The Margins of Myddle: Poverty and Community in a Shropshire Parish, C
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Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2018 THE MARGINS OF MYDDLE: POVERTY AND COMMUNITY IN A SHROPSHIRE PARISH, C. 1601-1800 Betsy L. Morgan-Cutright Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Morgan-Cutright, Betsy L., "THE MARGINS OF MYDDLE: POVERTY AND COMMUNITY IN A SHROPSHIRE PARISH, C. 1601-1800" (2018). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 7218. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/7218 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE MARGINS OF MYDDLE: POVERTY AND COMMUNITY IN A SHROPSHIRE PARISH, C. 1601-1800 Betsy L. Morgan-Cutright Dissertation submitted to the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Kate Kelsey Staples, Ph.D., Committee Chairperson Katherine Aaslestad, Ph.D. Joseph Hodge, Ph.D. Susannah Ottaway, Ph.D. Matthew Vester, Ph.D. Department of History Morgantown, West Virginia 2018 Keywords: Myddle, Shropshire, The History of Myddle, Richard Gough, community, belonging, poverty, gender, Old Poor Law, Elizabethan Poor Law, poor law administration, settlement laws, illegitimacy, pauper apprenticeship Copyright 2018 Betsy L. Morgan-Cutright ABSTRACT The Margins of Myddle: Poverty and Community in a Shropshire Parish, c. 1601-1800 Betsy L. Morgan-Cutright A local and microhistorical analysis of poverty in the unusually well-documented Shropshire parish of Myddle, this study encompasses the establishment of parish-based poor relief in 1601 through the waning days of this system in the late eighteenth century. Expanding the analysis of early modern poverty, this study joins conversations concerning English poor law historiography. In contrast to earlier studies of Myddle this examination pushes the historical enquiry into new territory by focusing on poverty, extending analysis into the eighteenth century, and concentrating on gender as a category of analysis as a way of understanding the effects of the poor laws. This study also looks at the implementation of government legislation at the local level, best understood as an interactive process that was influenced by wider social and cultural ideas. Parish chest materials dealing with poor law administration and other parish documents related to poor relief are used along with The History of Myddle, a work of local history written by Myddle resident Richard Gough, to explore the treatment of and views surrounding Myddle's poor. This study explores Gough as a historical figure to show that his position within the parish affected his portrayal of Myddle's poor within his writings. The concept of settlement, a principle central to the poor laws and a major theme within both Gough's writings and parish chest documents, illustrates that belonging in the parish was not a straightforward process, and primarily revolved around one's potential financial risk to the parish. Analyses of illegitimacy and pauper apprenticeship in Myddle further demonstrate that poverty was not a universal experience. The major findings of this study concern the ways in which this flexible system, one that defies easy summation, worked in reality. Significantly, Myddle reveals the localized nature of poor relief before changing ideas about the poor took hold. This led to the enactment of a new poor law in 1834, and a system that was both more uniform and less localized, but nevertheless resulted from a complex evolutionary process. DEDICATION In memory of the late Robert L. Morgan, who set me on the path, and dedicated to Ryan D. Cutright, who countless times kept me there. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to acknowledge the assistance of Ms. Patty Plymale of the Buckhannon, West Virginia Family History Center branch of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, who in the very early days of this project went above and beyond in helping me gain access to microfilmed sources relating to Myddle. Second, I wish to express deep gratitude to Ms. Mary McKenzie, along with the staff and volunteers of the Shropshire Archives in Shrewsbury, who all provided valuable access to research materials, advice, and encouragement. The guidance of my committee members, Drs. Kate Kelsey Staples, Katherine Aaslestad, Joseph Hodge, Susannah Ottaway, and Matthew Vester, all of whom have provided invaluable aid during the life of this project, has been both constructive and generous. This dissertation owes particular debt to Dr. Susannah Ottaway, who has supplied substantial assistance both in conceptualizing the project and intellectualizing the transition to the New Poor Law. I also want to recognize my adviser and dissertation chairperson, Dr. Kate Kelsey Staples, whose supervision has never ceased to be enthusiastic, practical, and wise. The help of all of these individuals acknowledged, all misconceptions and inaccuracies are nevertheless my own. Last, I want to express gratitude to several members of my family, including Christina M., Forrest D., Alexandria, Kirk, Kora, and Augustina White; Ricky D. and Wanda L. Cutright; Jonathan R., Jennifer L., Grant, and Emma Morgan; Gregory R. and Pamela L. Morgan; and Ryan D. Cutright. Whether they realized it or not, their patience and encouragement persistently served as the source of inspiration and perseverance. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents Abstract..........................................................................................................................................ii Dedication.......................................................................................................................................iii Acknowledgments..........................................................................................................................iv Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................v LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................................................vi CHAPTER 1: Introduction.............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2: Richard Gough and the Writing of the The History of Myddle.............................36 CHAPTER 3: "No Town Willingly Receives a Poor Man": Settlement in The History of Myddle............................................................................................................................................90 CHAPTER 4: Beyond The History of Myddle: Settlement in the Eighteenth Century..............142 CHAPTER 5: Myddle's "Sparrows": Illegitimacy and the Poor Law System...........................183 CHAPTER 6: "A Twigge Will Best Bend When It Is Greene": Pauper Apprenticeship in Myddle.........................................................................................................................................218 CHAPTER 7: Conclusion...........................................................................................................269 Bibliography................................................................................................................................291 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: Settlement Incidents in Myddle, 1693-1792.............................................................154 Figure 4.2: Settlement Certificate Holders and Recorded Dependents in Myddle, 1702-1757....................................................................................................................................177 Figure 4.3: Pauper and Itinerant Burials in Myddle, 1600-1800.................................................180 Figure 6.1: Chronological Distribution of Parish Apprenticeships in Myddle, 1672-1800.........242 Figure 6.2: Gender Distribution of Parish Apprenticeship in Myddle, 1692-1800.....................258 vi C H A P T E R 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Introduction Not far from Shakespeare's reconstructed Globe Theatre in south London is a cemetery. Now known as Cross Bones Graveyard, from the medieval period until burials there ceased in 1853 due to overcrowding, it was the resting place of thousands of paupers, prostitutes, and society's other disreputable cast-offs. Saved from becoming a building site soon after its closure, the disused cemetery in the twentieth century variously housed a fairground, timber-yard, and industrial workshops. It was then excavated in the 1990s as part of the London Underground Jubilee Line extension.1 Since then, the cemetery has inspired a series of plays by the writer John Constable, whose work, reminiscent of medieval mystery plays, aims to tell the putative stories of the forgotten who over the centuries were buried there.2 A shrine now exists at Redcross Way, its gates swathed