LOCAL GOVERNMENT
MANORIAL GOVERNMENT.
Pre-Conquest rights confirmed to the bishop and the
chapter of St. Paul's in 1199 included exemption from all gelds, pleas, and suit of
shire, the right to hold view of frankpledge,
and profits from waste and forest jurisdiction
in the bishop's own lands. He and his men
were also quit of all tolls and customs. (fn. 45) In
1294 the bishop claimed view of frankpledge,
the assize of bread and of ale, infangthief,
outfangthief, felons' goods, waifs, strays,
tumbril, pillory, and gallows for all the manors belonging to his Stepney view. (fn. 46) In 1395
the king confirmed the exemptions from exactions by the Exchequer and also waste,
felons'and fugitives'goods, and other royalties
and privileges. (fn. 47) Felons were hanged on the
bishop's gallows in Stepney. (fn. 48) A whale
beached at Stepney in 1309 was claimed by
both the bishop and the chapter of St. Paul's,
who had a manor by the river. (fn. 49) The rights
conveyed with the manor in 1695 were specified as fairs, ferries, weights and measures,
assize of wine and beer, sac, soc, tolls, dues,
stallage, picage, pontage, treasure trove, returns and issue of all writs and mandates,
gaol and prison. (fn. 50) By the late 16th century,
however, the court leet no longer handled
criminal cases, and the prison was used
only for debtors. Customs, dues, picage, and
stallage were attached to the market and fair
established in 1664, and sold with them in the
18th century. (fn. 51)
Courts were held by 1228, (fn. 52) and records survive for 1318, 1348-9, 1361, 1383-4, 1402-3,
1405, 1443, 1509-10, 1581-2, and 1640-3. (fn. 53) A
complete series of court books, many indexed,
runs from 1654 until the abolition of copyhold
in 1925. (fn. 54) Perquisites and pleas brought in 52s.
6d. during six months in 1228. (fn. 55) In 1362-3 they
amounted to £40 3s. for five courts and the
common fine of 64s. paid at the view of frankpledge, (fn. 56) but they varied from £22 13s. 5d. in
1391-2, to £45 4s. 11d. in 1398-9. (fn. 57) Much less
was received in 1438-9 and 1464-5 from the
view and two courts, apparently because Hackney was accounted for separately; most of the
common fines from the view were several years
in arrears in 1464-5. (fn. 58) Perquisites amounted to
£20 6s. 7d. in 1517-18, again from a view and
two courts, (fn. 59) and were valued at an average of
£20 a year in the 1580s, when the common fine
was still apparently paid by the same manors as
in the 14th century. (fn. 60) In 1642 fines for copies
were reckoned to yield £213 a year, payments at
the court leet £50, waifs £60, and green wax
£66, in addition to the leet fine, (fn. 61) while in 1652
fines and amercements at the courts, reliefs,
waifs, strays, parcage, poundage, fowling
(fishing was valued separately), and other royalties except return of writs were estimated at
£463, (fn. 62) nearly four times the value of the quitrents and reserved rents on the demesne. Sales
of the demesne had left perquisites of court as
the most valuable part of the lordship.
Medieval courts presumably met at the manor
house, probably still the meeting place in the
early 16th century when bishops reserved the
right to occupy the house for three months a
year. The manor house was in ruins in 1652, (fn. 63)
and courts were held in Whitechapel in 1655, (fn. 64)
near Whitechapel church in 1677, (fn. 65) and at the
New Court House on Mile End green, probably
the court of record, in 1702. (fn. 66) Special courts
were often held in taverns near the property
being conveyed (fn. 67) and by the 19th century were
often no more than meetings in the steward's
office in the City. From the 1890s the general
courts at Easter and in November were held at
the Rising Sun, Green Street, Bethnal Green. (fn. 68)
The view of frankpledge was usually held on
Hock day, the second Tuesday after Easter, as
in 1349, although occasionally on another day in
the second week after Easter; (fn. 69) it was fixed on
Hock day in the customal of 1587. (fn. 70) The view
reflected the extent of the bishop's Domesday
manor, as it included men from the bishop's
manors of Stepney, Hackney, and Harringay, and
11 other manors in Stepney, Hackney, Clerkenwell, and Islington, who each contributed to the
common fine of 64s.: 20s. from Stepney, 16s.
from Hackney, 5s. from Islington, 4s. each from
Harringay and St. John of Jerusalem, 3s. 6d. from
the St. Paul's manor of Shadwell; the rest paid
2s. or less. The view was always followed by a
general court for Stepney and Hackney which
dealt mainly with court leet business, and three
or four other courts baron were held between
September and April. The view was still held in
1582, when the inhabitants of Islington were in
default of suit and payment of their contribution
to the common fine, but by 1655 was simply
called the leet and included only Stepney and
Hackney residents; the common fine or poll
money was paid only by tenants resident in those
manors. (fn. 71) In 1581-2 general courts were held in
December and April (after the view), and courts
baron in May and July; transactions also took
place out of court, and this and courts convened
for individual transactions were common from
1654. (fn. 72) Under the confirmations of customs of
1587 and 1617 copyholders had to attend two
general courts, one on Hock day and the other
near the feast of St. Andrew, and up to 18 courts
baron. (fn. 73)
Business at the view in 1349 concerned the
assize of bread and of ale, defective ditches, and
escheated holdings, but only for Stepney and
Hackney. Each of the main settlements in Stepney presented its own offenders: Mile End,
Stratford, Old Ford, Algatestreet (Whitechapel
High Street), Haliwellstreet (Shoreditch High
Street), Marsh (Isle of Dogs), and Poplar, were
mentioned in the incomplete roll of 1348-9;
Forby Lane (Limehouse), Clevestreet (Ratcliff),
and Blethenale (Bethnal Green) occur in 1405.
These areas were referred to as hamlets as early
as c. 1400. (fn. 74) Business at the general courts
concerned pleas between the bishop's tenants,
for land, debt, and loss of service (rent) from
their own tenants, besides land transfers for both
customary and free tenants; encroachments on
common land were also mentioned. By the late
16th century the general court after the view
dealt with public nuisances: false weights and
measures, adulteration, encroachments on pub
lic ways, and offensive trades. Presentments in
1655 concerned defective paving and sewers,
keeping pigs, uncovered and dangerous cellars,
fouling the streets, and fraudulent sales. (fn. 75) As the
only sanction was another presentment at the
next court, courts were largely ineffective, particularly in densely built-up areas. (fn. 76)
Each of the main settlements was represented
by two chief pledges in the 14th century, except
Bethnal Green and Old Ford with one each,
known as headboroughs by the 17th century;
most if not all had one or two aletasters in 1349,
and possibly their own constable, as did Mile
End in 1385 and Limehouse in 1387. (fn. 77) By 1611
a constable was chosen by each hamlet to be
sworn in at the court leet, and quarter sessions
was prevented from removing a constable so
chosen. (fn. 78) In 1640 officers were elected for 10
districts: Whitechapel, Spitalfields with Artillery
Lane and Wentworth Street, Mile End, Ratcliff,
Limehouse, Bethnal Green, Haliwell street,
Stratford Bow, Wapping, and Blackwall and
Poplar. Each had one constable, one aletaster
(except Wapping with two), and two headboroughs (except Ratcliff with eight, and
Whitechapel and Wapping with four each). (fn. 79)
Between 1640 and 1655, in response to changes
in population, Whitechapel was allotted five
headboroughs with another two for Rosemary
Lane, (fn. 80) and headboroughs seem to have served
specific streets. (fn. 81) The leet still elected officers
from names supplied by the town meeting of
each hamlet at the end of the 18th century, (fn. 82)
although on occasion the justices refused
confirmation; in 1725 they ordered the constable
in Mile End Old Town to submit to the leet a
list of men who were not infirm. (fn. 83) In the 17th
century the constables and headboroughs often
received orders direct from the justices, particularly about conventicles. (fn. 84)
In 1335-6 wood from the manor was used for
a new pillory at Stratford, (fn. 85) and in 1464-5 a
decayed pillory and a cuckingstool were rebuilt. (fn. 86) The Privy Council in 1554 delivered
offenders to the bailiff for punishment in the
pillory and cuckingstool. (fn. 87) Gallows at Wapping,
on the foreshore which belonged to the Crown,
were for maritime felons; they were built or
rebuilt in 1584. (fn. 88) The Ducking Pond, Ratcliff,
was mentioned c. 1638, (fn. 89) and another at Mile
End Gate, on the border of Whitechapel and
Bethnal Green, where it was let for 99 years in
1715, though it seems to have been called the
brick pond in 1642. (fn. 90) Pillories stood near the
court house at Mile End (probably in
Whitechapel parish), at Spitalfields market, and
at Ratcliff Cross in the 1680s; possibly each
hamlet had one, used for punishments set by the
justices. (fn. 91) A cage stood in Ratcliff Highway in
1641. (fn. 92)
A bailiff of Stepney was recorded in 1283. (fn. 93) A
reeve and separate beadles for Stepney and
Hackney were given remittance of their rent and
labour services in 1318, (fn. 94) but later there seems
to have been a single official for each manor,
called either reeve or beadle. Remittances were
again granted in 1335-6, (fn. 95) and after services had
been commuted were replaced by a wage, as in
1362-3 when a beadle, bailiff, and keeper of the
manor were paid. (fn. 96) The beadle received 2d. a
day (60s. 10d. a year) from 1383, as did the
keeper in 1401. (fn. 97) A tenant who refused to serve
as beadle forfeited his customary land. (fn. 98) A bailiff
for the bishop's liberty of Middlesex was established c. 1400 and superseded Stepney's reeve in
accounting for the soke of Cornhill, amercements from royal courts, strays, felons' goods,
and rebuilding of the gallows; by 1439 he also
received the socage rents in Stepney. (fn. 99) By 1458,
when all the demesne had been let, Stepney's
bailiff managed the farms and his deputy accounted for the revenue of the manor, while the
beadle and the keeper were paid as before. (fn. 1) In
1517-18 there were a bailiff, a deputy who also
collected the rents of Stepney marsh, and a paid
keeper, but apparently no beadle. (fn. 2)
The keepership was leased c. 1530 to Thomas
Pilkington for life, with the fee of 2d. a day,
unspecified livery, and parcage and poundage
(pawnage), which included 1d. for every impounded horse, ox, or cow not belonging to a
manorial tenant, with a separate rate for every
score of sheep. (fn. 3) The leases of Bishopshall to
William Goddard and Thomas Parsons from
1538 to 1648 included the parcage, pawnage, and
custody of the manor place. (fn. 4) Goddard, as reeve
in 1539, received a fee of £3 6s. 8d. and livery. (fn. 5)
John Colet, dean of St. Paul's, was said to have
been reeve of Stepney in 1520 and may therefore
have held the same lease. (fn. 6) In 1587 the homage
presented 2 candidates for the reeveship to the
lord each year, and the man chosen received £3
6s. 8d. and cloth for a coat. (fn. 7) In 1617 the reeve
was to be chosen from tenants with lands worth
at least £16 a year; a tenant refusing to act was
fined £10. (fn. 8)
In 1587 and 1617 1d. poundage was paid for
the animals of copyholders or their tenants, and
4d. for non-copyholders. (fn. 9) In 1617 tenants from
each hamlet were chosen at the general court to
drive the commons and impound strays; profits
of poundage after expenses paid for scouring
common ditches. (fn. 10) The lady of the manor in
1669 enclosed waste on the north side of Mile
End Road just east of the junction with Cambridge Heath Road to build a new pound and
house for the keeper. (fn. 11) In 1731 the lord of the
manor leased the pound with its fees and the
office of poundkeeper for 71 years to a bricklayer
and a carpenter, who were also to replace 5
houses on the site with 3 new ones. (fn. 12)
Prior to 1579 the lord of the manor was trying
to gain possession of the court rolls from a
steward whom he had removed for levying excessive fines and nominating members of the
homage. (fn. 13) The steward's fees were fixed as part
of the confirmation of customs in 1617. (fn. 14) The
stewardship of Stepney and Hackney was sold
for life in the 17th century. (fn. 15) In 1639 Robert
Dixon sold his stewardship for £600 to Timothy
Stampe, who paid £50 to the lord of the manor. (fn. 16)
Stampe was confirmed in the stewardship for life
by the House of Lords in 1641 but forfeited it
as a royalist in 1646. (fn. 17) In 1650 Thomas Pennington, a landholder in Wapping, claimed that
Cleveland had in 1631 granted him the office of
bailiff (presumably meaning that of steward) of
Stepney and Hackney in reversion after Dixon,
who had died in 1648. (fn. 18) In 1652, however,
William Northey, a lawyer and landowner of
Stratford Bow, was appointed to keep the courts
of both manors and, after the sale of Cleveland's
rights in 1653, was granted the stewardship on
the terms by which his predecessors had held
it. (fn. 19) Stampe was later restored to the stewardship
and was serving in 1665, but Northey was again
steward by 1669. (fn. 20) In 1679 a reversionary grant
was made to Edward Northey. (fn. 21)
The office of bailiff of Whitechapel was
granted to one Maddox in 1660. (fn. 22) Described as
that of chief bailiff, together with the bailiwick
of Stepney manor and Whitechapel liberty and
the custody of the gaol, it was granted for five
years or life in 1681 to Paul Pawley. He also had
a lease of the fines called green wax and profits
of the court leet and Green Goose fair (in
Stratford Bow) at a peppercorn rent. (fn. 23) Presumably the bailiwick originated in rights formerly
exercised by the steward of Stepney.
A manorial prison, whose site measured 23 ft.
by 94 ft. in 1608, stood on the north side of
Aldgate or Whitechapel High Street. It had an
unsavoury reputation, and was mentioned by
John Taylor the 'water poet' in 1623. (fn. 24) As 'Lord
Wentworth's gaol or prison', with a great garden
behind it, it was presumably still used for debtors in 1597 when Thomas Andrews, who held it
by copy, leased it to Robert Harrison for 14
years. Andrews surrendered the prison, then in
the possession of Robert Dickson, in 1608 to
Daniel Godfrey (d. 1620), whose brother Cornelius (d. 1640) left it in remainder to Godfrey
Helden. In 1641 Helden was admitted to the
customary tenement, then called the Prison
House, which his widow Frances held in 1656.
Called the Old Prison House in 1696, it remained with Helden's heirs until 1719. (fn. 25)
A prison connected with the court of record
(below) used either the old manorial prison or a
new building. In 1712, when known as
Whitechapel prison, it contained 'a great number' of debtors; the gaoler's fees were settled by
the justices in 1729 and 1733. (fn. 26)
The royal court of record for the liberty of
Stepney and Hackney was established in 1664
following petitions by the Wentworths, as lords
of the manor, and the inhabitants of Stepney.
Cleveland had petitioned in 1624 for a court to
settle small debts, which residents were said to
forego rather than seek to recover at Westminster
Hall, and the court could settle actions of up to
£5 in value. At the Wentworths' request the
court was granted to Sir William Smyth, possibly in recompense for money which they still
owed him. (fn. 27) In 1667 the privileges of the court
were extended like those of the Marshalsea (fn. 28) and
the court was formally instituted from 1668. The
court house was probably the one recorded at
Mile End in 1683, and called the New Court
House on Mile End green (probably in
Whitechapel on the site of Whitechapel station,
where Court Street once lay) in 1702; it was
rebuilt in 1804. (fn. 29) Although Smyth already held
the profits by royal patent, Lady Wentworth in
1694 conveyed to him the court and its profits
with 20 buildings and 10 a. of pasture in Stepney
and Whitechapel. (fn. 30) All those premises were conveyed by Smyth's son and other executors to
Francis Wright in 1703, and, presumably in
confirmation, by Sir Henry Johnson and
Martha, Baroness Wentworth, to two of the
executors in 1704. (fn. 31)
The court was one of those that parliament
proposed to regulate in 1690-1. (fn. 32) Its procedure
grew cumbersome and in 1750 it lost the right
to try actions for debts under 40s. to a new court
of requests for the Tower Hamlets. An Act of
1781 reduced fees in the older court, dividing
them between the patentee, a steward, and four
attorneys, and denned the procedures. The court
continued to deal with debts of £2-5 until such
courts were abolished in the 19th century. (fn. 33)
PARISH GOVERNMENT (STEPNEY).
Whitechapel had become a separate parish by
1320. (fn. 34) The rest of Stepney was apparently
divided into districts or hamlets for parish government; the inhabitants of Stratford Bow, with
their own chapel, were allowed in 1497 to compound for church rates and excused from serving
parish offices. (fn. 35) The four remaining hamlets
(Ratcliff, Limehouse, Mile End with Bethnal
Green, and Poplar) provided the lights in the
parish church in 1532, an arrangement that may
explain references to the ward light of Bethnal
Green in 1520 and the ward of Mile End in
1522. (fn. 36) Obligations such as the collection of
church dues were probably carried out through
the same districts, recorded as Stepney's administrative divisions from 1580 until increased
population led to subdivision in the mid 17th
century. By the early 17th century each hamlet
had its own officers acting under the parish
vestry, collected dues, and relieved its own
poor. (fn. 37)
Parish government may have been reorganized in 1580, when a change was made in the
rating of pews and vestry orders were recorded. (fn. 38)
The vestry was open until 1589, when, after
complaints about lack of repairs to the church
and provision for the poor because rates were
not paid, the chief parishioners decided on a
select vestry for which each of the four hamlets
chose eight representatives in addition to the
vicar and churchwardens. The number was increased to 10 each in 1598, (fn. 39) and thereafter new
vestrymen seem to have been co-opted. (fn. 40) Vestry
meetings had become open again by the 1640s,
until disorders led to a return in 1655 to a select
vestry, with 20 representatives from Ratcliff
(divided equally between Ratcliff and Shadwell
by 1657) and 10 from each of the other three
hamlets; 12 members and 2 churchwardens
formed a quorum, and the vicar's presence and
approbation were required as before. (fn. 41) The select vestry was not accepted by all the leading
inhabitants until it was endorsed by the bishop
in 1662; he nominated 44 inhabitants (12 from
Mile End, Bethnal Green and Spitalfields, 8 each
from Ratcliff, Shadwell, Limehouse, and Poplar), who with the vicar had powers to co-opt
future members. (fn. 42)
After Shadwell became a separate parish in
1670 (fn. 43) 8 vestrymen were appointed for Wapping
instead. In 1679 the bishop granted a revised
constitution, but withdrew it when it caused
serious disagreements within the parish. However, it was decided that from 1681 as vestrymen
died the numbers were to be reduced to 8 each
from Ratcliff and Limehouse, and 7 each from
Spitalfields, Mile End with Bethnal Green, Poplar with Blackwell, and Wapping; two candidates
chosen at the hamlet meetings, also called inhabitants' or town meetings, were to be
presented for each vestryman. (fn. 44)
The incumbent continued in the 18th century
to claim a right of veto at the parish vestry
meetings, to which church matters were referred
by the hamlets. (fn. 45) The creation of new parishes
reduced the size of Stepney vestry to 24 by 1730,
and in 1735 it was increased again to 32: 4
vestrymen from Mile End New Town, and 7
each from Mile End Old Town, Bethnal Green,
Ratcliff, and Poplar. (fn. 46) Bethnal Green was omitted after it too became a separate parish in 1743.
The select vestry continued until complaints by
excluded parishioners in 1776 led to a lawsuit,
and at a public meeting of the whole parish in
1778 the select vestry was dissolved, and replaced by open vestries. (fn. 47) Meetings were
infrequent, about one a year in the 1790s, by
which time they were concerned mainly with
church repairs and quarrels with the rector. (fn. 48)
Vestry meetings were held in the church and
in the church house in the churchyard by the
1580s. (fn. 49) From 1619 the vestry met in the 'new
vestry house', (fn. 50) which presumably had been
erected with money said in 1620 to have been
collected towards the rebuilding of a house in
the churchyard for the meetings. (fn. 51) Repairs were
needed in 1655 and estimates were obtained for
a new brick house, 50 ft. by 20 ft., but it may
not have been built. (fn. 52) Further repairs were made
in 1685, but the vestry house which apparently
stood on the west side of the churchyard in 1696
was demolished in 1697 and the materials sold.
The rectory house east of the church was taken
on lease in its place, and by 1706 the curate
occupied the house, with the use of the great
room reserved for vestry meetings. (fn. 53) A new
vestry house had been built by 1763 when the
old rectory was demolished. A parish room was
built over the south porch of the church in 1847
and a hexagonal vestry added beside the priest's
vestry in 1872. (fn. 54)
Although Stepney in 1534 and 1542 apparently had only two churchwardens, (fn. 55) in the 1580s
each of the four hamlets put forward one churchwarden, with two or more former officers chosen
annually as auditors: in 1586 each hamlet chose
four auditors, except Poplar which chose three. (fn. 56)
Churchwardens apparently served for two years;
Mile End and Poplar wardens were chosen in
1589, and those for Ratcliff and Limehouse in
1590. A sidesman was chosen for each hamlet in
1590. (fn. 57) By 1606 all four wardens were appointed
together, apparently still for two years, and two
of them hired substitutes to serve. (fn. 58) The vestry
appointed a parish clerk, to collect Easter dues
and write the churchwardens' accounts, and a
sexton. (fn. 59)
By 1641 Ratcliff, which then also included the
later parishes of Shadwell and St. George-inthe-East, was so populous that two men were
chosen to perform the duties of the hamlet's
churchwarden; one man was responsible for
Stepney (presumably the area around the
church), White Horse Street, Brook Street, Ratcliff Wall, and Ratcliff Street; the other for
Wapping, which included upper and lower
Shadwell, Ratcliff Highway, Foxes Lane, Wapping Wall, Prusons Island, King Street
Wapping, Knockfergus, New Gravel Lane, and
Old Gravel Lane. (fn. 60) By 1645 Ratcliff had been
divided into Ratcliff and Shadwell, each with a
churchwarden and auditors, (fn. 61) In 1656 an upper
and a lower churchwarden were chosen for each
of the 5 hamlets. (fn. 62) Spitalfields had its own
churchwarden from 1662, making a total of six, (fn. 63)
Wapping, often known as Wapping-Stepney,
was substituted for Shadwell after 1670, and
Bethnal Green had its own churchwarden from
1685. (fn. 64) Mile End New Town in 1689 successfully petitioned the justices for its own
watchhouse, since it claimed to derive no benefit
from Mile End's watch; in 1690 the New Town,
having greatly increased, became a separate
hamlet by agreement with Mile End, and had its
own churchwarden from 1691. (fn. 65)
In 1703 the eight hamlets were surveyed and
mapped at the parish's expense. (fn. 66) The hamlet
meetings by the late 17th century had taken over
almost all parish administration, except matters
concerning the church, and formed the basis for
local government not only in the new parishes
but also in the four hamlets which remained
within St. Dunstan's Stepney, where increased
powers through Local Acts were obtained by the
hamlets, not the parish. (fn. 67) Hamlet divisions overrode even new parochial organization: the
incorporation of part of Ratcliff into the new
parish of St. Anne's Limehouse in 1730 affected
only the payment of church dues, other rates and
the choice of officers remaining in 1795 with the
rest of Ratcliff, which was still in the parish of
St. Dunstan's Stepney. (fn. 68) In the 18th century the
hamlets also chose their own constables and
other manorial officers for presentation to the
court leet. (fn. 69) In the 19th century the separate
town meetings were called vestries for the purposes of local administration; the churchwardens
and overseers continued to make and collect local
rates. (fn. 70)
Parish income was obtained in 1580 from pew
rents, later known as pewage money, set by the
churchwardens and collected quarterly. Additional income, for building galleries, paying the
lecturer, and other extraordinary needs, was
obtained by levying an extra year's or half year's
pewage on each pewholder, as in 1580, 1584,
1598, 1602, and 1605. (fn. 71) As no reference exists to
a church rate levied on land, pewage apparently
was the only rating then in use. In 1601 each
parishioner without a pew was to pay 8d. 'according to the ancient custom of this parish',
besides the usual quarterly due. The refusal of
many residents without pews to pay the extra
dues contributed to the vestry's decision to build
galleries and thus increase income. (fn. 72) Until 1637
money raised by pewage also furnished contributions towards maimed soldiers, hospitals, and
similar works of relief, thereafter met by voluntary collections. (fn. 73) Pewage was still the basis for
regular repairs in 1659-60, when the parish clerk
was ordered to record the sums raised, presumably in a book of rates that the justices were
asked to confirm in 1662. (fn. 74)
As income could not be increased without
increasing the rate of pewage on rich and poor
alike, new methods of raising revenue were
introduced. A landscot and assessment of all
inhabitants and outdwellers occupying land was
first mentioned in 1617, and one year's pewage
for repairs and building in 1621 was supplemented by the imposition of a groat (4d.) on all
tenants of non-resident landlords. (fn. 75) It was recognized that much of Stepney's wealth was not
based on land: although a general assessment
was made of landholders in 1632 at the rate of
6d. an acre, they were to pay a quarter of their
poor rate assessment if that yielded more.
Inhabitants not occupying land also paid one
quarter of their poor rate assessment. (fn. 76) Later
that year all occupiers of land were ordered to
pay 6d. an acre, while non-occupiers were to be
assessed according to their personal estates: Ratcliff's assessment amounted to £40, Limehouse's
to £20, Mile End's to £12, and Poplar's to £9. (fn. 77)
The combined land rate and assessments were
again used for repairs in 1634 and 1656, although
on occasion a voluntary contribution could be
paid instead of the assessed sum. (fn. 78) Another
assessment divided the sum required between
the four hamlets in the proportions used to
distribute a collection for the poor, whereby
Ratcliff and Shadwell paid three eighths, Limehouse a quarter, Mile End with Bethnal Green
and Spitalfields a quarter, and Poplar and Blackwall one eighth; (fn. 79) it was presumably left to each
hamlet to decide how to raise the amount. These
proportionate levies were used in 1664 and
thereafter to the end of the 17th century, with
Wapping substituted for Shadwell after 1670,
but pewage was no longer mentioned after
1660. (fn. 80) In 1733, however, it was ordered that
money for repairs or payment of debts should
be raised in future by a levy according to the
Land Tax quota: Ratcliff £15, Mile End Old
Town £263, Mile End New Town £93, Bethnal
Green £369, Poplar £255. (fn. 81) Smaller sums, for
parish debts, repayment of loans, rent for the
vestry house, were found after 1662 from the
fees for burials and the use of the parish palls. (fn. 82)
Funds for the poor in the late 16th century
came from regular church collections and from
legacies, rents for rooms in the church house,
and fines (1s. in 1602) for non-attendance by
vestrymen. (fn. 83) They also benefited from paschal
money, when each communicant paid 1d. at
Easter towards the bread and wine. The vestry
usually leased out the right to that sum to the
vicar for 40s. a year (£4 from 1581 and £6 13s.
4d. in 1633), used for the poor, and during
disagreements with him in 1605 itself collected
the money. (fn. 84) In 1606 money collected and disbursed for poor relief was to be recorded in two
separate books and kept in a chest with keys for
the vicar and each of the four wardens, following
criticism of earlier methods. (fn. 85) In 1615 money
from collections at the communion table was
distributed between the hamlets: three eighths
to Ratcliff, a quarter each to Limehouse and
Mile End with Bethnal Green, and an eighth to
Poplar, the hamlets presumably being responsible for relieving their own poor; from 1649
Ratcliff's share was split equally between Ratcliff
and Shadwell. (fn. 86) In 1681 it was ordered that a
poor-man's box should be fixed by each door of
the church, and in all taverns, victualling and
other public houses in the parish. (fn. 87) A poor rate
was mentioned in 1619 and 1632: the basis of
the rate was not explained, although it was
evidently not a rate per acre. (fn. 88) Overseers for the
poor were mentioned in 1650, and collectors for
the poor in 1654, (fn. 89) but in 1681 the churchwardens were also overseers and ordered to account
for the money for the poor. In 1684 the churchwardens were required to meet to adjust the rates
for poor relief in each hamlet, and join in a
petition to the justices for their assistance with
poor relief. (fn. 90) Spitalfields had five supervisors of
the poor in 1684, and Bethnal Green had at least
one. (fn. 91)
Rooms in the church house were let by the
vestry to widows and other needy people, for
rents paid for the use of the poor, or occasionally
for nothing to curates, clerks or sextons as part
of their remuneration. (fn. 92) In 1626 rooms over the
new vestry house held by the curate, clerk, and
sexton, were to be taken after their deaths for
the benefit of the poor. (fn. 93) In 1657, however,
damage was caused by water running down from
the rooms, whereupon the occupants were ordered to move. (fn. 94) The parish had the
management of Fuller's almshouses by 1641, of
Cook's from 1673, and of Bowry's built in
1744. (fn. 95) In 1683 the vestry granted liberty to all
charitably disposed persons to build houses for
the parish's poor on the plot of land on the edge
of the churchyard they had recently bought from
Mrs. Bissaker, though there is no indication that
anyone did so. (fn. 96)
Stock of £100 given for setting the poor to
work was so inadequate for their numbers in
1654 that the churchwardens used it for apprenticing instead; (fn. 97) nothing further is known of it.
In 1655 Stepney was among the parishes receiving money from the duty on seacoal to assist the
poor: £400 was to be distributed by the vicar
and two justices, to the annoyance of the vestry,
which appointed three representatives to be
consulted. By 1658 nearly 800 families and
paupers had been relieved and the vestry, after
requesting an account, registered approval. (fn. 98) In
1659 it was decided that pensioners of the parish
should wear pewter badges with the name of
their division. (fn. 99) By 1700 all poor relief was
probably managed by the hamlets: in 1694 Ratcliff applied independently for an assessment. (fn. 1)
Public services were also largely provided by
and for individual hamlets by the 17th century.
The vestry allowed fire buckets belonging to the
church in 1639 to be used elsewhere in the
hamlets, with any loss being met by the hamlets
contributing proportionately. (fn. 2) The parish clerk
was ordered to prepare a petition to the
justices for a watch and watchhouse for Stepney in 1662, (fn. 3) but some hamlets already had
watchhouses: Bethnal Green had one in
1652, (fn. 4) possibly provided through the manorial court leet. The vestry ordered £3 a year
to be paid to the watchmen in the churchyard
to ring the great bell for half an hour morning and evening throughout the year in
1684. (fn. 5) The vestry also ordered that from 1665
two or more women were to be appointed in
each hamlet as searchers of the dead. (fn. 6) In
1685 the vestry ordered that fines from tipplers were to be used to maintain a house of
correction which they wanted for the parish,
as it was troublesome and sometimes dangerous for peace officers to take malefactors to
the county's house at Clerkenwell. (fn. 7)