British Popular Customs, Present and Past / Illustrating the Social and Domestic Manners of the People. Arranged According to the Calendar of the Year.

by T. F. Thiselton-Dyer

In Reading these entries go back to a rather remote date, and mention collections by men as well as women, while they seem to show that there the women “hocked,” as the phrase was, on the Monday, and the men on the Tuesday.

In the registers of the parish of St. Laurence, under the year 1499, we have:

“Item, received of Hock money gaderyd of women, xx^s.

Item, received of Hock money gaderyd of men, iiij^s.”

In the parish of St. Giles, under the date 1535:

“Hoc money gatheryd by the wyves (women), xiij^s. ix^d.”

In St. Mary’s parish, under the year 1559:

“Hoctyde money, the mens gatheryng, iiij^s.

The womens, xij^s.”

In the “Privy Purse Expenses” of Henry VIII. for the year 1505, is the following entry:—