[ Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834. ] 30 documents (20 printed and 10 in manuscript) relating to the Old or Wold Parish, Brixworth Union, Northants, including forms, notrices, returns, correspondence.

30 documents, 20 printed and 10 in manuscript. In good overall condition, on aged paper, with slight wear to some items. A significant and interesting collection, from the papers of Rev. Richard Harington (1800-1853, later Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford), Guardian of the Poor in the Parish of Old or Wold, Brixworth Union, Northamptonshire. Providing a mass of statistical information casting light on the day to day administration of relief in the immediate aftermath of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, with the addition of two interesting letters to Harington from Richard Earle, late Assistant Poor Law Commissioner for Northamptonshire. Beginning with her doctoral thesis of 2000, Elizabeth T. Hurren has made a special study of the Brixworth Union in the late Victorian period, but its early period remains unexplored, and none of the 19 printed items relating to Brixworth in this collection, nor any other from around the same time, being traced on either OCLC WorldCat or on COPAC. (Item Two is a circular sent to all parishes.) The following description is divided into ten parts, the printed items being place first. ONE: Large printed announcement, for display, from Poor Law Commissioners J. G. S. Lefevre, T. F. Lewis and G. Nicholls, 'To the Guardians of the Poor of the Bixworth Union, in the County of Northampton'. Headed 'No. 4. | Brixworth Union.' Dated to 'One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-[blank]'. Containing a table of the 'Dietary | For Able-bodied Paupers of both sexes.' Printed on one side of a 56 x 42 cm piece of paper. 'Published by Authority of the Poor Law Commissioners, by Charles Knight and Co., 22, Ludgate Street.' TWO: Printed booklet: '[Brixworth] Union. | Order for the Keeping, Examining, and Auditing the Accounts of the above Union, and of the several Parishes of which it is composed.' Dated 1836. 60pp., 8vo. Stitched and unbound. Stamped 'OFFICE COPY', with Commissioners' embossed seal on red paper. The word 'Brixworth' has been added in manuscript, with 'Old or Wold' above it. An instruction manual on how to compile the accounts. The first eleven pages of the document – carrying the text and with the facsimile signatures of the three commissioners – are annotated; pp.15-59 carrying sample 'Forms'. Three copies on COPAC, none at the British Library. THREE: Nine uniform printed tables, each headed 'Brixworth Union. | Extract from the Quarterly Abstract, shewing the Number of Paupers Relieved, the Amount of Money Expended, and the Balance due to and from the several Parishes, for the Quarter ending 25th of December, 1836 [and eight other dates ending with 17 December 1840]. By 'Cordeux & Sons, Printers, Northampton' and 'Cordeux, Printer, Bradshaw Street, Northampton'. Ranging in size from 34 x 43 cm. to 49 x 44 cm. In manuscript on the back of the table for the 'Quarter ending 25th of March 1837' is a long manuscript table headed 'A Years Charges paid on Account of Building the New Workhouse'. FOUR: Four uniform printed tables, each a 'Statement shewing the Contributions and Expenditure for each Parish in the Brixworth Union, for 13 Weeks ending 25 December 1835 [25 March 1836; 24 June 1836; 22 September 1836] [...] made under the direction of the Board of Guardians'. All four by 'Cordeux, Printer, Bradshaw-street, Northampton.' Each around 34 x 42 cm. FIVE: Printed order by Poor Law Commissioners Lefevre, Lewis and Nicholls, with their autograph signatures and the Commission's embossed seal on red paper. Headed 'Brixworth Union' and dated 20 June 1835. 4pp., 8vo. Ordering that 30 'Parishes or Places' listed in the left-hand margin of the first page 'be and thenceforth remain United for the administration of the Laws for the Relief of the Poor.' The list begins with '1. Brixworth' and ends with '30. Haselbeech', with 'Old or Wold' at number 6. Signed at foot of last page 'Richd Harington'. SIX: Four printed documents, each completed in manuscript for the Parish of Old or Wold, the first three signed on behalf of Poor Law Commissioners Lefevre, Lewis and Nicholls, and each of the first three with the Commission's seal. The first two 1p., 8vo, and the last two 2pp., 8vo. First, 'Form No. 3. | Sale of Parish Property. [...] Order for convening Meeting.' 16 November 1836. Second, 'Survey and Valuation'. 8 November 1837. Stamped 'Office Copy'. Third, 'Appropriation Order. | Repayment of Part of Exchequer Loan.' 24 January 1838. Fourth, 'Form No. 2. | Sale of Parish Property. [...] Request to the Poor Law Commissioners for consent to sale.' Signed by Robert Hewitt, Clerk to the Board of Guardians. 27 October 1836. SEVEN: Two Autograph Letters Signed to Harington from Richard Earle, late Assistant Poor Law Commissioner for Northamptonshire. The first from Leamington, 2 May 1836; the second from Oundle, 26 May 1836. Both 4pp., 4to. He begins the first letter: 'The time approaches, when the P. L. Commissioners are required to make their Second Annual Report, and I am naturally anxious, that my Contribution to it should convey to the public any satisfactory results from the proceedings of the Board in my District. As my time, since I quitted N. Hants, has been constantly occupied in exploring fields of Pauperism, I have not had the opportunity of gathering facts illustrative of those effects, which general notoriety & my occasional visits to Boards of Guardians have justified me in attributing to the introduction of the New System'. He is applying for information to several of his 'friends in N. Hants', and chief among them is Harington, as there is 'no one, from whose observation or from whose Pen I could expect more'. In the second letter he thanks him for his 'opinion of the working & the probable ultimate effect of the P. L. Act on the Labouring Population'. In the light of Harington's reply, he discusses the matter, with reference to 'the price of Bread', the 'enforcement of ther Workhouse system', 'a discussion of the Corn Laws', 'the method of computing the Averages', and how 'some Ratepayers doubt the reality of the reductions'. He concludes: 'At the Oundle Board today three R Officers could only produce two Paupers, they had besides to report on their cases, two of which were cases of reduction, & this was in an the Population of which is 13,500 & without an effective W. House. V. Lex! Say I.' EIGHT: Manuscript table, completed for 'Old' on printed 'Form E.' Giving a 'List of Paupers relieved during the Quarter ending [23rd. June 1836] by Order of the Board of Guardians, and in conformithy to 4 and 5 Will. IV., c. 76.' Naming 25 individuals, each with 'Age', 'Calling', 'Residence', 'Cause of requiring Relief' (two are listed as 'Bastard Child'), and 'Amount of Relief out of the Workhouse, given during the last Quarter'. A final column, 'If in the Workhouse. | No. of Days', has not been completed. On one side of a 55 x 38 cm. piece of paper. The form is 'Published by Authority of the Poor Law Commissioners, by Charles Knight, 22, Ludgate Street.' NINE: Four separate manuscript tables. All anonymous and undated. The first 2pp., 8vo; the other three 1p., 8vo. First, 'Parish of Old | A List of Paupers Class 2nd.' and 'Parish of Old | A List of Old and Infirm Paupers'. With names, date of birth, money and bread received and marital status. Second, 'A Years Charges paid on Account of Building the New Workhouse.' For the 33 parishes in the union, with 'Name of Parish', 'Amt. of Principal repaid', 'Amt. of Interest' and 'Total'. Pencil calculations on reverse. Third, 'Brixworth Union | Medical Districts'. With the parishes divided into six groups, each with the name of the medical officer, and columns giving details of 'Area of each Parish in Acres' and 'Population of each Parish'. Fourth, a list of 'Averages' for 33 parishes, headed 'Brixworth Union', totalling 12469. Addressed to 'Revd. Richd Harington | Old'. TEN: Three manuscript documents. The first two 2pp., 8vo; the third 1p., 8vo. First, copy of a 'Valuation | Cottesbrooke Parish | Brixworth Union' by Commissioners Lewis and Nicholls. 2 November 1837. Second, copy of letter to Robert Hewitt, Clerk to the Guardians of the Brixworth Union, Northampton, from George Goode, Assistant Secretary, Poor Law Commission Office, Somerset House [London], 6 November 1837. Regarding an application for a new valuation. Third, draft form, described by Harington in a pencil note as 'Form of Contract proposed by R H.' Details left blank. Dated 1837. The collection is from the papers of the Harington baronets of Ridlington.