SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



between forty and fifty, formerly coachman to the dean of Lichfield. He 

 had a wife and three children and received Ss. per week and his house rent. 

 The chapter clerk and the senior verger were the two overseers, being 

 appointed to their office by the dean and chapter, who audited the accounts. 150 



Wolverhampton was another town which illustrated the evils of the 

 existing system, under the best conditions. The parish was divided for the 

 maintenance and support of the poor into the townships of Wolverhampton, 

 Willenhall, Bilston, and Wednesfield, the chief of these being Wolver- 

 hampton with 24,732 inhabitants. 



Since 1824, when the poor-rate was 3,637, it had gradually increased 

 till it reached 5,477 m ^32, and was still increasing. Yet it had its good 

 points, having a select vestry regularly and efficiently attended, a workhouse 

 "well and economically conducted, active and upright overseers, intelligent 

 salaried assistant overseers, and, finally, a perfect system of keeping the parish 

 books. 151 



As to the various forms of poor relief, the assistant commissioner reported 

 that the system of relieving able-bodied labourers at their own homes had 

 been extensively practised in Staffordshire ; had received a considerable check 

 since the order of sessions in 1818, which strongly discouraged the practice ; 

 but unfortunately was gaining ground once again. 151 * 



Out of fourteen parishes and boroughs questioned, however, seven 

 definitely said that the system was not now in use, Wolverhampton and 

 Rowley Regis being honourably distinguished by the fact that the authorities 

 there had never given allowances to the able-bodied in aid of wages. 1 ' 2 



The Roundsman system (a system by which the parish sold the pauper's 

 labour to the farmer and made up the deficit in his wages out of the rates) 

 had gained but little ground in this county, but there were some examples 

 of it. In the parish of Longdon, e.g., after great struggles the system was 

 abandoned, in defiance of strong opposition from the farmers, who profited at 

 the expense of the community. The road surveyors co-operated with the 

 magistrates, and set to work the unemployed, with the result that the farmers 

 were obliged to hire regular labourers at decent wages, and the surveyors 

 soon had no more labour to deal with than was needed for the repair of the 

 roads. 153 In some townships the system, under the name of ' house-row,' was 

 said to be in use, and in a few the remuneration of labour was determined 

 not by the value of the work done but by the size of the family. 154 



The question of the ' settlement ' of paupers was one which had given 

 rise to much trouble, injustice, and expense here as in other counties. For 

 instance, in one township an item of 40 occurred as the cost of appeal to 

 the last quarter sessions, and this when the whole amount of poor rate was 

 rather less than 200. Servants were hired for fifty-one weeks instead of a 

 year to prevent them from being chargeable to the parish. 155 Darlaston and 

 Tamworth were cited as examples of the evils that might result from granting 

 a ' settlement ' by apprenticeship. The manufacturers of Tamworth had 

 been in the habit of taking many apprentices for seven years, thus securing 



150 



Ref>. on Staff of Poor Laws (1834), as above, A, 269. 15 ' Ibid. 269-70. la Ibid. 267. 



151 Rep. on Poor Laws, 1834 ; App. B i, pt. iv, 39 d.\ App. B 2, pts. iv, v, 213 ;', 213 k. 

 '" Ibid. App. A, 267. 



154 Ibid. '''" Ibid. App. A, 268. 



299 



