Issue 15, Autumn 2019 Image from U269/O186/2 (c.1777), Lt. Notebook of Lieutenant Whitworth of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. “Lucet in Tenebris Veritas”: The Records of Kent’s Two Dioceses (A Day Conference) 28 September 9.30 a.m. for 10.00 a.m., Kent History and Library Centre. Tickets: £12 to include a buffet lunch, booking essential. Don’t forget Kent Archives’ special one-day conference that is being held to mark the recent consolidation of the archives of Kent’s two ecclesiastical dioceses, Rochester and Canterbury, under one roof at the Kent History and Library Centre. To promote this landmark event, we are adopting the Latin motto of the seventeenth-century notary public William Somner, whose penwork can be found in contemporary documents found among the archives. Lucit in tenebris veritas, meaning ‘the truth shines in darkness’, expounds the effect that we hope our speakers will have: that is, by exploring some of the rich diversity of material found in these collections they will shed light – where perhaps there was previously darkness – on a range of topics relevant to people interested in different sorts of history, including family, local, cultural, and ecclesiastical. Documents from both collections will be on display. The conference will feature papers by: • Ken Fincham (University of Kent) on the Clergy of the Church of England Database • Catherine Richardson (University of Kent) on the early modern household • Timothy Brittain-Catlin (University of Kent) on Queen Anne’s Bounty • Celia Heritage (Ancestry Progenealogists) on wills and probate records for the family historian • Sheila Sweetinburgh (Canterbury Christ Church University) on lay piety in late medieval Kent • Paula Simpson (Wren Library, Trinity College Cambridge) on the involvement of women in early modern tithe disputes For further information or bookings please call us on 03000 420673 or email [email protected]. Archive Events If you missed any of Kent Archives’ lunchtime talks in June and July, then you can now watch them online on Youtube: • Watch Claire Bartram’s ‘Bookishness: Writing, Sharing and Collecting Books in Tudor England’ here • Watch Mark Connelly, ‘Ypres: transforming a Belgian city into an outpost of the British Empire, 1919- 1939’ here • Watch Liz Finn, ‘The Orchard Family: Loss, Heartbreak and Remembrance’ here. Spaces are still available for our lunchtime talks and special events running in September and October. If you would like further information or to book, then please call us on 03000 420673 or email ar- [email protected]. Clergy and Criminal Violence in later medieval Kent – Peter Clarke 9 September 2019 [free] A presentation of the speaker’s current research on clergy and criminal vio- lence in later medieval England and Wales, with special reference to pre-1500 church court records in the Rochester and Canterbury diocese archives. Peter D. Clarke is Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Southampton and specialises in later medieval religious history, especially the papacy and canon law. The White Horse of Kent – James Lloyd 21 October 2019 [free] The White Horse is the ubiquitous symbol of the county but what exactly does it mean and for how long has it been used? James Lloyd gained a Cambridge doctorate for research into local gov- ernment in Anglo-Saxon England. He currently combines roles as an archivist at the Kent History and Library Centre and librarian at Ayles- ford Priory. Maidstone on Film 9 October 7 p.m., Archbishop’s Palace, Maid- stone. Tickets £10 includes refreshments, booking ad- visable. This special programme takes us on an archive film tour of Maidstone and district from the 1930s to the 1960s. The films, all drawn from the collec- tion of Screen Archive South East, feature the parade of Maidstone Industries led by the Mayor of Maidstone Councillor G. Tyrwhitt Drake (c. 1930), auctioneers at work at the livestock market (1932), the River Medway and its course through Aylesford Bridge, Allington Lock and East Far- leigh (c. 1935), a visit to Harold Potter, the miller at Chegworth Watermill (1946), the Kent Show of 1951 in colour at Mote Park, the work of the Maidstone and District Motor Services and street scenes and landmarks from the 1960s. Many of these films have never been seen before in public. SASE works in partnership with Kent Archives to collect, preserve, digitise, research and promote moving images made in Kent and the region. This show is presented by SA- SE and Kent Archives, with commentary by Dr Frank Gray of SASE. Local history societies are vital in promoting the study of local communities and their history, and the Ar- chives@Kent newsletter welcomes suggestions for articles from them about their research using our collec- tions. Formed over 20 years ago, the Woodchurch Ancestry Group is a dedicated team that research, write articles for periodicals, and transcribe records relating to all aspects of Woodchurch’s local and family histo- ry. They maintain their own website at www.woodchurchancestry.org.uk/, which includes transcripts and in- dexes to records covering the village and surrounding area. In the article below, Robert Chown introduces us to one of the Group’s latest projects—transcribing the Woodchurch parish overseers’ accounts and dis- bursements—and highlights both the significant research potential of these records and the poignant story of Mary Bingham. Woodchurch parish overseers’ accounts: The final years of Mary Bingham Robert Chown, Woodchurch Ancestry Group Entries in the Woodchurch overseers’ accounts and disbursements register recording items purchased for the poor of the parish and pay- ments made on their behalf [P400/12/6]. Josie Mackie of the Woodchurch Ancestry Group has completed the transcription of eight sessions of the Woodchurch poor disbursements from 1761-1765 [P400/12/6: Woodchurch Overseers’ Accounts and Dis- bursements Register (1761-1792)]. This large register, one of twelve volumes of Woodchurch Overseers’ Accounts covering the period c1580-1837, is held at the Kent History and Library Centre. A session lasted six months and was supervised by a local property owner/leaseholder with the title of ‘Overseer of the Poor’. These eight sessions cover the last four years of the life of Mary Bingham. The disbursements were sets of accounts which primarily recorded how much the overseer spent providing relief to the poor of the parish. Mary received poor relief from 1761 until her death in 1765. The entries recorded what she received and re- ferred to her as ‘Widow Bangham’. In 1747, the Overseers’ Accounts record that a Widow Bangham was renting a property from the late James Tilden at £8 per year. This substantial property could be Gower Farm on Susan’s Hill, Woodchurch. By 1761 she had fallen on hard times and was living in lodgings as a tenant at will so did not appear in the Overseer’s Accounts. Mary received 46 monthly payments of 6s. 0d. between 20 April 1761 and 25 February 1765, a total of £13 16s. 0d. This appears to have been the normal monthly allowance for one person living on their own, in their own home outside the village poor house. Unlike others, there is no reference to Mary’s rent being paid by the overseer so she must have paid it each month out of her allowance. The entry in 1747 ap- pears to indicate that Mary may have been a farmer’s wife. This would have given her enough money sense to manage within her meagre means later in life. Unlike others receiving monthly relief during this period, Mary never requested any extra money because she was ‘in want’. Woodchurch parish overseers’ accounts: The final years of Mary Bingham Robert Chown, Woodchurch Ancestry Group Mary was able to supplement her monthly allowance with money she received from ‘netting’ (knitting) and darning men’s woollen stockings. These men were also receiving poor relief. These extras never amounted to very much income, varying between 9d. and 3s. The total she received during this period was less than £1. Other widows were paid the same amounts at the same time, so there may have been some sort of knit- ting circle. The overseer also organized other forms of relief. On 30 August 1762, John Fullagar, Bob Chown’s 5x great grandfather, was paid £7 10s. 6d. for providing a number of the village poor with firewood: ‘Paid to John Fullagar for 2 load of wood John Bassock, 3 load John Blatcher Robert Lepper 2¼, Thomas Newman 2 load Mac: (Mercy) King one load Widow Bangham ½ a hundred of faggots’. While the Overseers’ Accounts show a number of woodlands within the parish of Woodchurch, it was farmers like John Fullagar using the copses on their farms that supplied much of the firewood for the poor. On 25 October 1762, Mary received her last money for netting: ‘Paid to Widow Bangham for netting a pair of stockings for the poor 1s.’. This may have been a sign of her declining health. On the 9 January 1764, Dame (Mrs) Ricord was paid 6d. for ‘watching’ with widow Bangham for the night. On 6 February 1764 Widow Bassock was paid 4s. for caring for Widow Bangham for a month. The next month Widow Bassock was paid 2s. for doing the same thing. Mary may have visited one of the physicians in Woodchurch who provided ‘doctrine’ (doctoring). These men tended to be on annual retainer, so individual visits did not always appear. Mary recovered enough to live on her own following her illness, but died at her home early in March 1765. Mary Bingham was buried in Woodchurch churchyard on 10 March 1765 (P400/1/A/4: Woodchurch Parish Burial Register, 1675-1812). Mary left no will.