A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



Rents for two parish houses were received in 1723. 

 In 1767 repairs were carried out at two parish houses, 

 described as the Parish House and the Church House. 

 In 1 826 a bill was paid for the erection of a cottage on 

 TawTiey Common. All the parish property, then 

 described as consisting of cottages on Tawney Common 

 and two adjoining the church, was offered for sale in 

 1837 and the proceeds were used to repay to Lady 

 Smith the money borrowed by the parish for their 

 share in building the incorporated workhouse. The 

 cottages by the church are said to have been demolished 

 about 1887. 



Annual expenditure on the relief of the poor, after 

 averaging about ^^33 during the period 1725-50, rose 

 steadily to over ^^loo for the first time in 1772 and 

 then remained fairly constant for the next 20 years. 

 The parish subscribed to the scheme, formulated by 

 Mr. Conyers of Epping in 1794, for the promotion of 

 industry." From 1793-4 expenditure rose steeply 

 until 1 80 1 when it amounted to over ^428 and a 

 general rate of 8/. td. in the pound was levied. This 

 figure was surpassed in 18 14-15 when over l,'^\o was 

 spent. An average of about ;^36o was raised by the 

 rates each year between 1801 and 18 17. Special 

 grants, occasioned presumably by the inclinations of 

 individual overseers, supplemented the normal forms 

 of relief. During a scarlet fever epidemic in 1822, the 

 sick were provided with 'neck of mutton and bullocks' 

 feet for jelly', and in 1829 and 1830 the expenses of 

 two weddings, including licence, ring, and fees, were 

 borne by the parish. 



The vestry did little to control its officers in the dis- 

 charge of their duties until a crisis had occurred in the 

 parish in 1823. In January of that year the vestry 

 refused to grant a rate requested by the overseer, 

 Thomas Ford, a man whose well-meaning schemes for 

 relief did not always meet with general approval-'^ 

 'Owing to the depressed state of agriculture', various 

 unemployed paupers had applied to him, as overseer, 

 to find work for them. As a result he hired some of 

 them on his own small farm, in excess of his actual 

 requirements, paying them a basic wage of i/. a day 

 himself and supplementing this with a further td. each 

 for themselves and every member of their families out 

 of the poor rates. 53 The vestry objected to this, stating 

 that the basic wage had been fixed at \s. 6d. a day, and 

 refused to grant a rate. Thereupon Ford paid off his 

 surplus labour and bought them is. worth of marbles, 

 with parish money, to keep them out of mischief. He 

 then counter-attacked by questioning the accuracy of 

 the overseers' accounts for the years 1810—22. He 

 claimed that, owing largely to the disappearance of 

 some annual balances and the failure to produce 

 vouchers for the overseers' payments on the accounts 

 of other parish officers, over £625 remained un- 

 accounted for. A committee of four, including 

 Thomas Ford and the curate, William St. Andrew 

 Vincent, who presided, investigated the charges and, 

 under the curate's influence, cleared the officers con- 

 cerned, to the evident dissatisfaction of Ford. The 

 committee recommended, however, that in future over- 



seers should account only for sums spent on the poor. 

 The vestry thenceforth began to control more closely 

 the overseers' disbursements and the audit of their 

 accounts and each succeeding overseer was made to 

 sign both for the receipt of the account book and for his 

 predecessor's balance. 



In 1829 Stapleford Tawney joined with nine other 

 parishes in the voluntary establishment of an incor- 

 porated workhouse under Gilbert's Act (22 Geo. Ill, 

 c. 83 (1782)). 54 The accounts of the overseer in 1831 

 included the payment to Capel Cure of Stapleford 

 Tawney's share of the mortgage raised for building this 

 workhouse. 



In 1836 Stapleford Tawney became part of the 

 Ongar Poor Law Union. 



A schoolhouse seems to have been built in 1725 or 

 1726 by direction of the parish vestry so 

 SCHOOLS that elementary subjects, the catechism, 

 and Church of England doctrine should 

 be taught to poor children. 55 In 1725 Sir Edward 

 Smyth, lord of the capital manor (see above), lent j^20 

 towards the cost of building, to be repaid from the 

 rent of the Church lands. 5* In the same year, however, 

 Mrs. Jane Luther, lady of Suttons (see above), repaid 

 this debt. 57 It would seem, moreover, that Mrs. 

 Luther undertook the entire cost of building for she 

 stated in her will, dated 1745, ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ''"'''^ *^^ 

 schoolhouse at her expense and had afterwards received 

 a rent of 30X. a year for it.58 She then stipulated that 

 after her death this rent was to be used primarily to 

 keep the schoolhouse and its premises in repair, the 

 residue being used to purchase bibles and prayer-books 

 for distribution amongst the poor. 5' Meanwhile in 

 1726 the vestry had decided to employ a schoolteacher 

 at a salary of ^^5 a year (see Charities).*" It is not clear, 

 however, for how long the parish employed a salaried 

 schoolteacher or who occupied the schoolhouse before 

 Mrs. Luther's death in 1745. Soon after her death the 

 schoolhouse was being rented by Thomas King, who 

 also rented the Church house. In April 1748 it was 

 reported that King owed £j for two years' rent of the 

 schoolhouse.*' From 1750— i, if not before, the school- 

 house or at least the schoolroom was occupied by a 

 master to whom the parish sent children on a per capita 

 basis. In 1750— i ,^5 i8j. was paid to the schoolmaster 

 out of rents from the Church house and lands.*^ In 

 I75i~2 £t^ ly. lod. was paid from the same source 

 for alterations 'in the schoolroom', it being stated that 

 'the shelves and partition was put up by the parish to 

 be left when the tenant goes out'.*^ In the same year 

 Mr. Lewthwaite was paid £2 17/. for 'schooling' and 

 from then until 1783, if not later, 'children's schooling' 

 was usually the main item of expenditure in the church- 

 warden's annual account of parish property .*■♦ This 

 item varied in amount from year to year. In 1752-3 

 three children were sent to school at a total cost of 

 1 2/. 6d'.*5 Usually, however, the annual cost was be- 

 tween £2 and ;^5.** It is not clear what arrangements 

 were made for educating the poor children of Staple- 

 ford Tawney after 1783. In 1818 it was stated that 

 there was no school of any kind in the parish.*^ In 



*' Account of the origin and progress of 

 the Society for the Promotion of Industry in 

 the Hundreds of Ongar and Harlow and the 

 Half Hundred of fValtham in the County of 

 Euex (1797). 



»' He was also responsible for relief 

 during the scarlet fever epidemic, 1822. 



" i.e. A man with a wife and 2 children 



received is. a day from the parish. 



*♦ This voluntary union had its work- 

 house at Stanford Rivers (q.v.). 



55 E.R.O., D/P 141/8/1. 



5« Ibid. 



57 Ibid. 



58 Rep. Com. Char. (Essex), H.C. 216, 

 pp. 24.4-5(1835), xxi(i). 



5» Ibid. 



<"> E.R.O., D/P 141/8/1. 



6> Ibid. 



" Ibid. 



'5 Ibid. <■♦ Ibid. 



«s Ibid. " Ibid. 



«7 Retns. Educ. Poor, H.C. 224, p. 271 

 (i8r9),ix(i). 



238 



