Miscellaneous Parish and Bridewell Papers (PM)
St Dionis Backchurch, List of Subscribers for New Bells, 1726, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms 11277, LL ref: GLDBPM306020002&3
Introduction
The manuscripts in this category comprise the kinds of miscellaneous materials found in most parish and institutional archives, but which do not easily fit within the more regular form of an Account Book (AC) or Minute Book (MO). When faced with a new or unusual task, an eighteenth-century clerk frequently opened a fresh volume, or stitched together a few loose sheets into a makeshift book. In addition, the processes of eighteenth-century administration generated large numbers of smaller documents - slips of papers, warrants, files of receipts, and notes and memoranda - that frequently found their way into the more formal and substantial institutional archive. The contents of this category of documents is similar to that of Parish Papers (PP).
St Dionis Backchurch, Miscellaneous Papers, 1701-78, London Metropolitan Archives, 11280A/2, LL ref: GLDBPM306030003.
Miscellaneous Parish Papers
As their name suggests these collections of papers are miscellaneous, and can include letters, receipts, apprenticeship and settlement documents, and a host of more arcane survivals. Most of the documents included in this category relate to the normal workings of a parish, and hence largely reflect on the administration of either poor relief, or the maintenance of the church fabric.
Lists
Collecting subscriptions, reflecting on the population of a parish or a workhouse, recording past parish donations: all could result in a list. Among the institutions and parishes whose records are reproduced as a part of this website, the parish of St Dionis Backchurch preserved the largest number of documents of this sort. Typical of these lists are the two subscription lists created as a part of the process of raising the £480 required to replace the peal of bells in 1727. Like many working documents, these lists include ticks and crossings out, reflecting the administrative processes for which they were created, and are bundled together with a miscellany of other documents relating to the purchase of the bells. Assessments used as part of the collection of rates also frequently take the form of a list.
Bridewell and Bethlem Hospitals, Discharge Orders, 1691-95, London Metropolitan Archives, 33137/1, LL ref: GLBRPM205000008.
Bridewell Warrants of Commitment and Discharge
The porter of Bridewell Prison admitted and discharged prisoners who were committed for minor offences, either on the authority of instructions from the Bridewell governors or by warrants from magistrates or constables in the City of London. This document series, dating from March 1691 to April 1695, consists of orders to the porter to receive or discharge prisoners. Warrants of commitment typically indicate the nature of the offence, the identity of the complainant (including where they lived, in case a formal criminal prosecution occurred), and the name of the mayor, magistrate, or constable who gave the order. Warrants of discharge are briefer, simply giving the name of the prisoner and the name of the person authorising the discharge, but occasionally they also indicate the reason for the discharge, such as that the offender had entered into sureties to appear at sessions, or was about to be committed to Newgate prison.
Introductory Reading
- Hinkle, William G. A History of Bridewell Prison, 1553-1700. Lampeter, 2006.
- Hitchcock, Tim. Down and Out in Eighteenth-Century London. 2004, ch. 6.
- Innes, Joanna. Prisons for the Poor: English Bridewells, 1555-1800. In Snyder, F. and Hay, D., eds, Labour, Law and Crime: An Historical Perspective. 1987.
- Snell, Keith D. M. Parish and Belonging: Community, Identity, and Welfare in England and Wales, 1700-1950. Cambridge, 2006.
Online Resources
For further reading on this subject see the London Lives Bibliography sections on either Parish Records or the Records of Hospitals, Guilds and Apprenticeship.
Documents Included on this Website
- Bridewell and Bethlem, Discharge Orders, 1691-95, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. 33137/1, LL ref: GLBRPM20500, Tagging Level: B
- St Dionis Backchurch, List of Subscribers for New Organ, 1722, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. 11276, LL ref: GLDBPM30601, Tagging Level: D
- St Dionis Backchurch, List of Subscribers for New Bells, 1726, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. 11277, LL ref: GLDBPM30602, Tagging Level: D
- St Dionis Backchurch, Miscellaneous Papers, 1669-1781, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. 11280A/2, LL ref: GLDBPM30603, Tagging Level: D
- St Dionis Backchurch, Miscellaneous Papers, 1702-35, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. 11280A/3, LL ref: GLDBPM30604, Tagging Level: D
- St Dionis Backchurch, Miscellaneous Papers, 1701-78, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. 11280A/5, LL ref: GLDBPM30605, Tagging Level: D
- St Dionis Backchurch, Assessment, 1733, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. 11281, LL ref: GLDBPM30606, Tagging Level: D
- St Dionis Backchurch, Inhabitants List, 1690, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. 11282, LL ref: GLDBPM30607, Tagging Level: D
- St Dionis Backchurch, List of Benefactors, 1690-1725, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. 20213/1, LL ref: GLDBPM30612, Tagging Level: C
- St Dionis Backchurch, Account of Fees, 1706-22, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. 18483A, LL ref: GLDBPM30608, Tagging Level: D
- St Dionis Backchurch, Inhabitants List, c.1715, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. 4226, LL ref: GLDBPM30609, Tagging Level: D
- St Dionis Backchurch, Miscellaneous Parish Papers, Agreement relating to the Parish Poor, Legal Papers, 1707-78, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. 11280A, LL ref: GLDBPM30614, Tagging Level: D
- St Dionis Backchurch, Miscellaneous Parish Papers, 1752-80, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. 4235/1, LL ref: GLDBPM30613, Tagging Level: D
- St Dionis Backchurch, Miscellaneous Papers, 1767-96, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. 4235/2, LL ref: GLDBPM30610, Tagging Level: D
- St Dionis Backchurch, Miscellaneous Papers, 1784, 1797, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. 4235/3, LL ref: GLDBPM30611, Tagging Level: D
- St Clement Danes, Extras, 1789-1807, Westminster Archives Centre, Ms. B1206, LL ref: WCCDPM37002, Tagging Level: C