m bUA RT E R S E S S I O S E I ZE Q U A RT I 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 . 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 I . FRO M THE RECO RD S By O F A BRADBRO O K QU RTER , M R S C - . E S S I O N S o - S , II . S EIZE QU A RTIERS B AN D A S C E N D I N G y E E V L S D P RC AL UCA . PE IGREES , I I I . THE RECO RD S O F By A D TE TE E RCY C . U SHE N P N P R , O S Ch a rte re d P a te nt A e nt. ENTI N , g fie >X< >X< se “Q 1909 . " J . A . BE U WALT O N - O N - THAME S E N GLAN D CHAS RNA , , . Wh ole sa le Age nts S I M PKI N M R H L HAM I L , . TO N KE N Co. L A S AL . T . TD.. LO N DO N . From th e Re cords of Quarter Se s sions . ’ ' ' ' ‘ ’ c uzd a um homz ne s 710mm iz wor z m Qm g g , , , , volu a s fl , ’ ' ’ ' a ua za dzscursus nosfrz a rm o 1223615. g , , f g a The genealogist , being minute or i ro co ic ff m c s p investigator, can a ord to neglect nothing : every scra p of paper bearing a name and date may be of use to him , but how much more so when details of place , occupation , misdeed , misfortune, etc ., are added . Those who are interested in thissubjectshould consult a lso th e P R ( G . F . T . 0 edigree egister published by Sherwood , 5 , B f R B 1 08 ee ro oad , ro le , London , for Se ” 9 , w c c t ck y pt ” in hi h a u C m R . m y be fo nd a short articleon ri inal ecords 4 Quarter The R ecords of Quarter Rich in S e ssmns are composed of Ge ne a logica l such details , and practically Evide nce every scrap of them con tains possible material for or evidence of ’ some one s genealogical position . The matter for the most part , deals with the , ” submerged tenth in its relation to the more solid , stable , or respectable classes of society :for if in the Parish R egister where to be born and die oor of rich and p is all the history , the intervening gap between birth and fille d in dissolution may be , perchance , from the Quarter Sessions papers , for of “ tolive ff these last we may say , su er, pay , or ” a be social nuisance , is the enlivening narrative . The writer does not propose in this place to deal with the whole of the multi fa rious records (that will be another story) w or o be r r r hich are , sh uld , p ese ved by eve y Se s sion s 5 English county ; we may judge of their interest on the principle of “ex pede ” rcule m su e rfi cia l one He , the p survey of section only (and that a discarded section) reveals the value and importance of the remainder . Dealing with the whole Inv a lua ble to of a county, the documents Pa rish and papers are drawn from Historia ns. and refer to every village i t r and hamlet , and no published par sh his o y can be regarded as complete if its compiler have not studied these records , whence so much detail of general and personal interest is gleaned , or rather reaped , so copious is the supply . A good many years ago the necessity of providing more space for the a ccommoda tion of continually accumulating records led to the eviction from the R ecord R oom a t Aylesbury of a large quantity of rolls as being use less for business purposes . After 6 Quarter examination by someone from the British M a useum , who did not c re to have them , they were handed over to the Buckingham hire Arch a eological Society Ne gle cte d sor what they were worth Re cords. (ofiicia l statement) . Stored on shelves in the rooms of this Society, the evicted rolls remained for years without r appa ently exciting the inquisitiveness , far less the interest , of anyone , until one day l the writer casua ly took down a roll , and on opening the begrimed and dusty bundle, read on the fi rst paper the sign manual of John Wilkes . This discovery led to closer investigation , which revealed that the col lection of documents was composed for the most par t of receipts and accounts for payments made by the County Treasurer . er?R ’ These Treasur olls Tre a sure rs form but one section only Rolls. of the R ecords in the care of R r a th e the Custos otulo um , and will lone be Se s s io n s 7 subject of this paper, with some mention of a few papers which have been wrapped up . in these bundles , either carelessly or in error Here we have evidence that the Trea s urer paid the parish constables for removing paupers , the expenses of maintaining the County Jail and caring for the prisoners therein , the cost of transport of troops ' ’ h e rifl through the county, the expenses of S s O fiice rs for apprehending vagrants and ’ criminals , Coroners charges and expenses of inquests , for keeping the wives and families of men who were serv ing in the s militia, for the keep of debtor in the jail , etc ., etc . The documents in great Pa sse s for est abundance are the Va gra nts . 757m m ! orde rs a x e s or f , re quiring the parish constables to convey towards their place of legal settlement the 8 Quarter paupers or vagrants named therein) “ Each of these passes gives the name and signature of one or more magistrates , the names and n signatures of (ofte ) two parish constables , with at least one name of a pauper with the legal settlement . Most of these papers give ’ more than one pauper s name , two or more may appear, while instances of whole families are quite common , and the details of age and occupation frequently appear . Stray specimens of these 15513553 are found in many parish chests , but seldom or never in any abundance , as the parish chest is not the place for them ; as evidence of expend ita re for which the County T reasurer had a sse s to account , the proper place for the p as ’ R vouchers is with the Treasurers olls , and it is there that they are found in hundreds . O n pages iii . and iv . will be found reduced fac - similes of both sides of such a voucher . 78. See Some Special Studies in Genealog y, p Sessions 9 “ The larger part, by far, Move d n of these removal orders a l( m tfi g concerns but few of the G; a t Ma in parish constables ; for, as iloa ds the paupers were passed ch ie fl y along the great main roads , the parishes on these highways naturally had more pauper business for the constable than fell to the lot of the same offi cia l in a parish situated away from the great lines of tra ffi c. In Bucks , the bulk of the paupers passed through the hands of the parish constables at Little Brickhill and Stony Stratford , the places where Watling Street enters and leaves the county on its ten - mile course through it ; and at Colnbrook and Taplow on the Bath Road . The constables whose sphere of usefulness included the places just ' mentioned did more fia sszng than all the remaining constables in the county put together and multiplied by two . If the student of vagrancy wish to exhaust the 1 0 Quarter subject , he must study the great trunk roads, especially the evidence contained in the ”mom ! orde rs which will be found to explain and supplement many an entry in the parish registers ; it may here be noted that the contents of the Quarter Sessions R ecords does not so much give genealogical infor mation as facts for enriching the pedigree chart, and showing that the persons of whom it is composed were real live people . Though the duty of Th e pa ssm g paupers was that Cripple of a parish constable , where Cont ra ctor the pa sszhg s were numerous offi cia l not a special , who was necessarily the constable , seems to have been appointed , and to have retained the place for years . offi cia l Crz le Confm ctor This was called the pp , “ and received a salary for relieving, passing, conveying and maintaining cripples and ” vagrants in and through the county . The na mes of the Cripple Contractors appear not Se s s io n s 1 1 only on their receipts but on other papers , and occasional mention of a wife or son may c e . make for genealogi al interest, g , at Easter, 1 6 M s 7 2, ary Hawkin (widow of William) , S e Cripple Contractor of tony Stratford , sign d a receipt for salary, having succeeded her late husband in the post .