Miscellaneous Parish Account Books (AO)

A page of receipts and disbursements from St Botolph Aldgate London Metropolitan Archives, St Botolph Aldgate, 1746-48, Churchwardens' Receipts and Disbursements, 1746-1748, Ms 2627/1-2/1, LL ref: GLBAAO101000007.

Introduction

Most of the documents included in this category comprise either attempts to record payments to the casual poor, or, as in the case of the St Botolph Aldgate material, accounts that belie easy categorisation. Collectively, however, they form part of the ragged edge of parochial administration, at which clearly defined parish offices and activities largely cease to determine precisely what individuals record, and where the legal requirements of settlement and the Poor Law give way to the casual relief of self-evident need.

The accounts in this category are for the most part sub-categories of Churchwardens' and Overseers of the Poor's Accounts (AC), or as with the St Clement Danes' Treasurers' Books, hybrids that take on the character of both an account book and a Register of the Poor (RP).

Three distinct record series are included here.

Churchwardens' Receipts and Disbursements

The site includes two volumes of receipts and disbursements for 1746-1748 and 1770-1800, produced by the renter churchwardens of St Botolph Aldgate, detailing money collected from rents, legacies and burial fees, and some related disbursements. Unlike the Churchwardens' and Overseers of the Poor's Accounts (AC), these accounts cover the whole parish, and are not divided between the City and Middlesex parts. The first volume also includes several pages of miscellaneous accounts of disbursements to the casual poor and a series of loose pages.1

Alphabetical Registers of the Casual Poor and Accounts of Payments

A page of casual payments to the poor Westminster Archives Centre, St Clement Danes, 1794-1796, Treasurers' Accounts, 1794-6, Ms B1222, LL ref: WCCDAO352000030.

The site also includes two alphabetical registers of the casual poor and out-poor (those not resident in the parish workhouse) of St Clement Danes, covering the years 1794-1796, with an indication of the money distributed to them, and the date on which it was given. There is also an earlier account of payments to the casual poor for the same parish covering the years 1719-1730.

Introductory Reading

  • Burn, Richard. The Justice of the Peace, and Parish Officer. 14th edn, 1780, vol. 1, pp. 443-445 and vol. 3, pp. 586-580.
  • Jones, R. H. Accounting in English Local Government from the Middle Ages to c.1835. In Parker, Robert H. and Yamey, B. S., eds, Accounting History: Some British Contributions. Oxford, 1994, pp. 377-403.
  • Quin, Mathew. Quin's Rudiments of Book-Keeping; Comprised in Six Plain Cases, and Attainable in as Many Days, Without the Help of a Teacher. 1776.

Online Resources

For further reading on this subject see the London Lives Bibliography.

Documents Included on this Website

  • St Botolph Aldgate, Accounts Books, 1746-48, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. 2627/1-2, LL ref: GLBAAO10100, Tagging Level: C
  • St Botolph Aldgate, Accounts Books, 1770-1800, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. 2627/3, LL ref: GLBAAO10101, Tagging Level: D
  • St Clement Danes, Treasurers' Accounts, 1794-95, Westminster Archives Centre, Ms. B1222, LL ref: WCCDAO35200, Tagging Level: C
  • St Clement Danes, Treasurers' Accounts, 1795-96, Westminster Archives Centre, Ms. B1223, LL ref: WCCDAO35201, Tagging Level: C
  • St Clement Danes, Payments to the casual poor and other expenses, 1719-20, Westminster Archives Centre, Ms. B1224, LL ref: WCCDAO35300, Tagging Level: C
  • St Clement Danes, Payments to the casual poor and other expenses, 1720-21, Westminster Archives Centre, Ms. B1225, LL ref: WCCDAO35301, Tagging Level: C
  • St Clement Danes, Payments to the casual poor and other expenses, 1723-24, Westminster Archives Centre, Ms. B1226, LL ref: WCCDAO35302, Tagging Level: D
  • St Clement Danes, Payments to the casual poor and other expenses, 1726-27, Westminster Archives Centre, Ms. B1227, LL ref: WCCDAO35303, Tagging Level: D
  • St Clement Danes, Payments to the casual poor and other expenses, 1729-30, Westminster Archives Centre, Ms. B1228, LL ref: WCCDAO35304, Tagging Level: D

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Footnotes

1 The regular distribution of casual relief does not fit easily within normal historical descriptions of the function of overseers or churchwardens. See Sidney and Beatrice Webb, The Parish and the County: English Local Government (1906), vol. 1, ch. 1.