This book give a picture of a Surrey parish community at the beginning of the
Georgian period, its size, the occupations of its members, the central position
of the church and in particular the elaborate local organisation in place to
support the poor. This offered payment for rent, regular weekly pensions for the
elderly and widows, clothing, money for tools, even help with marriage license
and other incidentals. The poor were put to work spinning and weaving and
apprenticeships were found for children. Until the 1790s householders in the
parish who were assessed to pay the Poor Rate did not find this an intolerable
burden.
All this changed with population growth, the beginning of industrialisation
and inflation following the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars. In Shere the parish
officials suddenly found they has to face the new and difficult problem of
unemployed, able-bodied men.
Nationally opinions were changing (giving money to the poor 'encouraged the,
to breed'), and it was felt necessary to change the system of poor relief from
being parish based to being centrally controlled, from small parish workhouses
to large Union workhouses serving several parishes.
How conditions in the parish of Shere changed over 150 years is describes
with a wealth of detail and family names taken from original records and
illustrated with photographs, engravings, and copies of old documents.
Contents:
Acknowledgements
The Parish of Shere in 1711
The Old Poor Law
The Shere Workshouse
Pressures on the Old Poor Law
The New Poor Law
From Parish Workhouse to Union Workhouse
The Parish of Shere in 1841
Notes on Sources
Sources for Illustrations
Index
