Parliamentary blue-books have been issued on the subject of parochial registers, and a most useful pamphlet is issued by the Parish Register Society every few years, giving as complete a catalogue as possible of all registers of which up to the present day printed copies or indexes have been made.
CHAPTER IX.
PARISH OFFICERS AND THEIR BOOKS.
Among the contents of the parish deed-chest wherein registers are supposed to be safely kept are often found other books and papers, seemingly of little interest or importance, but in reality very likely to yield curious and original scraps of information, with glimpses into the life of the poorer classes during the past centuries. Some day these old account books, now flung aside as worthless, will be of great importance in an antiquary’s eyes, for they give lists of all the residents in the parish, from the squire to the lowest and poorest, showing the social status of each; and further, are of value when compared with the parish registers, as giving a clue to the length of residence of inhabitants who, if of the middle class, sooner or later served their turn as parish officers; and if paupers, were entered as recipients of parochial charity.
Previous to this century the churchwardens, overseers, road surveyors and parish constables held office for one year only, being elected at the annual Easter vestry; now re-election is supposed to take place, but the post is usually carried on from year to year without opposition.
Apparently some rule of yearly income or rental governed the election, or else certain tenements were represented in rotation by their tenants, for widows were liable to serve, in which case a son or some near neighbour was deputed to act in the woman’s name.
Now the custom of yearly change has died out, and a churchwarden once elected goes on from year to year, until sickness, old age, or death renders some fresh arrangement absolutely necessary. This statement was ‘caught up’ by the reviewers of this book, but, nevertheless, it is perfectly true. Surely, if in those old days, when education was so sparsely distributed, and even reading and writing looked upon as sciences—if then it was possible to find men able and capable of directing local affairs, it seems strange that now so few are considered fit for the post, when every day-labourer’s son is taught drawing and essay-writing in addition to his elementary studies.
The office of churchwarden is very old. Now it has lost most of its prestige, and the churchwarden is almost forgotten except on the Sundays when collections are made; formerly each villager took a personal interest in affairs which some day he himself would probably be called upon to manage.
The two churchwardens of a parish represented the rival interests of its inhabitants: the parson versus the squire and his tenants. Each officer had his clients’ interests to uphold and consider. The most onerous duty before the present system of Poor Law, however, fell upon the overseer of the poor, in whose hands rested the responsibility of the proper distribution of the public funds in the shape of bequests and legacies; to him came applications for relief, and with him also were mooted all questions relating to the disposal of paupers, both dead and alive. Edward III. forbade the giving of alms to able-bodied men, but no regular Poor Laws were invented till Henry VIII. was King.
The first Acts of Parliament relating to Poor Laws were passed towards the conclusion of Queen Elizabeth’s long reign. It was absolutely necessary to make some fresh statutes applicable to the new state of affairs consequent upon the Reformation. Previously most of the charity had been distributed or directed by the monks, and after these were dispersed and their lands seized by the Crown and sold, their unfortunate dependents were rendered still more dependent, and all the severe laws against vagrancy and beggars made by the Tudor sovereigns could not abate the nuisance or solve the difficult question, while doles and gifts of bread or alms served only to increase the evil through toleration.