Registers of Fortnightly/Monthly Parish Pensioners in 1733 (RP)

A page from St Clement Danes register recording information for paupers whose surnames begin with C Westminster Archives Centre, St Clement Danes, Registers of Casual Poor, 1720-34, Ms B1230, LL ref: WCCDRP367050009.

Introduction

In 1733 the parish of St Clement Danes created two alphabetical registers. Both registers listed the name and age of paupers in receipt of relief, along with details relating to their claim to a settlement in the parish. They appear to have been created at a single short period in 1733, and together act as a census of the dependent poor in St Clement Danes.

Register of the Casual Poor

This title is somewhat misleading, as the individuals listed were not casual in the sense that they were in receipt of one-off payments, but rather they received small pensions once every fortnight. This register includes individuals such as Henry Allcock, seventy-three years old in 1733, and his wife Anne, along with the further information that he was Admitted, i.e. accepted as a responsibility of the parish, in 1730 on the basis of his having served an apprenticeship with a blacksmith named Mr Disney, in Milford Lane. The associated Miscellaneous Accounts (AO) list Henry as receiving two shillings once every two weeks from 1726 onwards.

Register of Monthly Pensioners

Wrongly described as a register of the casual poor in the records of the Westminster Archives Centre, this register provides the same information for paupers in receipt of more substantial doles, distributed once a month. The same information - name, age, date Admitted and basis for a claim to settlement is listed here as well.

Introductory Reading

  • Hindle, Steve. On the Parish?: The Micro-Politics of Poor Relief in Rural England, c.1550-1750. Oxford, 2004.
  • Hitchcock, Tim and Black, John, eds. Chelsea Settlement and Bastardy Examinations, 1733-66. London Record Society, 33, 1999 for 1996, Introduction.
  • Landau, Norma. The Eighteenth-Century Context of the Laws of Settlement. Continuity and Change, 6:3 (1991), pp. 417-39.
  • 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.

Documents Included on this Website

  • St Clement Danes, Registers of Casual Poor, 1720-34, Westminster Archives Centre, Ms. B1230, LL ref: WCCDRP36705, Tagging Level: C
  • St Clement Danes, Registers of Casual Poor, 1733, Westminster Archives Centre, Ms. B1231, LL ref: WCCDRP36706, Tagging Level: C

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