A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



whipped in the market town nearest to the place, where he was arrested, he 

 was to be sent back to his place of birth, or to the place where he had last 

 dwelt three years, and there work for his own living. The Act of I536 183 

 stated that no directions had previously been made for the provision of work 

 for the returned vagrant, and therefore ordered funds to be established with 

 this object. In 1562 the report showed that the vagrancy laws might have 

 been better observed, and that the number of ale-houses encouraged thieves 

 and vagants to a dangerous extent. Ten years later the justices for the three 

 hundreds of Aylesbury made a return 18S showing that they had dealt with 

 eleven vagrants and conveyed them towards the place where they had last 

 dwelt. A certificate of 1577"* may also bear on the question of vagrants, 

 for the justices had drawn up a complete list of all inns and ale-houses in the 

 county amounting to a total of 422. 



Various Acts had provided for the return of vagrants to the place of 

 their birth, but it was not till 1575 186 that any particular orders were given 

 for setting them to work on their arrival. The new Act ordered a stock of 

 wool, flax, hemp, iron, or other materials to be provided in every city, 

 corporate town, or market town, when so ordered by the justices, so that the 

 unemployed poor might earn their own living and the young be taught to 

 work. Houses of correction were to be built in every county, but of these 

 the justices make no return in the sixteenth century. 



Apart from statutory enactment, the Privy Council made direct efforts 

 to relieve special distress. The years 1572, 1586, and from 159410 1597 

 were periods of great scarcity of corn, and, owing to the small area from 

 which markets could be supplied, the failure of the harvest meant absolute 

 starvation to a great part of the population. The council interfered, prob- 

 ably to prevent the disorders always following on a great scarcity of corn, 

 and in I586 186 the returns illustrate very fully the method of dealing with 

 the question. 



The justices of the peace apportioned themselves into small groups 

 in the different hundreds, and each group was responsible for carrying out 

 the council's instructions in one particular division. In the three 

 hundreds of Cottesloe, 187 the magistrates reported that they had chosen forty- 

 three persons, who were divided into three juries, to make the necessary 

 inquiries. The juries found that there was very little corn to spare in the 

 county, ' for as many as have a surplus, as many need corn,' but those who 

 had such a surplus were ordered to bring it to market by weekly portions. 

 The justices themselves had called before them all badgers, bakers, brewers, 

 ale-house keepers, and malt makers, and had dealt with them according to 

 the instructions, in order to prevent the badgers and corn-dealers from buying 

 corn to re-sell at an increased price, and the brewers, &c., from using the 

 barley, which would otherwise be made into bread. 



They had also set up in market towns and other places overseers, 

 ' honest, and discreet persons,' to see to the carrying out of these orders as 

 well as to the relief of the poor, and, lastly, they gave the current price of 

 corn. A joint certificate was drawn up for the hundreds of Buckingham 

 and Newport, 188 where the same procedure had been followed, but it was 



181 27 Hen. VIII. m S.P. Dom. Eliz. vol. 86, No. 27. 1M Ibid. vol. 115, No. 27. 



84 1 8 Eliz. cap. 3. " S.P. Dom. Eliz. vol. 199, No. 43. 187 Ibid. (i). lai Ibid. (v). 



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