A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



to the old hands ; men were given credit in pro- 

 portion to the number of years they had been at 

 the works ; a workman of one year's standing 

 was given 4.5. credit, one of three years' standing, 

 6s., and so on. Married but childless men were 

 allowed half as much more credit as bachelors, 

 and married men with children twice as much/^ 

 No part of the scheme shows better how far 

 Crowley was in advance of his age than his 

 efforts to grapple with the problem of poverty. 

 A fund to support the superannuated, the sick, 

 the widows, and the orphans was raised by a 

 trifling tax on all money earned in the works. 



That the Chaplain, the Clerk to the Poor and all 

 Domestics upon the Monitor's List and every work- 

 man whatever shall pay one farthing in the shilling 

 (altered to Ninepence in the pound) out of all money 

 they shall earn that is of the full sum or produce of 

 wages and Sallaries that comes due to them by the 

 Account and Reckonings made up in Sir Ambrose 

 (John inserted) Crowley's (Esqr's inserted) for the 

 Poor's Books." 



The Crowleys paid handsomely toward this 

 fund. A curious arrangement was made by 

 which the Poor fund was answerable when a 

 workman was discovered without material ; in 

 return Sir Ambrose paid weekly to the fund 

 4/6,*" As the rules were drawn up to ensure 

 the smooth working, and it was to the interest 

 alike of master and man to prevent a breach, 

 appeals are constantly made to popular opinion. 

 When the Poor 



by workmen running out of stock shall be indebted 

 and not have cash wherewith to pay there must In- 

 stantly be an additional Sess and the Reason Declared 

 to the End all Runners out of Stocks may be odious 

 in the Workmen's Eyes." 



The governors of the poor held a meeting on 

 Thursday evening * when the unit is nine,' that 

 is the first week of the decades into which the 

 year was divided, when the clerk brought the 

 assessment books and each case was carefully 

 considered before the orders were given to the 

 cashier for the necessary deductions from the 

 workmen's wages. The ironkeeper had stringent 

 orders not to give any iron to anyone who 

 neglected or refused to pay the awards, but 

 appeals were allowed in case the workman con- 

 sidered his assessment too high. The master 

 who employed hammermen had to receive 2d. 

 a week from them for the fund. 



Information having reached Crowley that ' sun- 

 dry of his workpeople have oft been put to it 

 for lodgings,' to prevent a recurrence of what he 

 regarded as a slur on his management, he ordered 

 the council to advance 30J. repayable by is. a 

 week, ' provided the same be actually laid out in 

 setting up a bed.' " Thus the Crowley workmen 



'' Law Book, Law 70, verses 20-31, fol. 11 63. 

 ''Ibid. Law 8, verse 7, fol. 1415. 

 *"Ibid. Law 8, verse 6, fol. l^i. 

 "Ibid. Law 8, verse 15, fol. i^a. 

 "Ibid. Law 10, fol. igi. 



were never on the rates, and when the burden 

 of the poor law of that time is remembered, the 

 statement by a disinterested witness, ' this is 

 one of the few manufactories in Britain that is 

 not regarded by its parish with an eye of malig- 

 nancy,' is quite credible.^' 



The institution of municipal pawnshops is still 

 a desideratum of the present-day social reformer. 

 Crowley devised a scheme which met the difS- 

 culty. An elaborate system, by which any 

 properly qualified workman applying for work in 

 London might be transferred to Winlaton, his 

 passage paid, if he left in pawn sufficient to cover 

 his expenses, is given with much detail, and in 

 this case, as in many others, an example is given 

 of the way in which the transaction should be 

 entered on the books. 



Claim 1,549. 

 John Smith at the King's in Turnball Street. Dr. 



To Cash Lent him upon i Coat Waistcoat I Pr. of 

 Stockings for which there was advanced as per cash 

 account 785 01. 10. o. 



Hazard and Freight per lb. lid". 00. 01. 06. 



Pawn in John Hallford's hand Dr. to do. 01. 11. 06. 



The goods were sold at the end of forty 

 weeks to defray expenses, or in case the owner 

 did not put in an appearance at Winlaton 

 within fifteen weeks.^^ 



An account is quoted in connexion with the 

 Poor Fund which shows that Ambrose Crowley 

 had not succeeded in putting down drinking at 

 funerals, a fruitful source of disorder at that time. 



Having examined the sundries charged for the 

 funeral of William Siddoway, the cashier is to 

 pay the following : — 



To Matthew Newton for a coffin o. 05. 06. 



To Henry Bonce for Drink 



among ye Workmen o. 05. 04. 



Church Fees o. 01. 02. 



For a Messenger going to Ryton o. 00. 04. 



o. 12. 04. 



Pay to John Appleby Sexton of Ryton Church one 

 half year from May the first to November the eleventh 

 1707 cighteen-pence." 



Anxious as the Crowleys were to inculcate 

 self-help, they undertook to provide a chaplain 

 and a surgeon for their people at their own 

 expense. Moreover, Ambrose Crowley not only 

 rebuilt the old chapel, which had been destroyed 

 during the rebellion of the earls, but rented the 

 gallery of Ryton church for the use of his work- 

 people. 



According to the rent roll, 1772-82, the 

 chaplain had three rooms in a house belonging 

 to the firm, called Middleton's Hall, for which he 

 paid a rent of is. 2^d. His duties were arduous, 

 for he had to sit on most of the committees, 



^^ Atheneeutn, loc. cit. June, 1807. 



'* Law Book, Law 60, verse 3, fol. \o\b. 



"Ibid. Law 107, fol. \l\a. 



j86 



