible for maintaining general law and order. It was usually considered to be the most unpopular of all the parish duties and it is surprising to find that Francis Tompkins held office for eleven year and Benjamin Anstee seven times. Most of the smaller farmers played the part of constable at least once, and others named were William Uff the wheelwright, Thomas Darvell, labourer, and William Stevens.

The Surveyors of the Highway, although of Officers of the parish, were appointed by local Justices at special Highway Sessions, and were responsible for the upkeep of the parish roads and bridges and, incidentally, for the employment of labour upon such tasks. They were required by law to own or occupy estate of a certain minimum value, and they included Humphrey Tompkins the carrier, Joseph Simmonds of Little Barley End (thirteen times), Henry Williamson of Brook End, James Stevens of Church farm, Thomas Woodman of Barley End, William Jellis the elder, Benjamin Anstee, Samuel Hawkins and Moses Blinco.

It will be obvious that the burden of parish work over the period was shared by a relatively few men, most of them wholly or part-time farmers, often, one man undertook more than one office. The Vestry was open to all parishioners - or all ratepayers - to attend. It can be seen that not all those who spoke at the meetings signed the minutes, so there is little guide to the actual attendance.They usually met in the church, but sometimes adjourned to the Bell or Chequers during a long meeting.

Among those that attended occasionally but never held office were Messrs.Atty and Cooley. the agents of the Bridgewater Estate, and Mr George Potts for James Gordon of Stocks House, Aldbury, Mr Gordon himself attending on at least one occasion. The agents' presence sometimes related to a specific issue; Potts was closely involved in the regulation of the commons and, with Thomas Woodman, in the new valuation of the town lands and houses in 1833.

It was agreed in April, 1826, to form a Select Vestry to meet fortnightly "to investigate parish accounts", in accordance with the provisions of the Sturges Bourne Act of 1819. Messrs. Shepherd (Minister),Woodman, Newman, John Tompkins, Samuel Hawkins and Mary Tompkins were named as "principal parishioners". If this Select Vestry did in fact function, it is not mentioned thereafter.

It is difficult to assess the quality of local government provided in Pitstone, and it would be invidious to make comparisons between individuals: nevertheless, it is Thomas Woodman who perhaps emerges as the strongest man during a comparatively short spell in office.

The main burden of poor relief, which was the Vestry's most important function until 1835, fell on the Overseers of the Poor. Their account books are missing and, for some idea of their operations, one must draw upon the scanty facts contained in the Vestry Book and upon the printed parliamentary Returns of the Poor for Pitstone. (See Table1 in the Appendix. )For only two years February 1815 and September 1822 is a detailed monthly list of payments to the poor included in the Vestry Book, the average payment per head falling from 22s.5d. to 8s.8d. but this is likely to be a seasonal variation rather than a reduction in relief. The number relieved was roughly similar, two-thirds of those in the later list also appearing on the earlier one.

The actual amounts raised by the Overseer's rate are not revealed in the Vestry Book, and the rate itself, which ranged from 6d.to 2s. is not mentioned often enough to present a clear picture of the village's financial commitment.

Until 1830, few applications for assistance are recorded in detail, and the Overseers seen to have had wide discretion from the Vestry. Seven applications refer to sickness or confinements, one to the expenses of a child's funeral, one to rent arrears, two are requests for shoes and two for housing.

There are also a few examples of the granting of relief to inhabitants living outside the parish. In 1815 an allowance was being made to Elizabeth Fenn "at Sir Jonathon Milles at Hoxton" and in 1832 John Collier of Aldbury was granted relief. Financial help was also given by exemption from dues. In March, 1832, 28 persons were exempted from the 6d stone rate. By 1836, 37 people were - exempted from paying the poor rate: this represented half the population. Although there is indication of an increasing rate burden on the parish, there is no evidence of regular relief to the able-bodied until the early 1830's. As will be shown, there was concealed relief in the form of employment by the Surveyor of the Highways on roadwork and also in vermin payments by the churchwardens. The fact that the women and girls - and some men - were able to earn from straw plaiting reduced the number of cases of desperate hardship compared with other areas which had no second local industry.

There is no indication that the village ever adopted the "Speenhamland" system of linking wages directly to the price of food, in conjunction with the size of the family, but in 1822 there is mention of an agreement on wage rates, according to the number of children in the family: no details are given. Ten years later, in May 1832, consideration was given to the adoption of the labour-rate system, and this was put into effect in this following month.

(It is interesting to note that, in the adjacent parish Aldbury in Hertfordshire, the decision was made in 1806 to adopt the "roundsman" system of allocating unemployed labour - both boys and able-bodied men - to all those renting land in the parish according to the size of the rent through the winter months.Although Humphrey Williamson, James Stephens and Henry Eustace figure upon the list, the size of their rents was too small to involve them in the Aldbury system, which may not have functioned for more than three years.

Under the most common labour-rate arrangement, ratepayers were given the option of employing out-of-work labour at an agreed rate up to the level of their rate assessment, or of paying the rates themselves.Of all the schemes in operation in the years leading up to the New Poor Law, this was arguably the best, since none was forced to employ labour he did not want; on the other hand, those who were ready to employ men might do so with some sense of continuity, unlike those in the "roundsman" areas, who had to take the men allotted to them each week. The employers named at the Vestry in June 1832, were Messrs. Tompkins, Williamson, Newman, Anstee, Samuel Hawkins junior, J. Gordon, Woodman and the Countess of Bridgewater. One man was allotted to the Survey of the Highway and three boys were allotted, one to William Hill and two to Thomas Woodman.When, in November, Thomas Janes's boy applied for relief, a master was to be found if possible, otherwise the surveyor would employ him.

By April, 1854, "it is unanimously agreed that the labourers be allotted by the number of acres to each farm," as opposed to the rating assessment for the farm.This confirms a variation of the more usual system almost exclusively followed in Buckinghamshire (Poor Law Commissioners Report, 1854,p196) which bore very hard on grazing farmer. These men held large acreages but often needed to employ few men, if any, in excess of their own family; being poorer quality land than that on the more labour-intensive farms, an allocation on the rating basis would have had very different results.

The earliest records of a form of assistance to the able-bodied poor relate to employment on the highway. Whilst not strictly a form of poor relief, there is no doubt that it performed that function. In the seven years preceding the opening of the nineteenth century, the annual sum paid out by the Surveyor rose from £4 9s.4d. to £18 13s.9d. in 1796 (when considerable work was carried out in repairing the brook)) to £39 8s.1d in 1797 and £57. 15s. 9d in 1799-1800 - including arrears. In that year, the rates levied on the parish, which comprised a "composition" rate of 6d in the pound (bringing in £7 16s.6fd) and a "sixpenny rate" (which amounted to £26 l6s.7d), showed a deficit of almost £20.

In 1800, in order to set their affairs in order, two sixpenny rates were levied, and two composition rates at 4d. each. This provided a balance in hand of just over £. Payment was made to the workers at rates which appear to have varied according to year and according to season from 3.5d a day for children to 2s. a day for adults.Work was done in June nearly every year, and in May, July, August or October some years.During bad winters, labour was used between November and February to clear the roads of snow and ice. Had continuous employment been available, a road labourer might have earned as much as a regular farm labourer, but it was more usually about 3s. or 4s. 6d. a week for not more than eighteen weeks a year.

The variation in adult pay at any one time may have related to the size of the worker's family. For example, the full records kept for the year November 1815 to November 1814 showed the following wide variation in the Figures:

• John Butterfield: 1s. per day,
• John Narraway: ls.2d. per day,
• James Collyer, William Collins and James Collins: ls.4d. per day, falling to ls in December,
• William Winmill and Stephen Jellis ls.6d. per day,
• Thomas Jellis, William Jellis, James Treacher, Thomas Markt and son, Jonas Simmons and John Peppet (Peppiatt): 2s. per day,
• Other workers included Stephen Kempster, Ja. Baldwin and Thomas Ashby.

Several worked for only one week, and the highest earner during the year was William Collins - 38s.6d. - and the work mentioned included "athrowin snow", "work on green" and "Quicken and weeden" (that is. planting quickthorn hedges and weeding).

Other tasks on which the surveyor's labour force was employed included "rag in highways" (including "the hiway Down at Rushington") - this meant filling in potholes with ragstone "shovlin the coachway up wadbourough hill"; "digging forty loads of a rag"; and "work for Wadborrow hill to Peak the Way" - probably chipping the ice on the hill, one of the main sources of trouble to the Surveyor. There was also stone-picking, stone-carting, ditching the green, putting atones in and packing the bank. In February 1815 a team with three horses was used to draw the road in the snow "from Wadley Crouch to the End posts".

The materials for patching the potholes and resurfacing the worst of the roads was assessed by the load: 3d. to 6d. for rag, a hard chalk, and ls. to ls.4d. for stones. When these materials were provided by the farmers, payment was made to them, and the stones came from various named sources such as Cold Harbour, Red Field. Stocking Lane and Round Hill, whilst the rag was usually dug from Pitstone Common. The actual carting of the materials was undertaken mainly as "statute duty" by the farmers and other owners of carts each required to put in a certain number of team/days a year according to their assessment, and this duty was most commonly carried out in May, June and sometimes August. These few were thus not only the principal ratepayers, but also played the role of rate-collector. rate-dispenser and stone-carter, and by 1832, as has been seen, a labour rate compelled them to employ labourer allotted to them by themselves.

As an example of the duty involved, at the opening of the century, James Steven. (Church farm) was rated at six drafts (1 draft - 6 team/day.). while Thomas Eustace, William Jellis, William Tompkins. Mr. Kerr. John Williamson. Jary Pitchford. John Collins, James Burt, Daniel Johnson. William Ashby and John Tompkins, rated one draft each. Samuel Hawkins was providing three drafts by 1816. Although the records are by no means complete. An average of about 75 team/days were actually worked during the year although in some years considerably less, possibly due to bad summer weather.

It should be mentioned that the Highway Surveyor, were not alone in providing work of this kind for the unemployed. An extract from "Paterson's. Roads" at this period refers to a new road made by the Earl of Bridgewater "at His Lordship's sole expense, an example well worthy of imitation as it affords employment to the labouring poor during a period of severe pressure,"

In addition to labour, costs, payment was made to craftsmen such as Richard Head the blacksmith (l2s.5d. for gates and ironwork, and the same sum for nails and hooks for gate.) and W. Short (7s.6d. for gatepost and ironwork.) Thomas Simmons the carpenter mended the Green gate, (£1.9s.7d), repaired a bridge, put a pale round new hedges (£2.12s.3d.) and carried out work done at Pitstone Green gates "near Williams turn and crossroads". In 1800, Mr. W. Hayton of Stocks received £7.17s.7d for "Partnig (sic.) the Road in Ivinghoe Way and setting up the post( the half to be paid by each Parish)". The post may still be seen on the upper Icknield Way at the parish boundary.

Bridge, cost money. In 1805, the Surveyor himself, Joseph Simmons, journeyed to Tring with his team to fetch lime and brick "down to Burts to Mend the arch (6s.)" and in 1815 Mr. Grover was paid l6s.6d. for bricks and lime which were fetched from Gambels Wharf to Repair the Arch near the Mill on the road (4s), referred to later as "Yarly Way arch". Other purchases included two baskets, (3s.) a shovel (4s.) and bushes (flint) for roads (5s) and 7s was paid in 1812 for "carriage for moundien (fencing) the green".

Regular sums were dispensed for beer, notably to James Treacher and Thomas Jellis. who often combined bills for stone carting with those for supplying the refreshment, so that the actual quantities consumed are difficult to estimate. In 1815, the beer allowance was assessed at a pint a day for each man, at 3d. a pint. Beer supplied to the Vestry was also sometimes included in the Surveyor's accounts.

The Surveyor's own expenses - seven shillings at the opening of the century - accounted for almost a pound a year by 1815, as set out then by William Jellis thus:

"Journey to Wing with the book 5s. for Horse Corn and Hay 1s. W. Bull a Precept Is. for the Warrants12s.6d."

The journey was to the local Magistrates' court, whence came the nominal control of the Surveyors' activities, this control ceased in 1832.

After 1815, few details are given in the Vestry Book of Surveyors' work. In 1851, the hours of the men working on the roads were defined as 6 a.m. till 4.50 p.m. (winter hours) and Butterfield was appointed foreman and allowed 7s. 6d. a week to lodge in the parish and carry out the supervision of the work. The appointment of a paid deputy to a parish officer was resorted to in several parishes, and the road labour force was notoriously work-shy.

The Churchwardens, although primarily concerned with ecclesiastical affairs and church maintenance, played their part in helping the Overseer, with poor relief.One specific activity which they supervised was the payment for extermination of vermin in the pariah. By an Act of 1566, later renewed, parish officers were instructed to encourage and pay for the destruction of "Noyful Fowles and Vermyn" which included a formidable list of wildlife.

An even earlier Act had been directed solely at the crow family; but, by the opening of the nineteenth century, the most common targets in the area around Pitstone were sparrows, foxes, polecats and hedgehogs. In Pitstone parish itself, the standard payments made by the Churchwardens, were 4d. for each hedgehog and polecat, and 4d. a dozen for sparrows: there is no killing of a fox recorded in the period. (Throughout the accounts, polecats are referred to as "poolcatts", a spelling also found in two nearby parishes in Bedfordshire but not elsewhere in that county; this may indicate a local pronunciation. On the point of natural history the killing of polecats took place between September and February.

In the year l800, a total of ls.2d. was paid for sparrows. By 1808 the sum for vermin was 9s.6d,; by 1816 it had risen to l7s.4d. When Thomas Woodman became churchwarden in 1828, he suspended vermin payments altogether, presumably as part of his measures to take the wardens' accounts out of recurrent debt, and no hedgehogs or polecats are mentioned after this date.Four years later payment was resumed for sparrows only, to the tune of £5.10s. - about one-fifth of the year's expenditure of church/ rate and charity rents combined, but the practice only ran for a further four years and was finally discontinued in 1836-7. One entry in the accounts for that year reads: "Paid the Bird-catcher 10 doz. @ 4d. per dozen", suggesting a semi-official appointment.

In the winter of 1833, it was agreed by the Vestry that William Turvey should be employed as mole catcher for the parish at 2d per head and to have 3s. allowed to purchase equipment. However there is no record that he achieved any success.

The fact that the increase in vermin money kept pace with the over-all growth of poverty and that payment ceased soon after the burden was largely shifted from parish to Union confirms the suspicion that the original purpose of vermin destruction had changed into another concealed form of poor relief,

Of almost equal importance to the provision of work and financial help was parish assistance with housing. Within the village there were seven "town houses" or almshouses belonging to the Town Land Charity, and these were let at very low rent - under 6d. a week - to the poor of the village.

The Charity, though in theory controlled by Trustees, was in fact administered by the Vestry, and the income from the Town Lands and Houses was included in the Churchwardens accounts income, together with the church rate. Intermittent references to the charity affairs occur in both Vestry Book and Churchwarden, account, but the first policy decision comes in May 1830, when new trustees were appointed.The houses were revalued in 1833, setting a rent of £2 p.a. for four of them, though there is no indication from the accounts that this was ever paid. Detailed rentals are not mentioned in the wardens' accounts before the Act came into force, although in March, 1826, a request from Elizabeth Saith for a house for herself, husband and child was granted by the Vestry.A similar request April 1834, by Luke An's wife was refused, perhaps because no Suitable accommodation was available.IE the same year, Luke Hews was refused relief towards rent, although in certain exceptional cases of sickness or of hardship in unusually large families arrears of rent were waived, or repayments made.

So far as outgoings on the townhouses are concerned, between 1801 and 1812 over £7 was specifically, paid out in repairs, mostly for thatching work and straw. Thus an average of a little over £3 a year was made out of a total expenditure which rose from £8.16 to £21 a year over the same period. Other expenditure may have been disguised in unspecified bills.Between 1813 and 1820 there is no specific mention of work on the charity houses, but costs appear again in 1820, when over half the year's outgoings went on repairs. The craftsmen employed were carpenter Thomas Simmonds, thatcher, John Smith, Jonas Simmonds and William Jellis and blacksmith Richard Read and William Uff.

In addition to the town houses, the Charity administered the Town Lands, the rental from which was paid to the Churchwardens. Like the Town Houses, the Lands were revalued in 1832/3 by George Potts, the agent at Stocks - not one of the Trustees - and Thomas Woodman.As a result, the income rose from £10.6s.0d p.a. to £l4.2s.3d, on which a 10% rebate was at first repaid to the tenants.

The valuation of property in Pitstone for the purpose of raising the various rates was kept under review by the Vestry. Paupers were exempted from payment and in November 1830, it was decided that those who required exemption should attend a Vestry to have their cases considered.

With parish resources in housing the finance strained to their limit, parish officers were prepared to go to considerable lengths, sometimes involving expensive legislation, to prevent "incomers from settling.One qualification was that of paying rates - hence possibly the calling of the meeting mentioned above "to decide whether they are to pay or not".In March 18353, it was agreed to demand poor rates from six named persons "and exempt the poor belonging to Pitstone parish",

At the Meeting of 17th November, 1824, the hiring of servants at or near of Michaelmas "or other agreements as may make or cause the said servants to gain any settlement was discussed, since employment for "a year and a day" was a sufficient qualification - as was the holding of any parish office.During 1832 and 1833, Joseph and John Pain (Payne) were ordered to be examined by a lawyer as to their right to settlement, as was William Cox, who applied for relief in November 1833. He, with his wife and four children were actually returned to Ivinghoe on order of the Overseer, although he had spent much of his life in Pitstone. He was married there in 1811, and for the second time in 1821, while the Payne brothers were married in 1822 and 1831 respectively, all given as "of Pitstone" at the time of marriage.

The Vestry was also concerned to secure financial support from the putative father of bastards born in the parish, lest they, too, became dependent upon the parish resources.The earliest Vestry book entry of 1821 concerns the pregnancy of Jane Beaumont, the father being alleged to be Gerald Bailey of Wards Combe, Ivinghoe. Bailey's father Thomas agreed to pay Pitstone parish 40s. for the confinement month, 2s a week for the first year and ls.6d. thereafter "so long as the child shall be chargeable."The child was born at the house of Stephen Jellis. Jane Beaumont later married Thomas Foster of Pitstone.Eight years later she applied for poor relief and Bailey was again served with a maintenance order as the father of the child,

The only other reference to illegitimacy during the pro-Reform period occurred in 1835, when Thomas Foster's daughter was confined of a bastard and he asks relief to maintain the child, having had 10s from the supposed father and 10s. from the Overseers, who are then directed to act "according to the circumstances".

Quarter Sessions records include an earlier order for bastardy maintenance, when the suns involved were rather higher. In 1804. Nash Grange of Slapton, father of the male bastard of Deborah Duncombe of Pitstone, was ordered to pay £3.0.6d. to the Churchwardens and Overseers towards lying-in expenses, and maintenance before the court hearing, and a further sum of 2s.6d. a week while the child is a charge on the parish, to which the mother must add 6d. a week.

That there were not more cases of bastard children chargeable to the parish may have been due to the custom of "knobstick weddings" which grew up in the early part of the nineteenth century.The knobstick was the sign of office of the Churchwarden who, upon hearing that an unmarried girl was likely to give birth in his parish, would go to any lengths to force a marriage.The record of the Berkhamstead Poor Law Union contains a letter from the Rev. Lacey in 1837, after the change in the Bastardy laws, commenting upon the improved appearance of "females of the lower class" at marriage.

There used to be few cases "where the appearance of the female did not indicate a previous want of chastity. I have repeatedly known instances of men being apprehended under a bastardy warrant, carried off immediately to a Surrogate for a licence, and brought to the Church, all in the same morning, to be married.I have seen the Handcuffs removed from the man at the church door..."

The care of the sick, except in the case of the prudent few who belonged to the local Friendly Society was another of the parish responsibilities. Mention is made in 1850 of the granting of a nurse to Norwood's wife, and it was then agreed that women capable of attending as nurses who received parochial aid should be employed to attend on any paupers as required thus avoiding the need to pay nurses out of the rates.

In 1834, Mr Dewsbury was asked to continue the parish contract for medicine, etc., for the ensuing year "according to past regulations" - with a rider, subsequently deleted, that one Month's notice be given before the expiration of the year. He was, however, reappointed "surgeon" at £12 p.a. the following year, to attend all cases excepting midwifery. By this time He had secured the contract (later over-ruled on the grounds of insufficient credentials) as Medical Officer for the new Second District of the Berkhamstead Union; this post he finally assumed at a salary of £135 p.a.

Table of those that received parish relief in 1815 to 1821

* i.e. no. of persons permanently relieved outside of any workhouse, not including their children.

In 1803, approximately two-thirds of those relieved were either over 60 or disabled by infirmity or chronic sickness: The remainder might well have been widows or orphan children. The total number of children under 14 relieved was 44, of whom 17 were under five.

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