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Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

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ch<strong>an</strong>dler, a tailor, <strong>an</strong>d a glover cum breeches-maker. 322<br />

Reference <strong>to</strong> Samuel Morris,<br />

crier, reminds us that, despite the ascend<strong>an</strong>cy of the written word, news <strong>an</strong>d orders were<br />

still also communicated orally. 323<br />

In Period C various parish officials from dog-whippers <strong>to</strong> churchwardens are in<br />

evidence, while Alcester’s parish workhouse, founded in 1774, was m<strong>an</strong>aged by a<br />

governor until the union workhouse was built in neighbouring Oversley in the mid-<br />

1830s. 324 Influential <strong>to</strong>wnsmen featured as jurors <strong>an</strong>d as members of the Association for<br />

the Prosecution of Felons. 325<br />

In 1802/3, threatened by French invasion <strong>an</strong>d perhaps<br />

fearing unrest at home, twelve Alcester men were appointed as special constables for the<br />

Alcester Division of Barlichway Hundred. The <strong>to</strong>wn’s two ordinary constables, still<br />

appointed each year by the court leet, were responsible for law <strong>an</strong>d order until the<br />

Warwickshire County Constabulary was formed in the 1850s. 326<br />

Alcester’s fire-brigade<br />

was founded some time before 1850. 327<br />

Certain individuals performed import<strong>an</strong>t functions within friendly or benefit<br />

societies, recreational clubs or in the Alcester Volunteers. 328<br />

The <strong>to</strong>wn also boasted<br />

professional musici<strong>an</strong>s, one of whom built <strong>an</strong>d tuned org<strong>an</strong>s as a sideline. Although<br />

probably not perm<strong>an</strong>ent residents, three families of comedi<strong>an</strong>s, (the contemporary term<br />

322 WoRO, BA2697/1, Worcester dioces<strong>an</strong> subscription books. The ch<strong>an</strong>dler <strong>an</strong>d tailor shared the same<br />

surname.<br />

323 WoRO, marriage licence of John Layt, Inkberrow, besom-maker, Feb.1699/1700, witnessed by Samuel<br />

Morris, Alcester, crier. Morris may also have been a bodicemaker.<br />

324 Rogers, The State of the Poor (by Sir Frederic Mor<strong>to</strong>n Eden), p. 325, describes the workhouse, the<br />

inmates’ diet <strong>an</strong>d the methods of out-relief. Berrow’s Worcester Journal 15 J<strong>an</strong>. 1784 carries <strong>an</strong><br />

advertisement for a new, experienced governor willing <strong>to</strong> live on the premises.<br />

325 WaRO, QS76/3, Jurors’ lists. The Alcester, Arrow <strong>an</strong>d Oversley Association for the Prosecution of<br />

Felons was founded on 24 March 1773, is mentioned in Berrow’s Worcester Journal, for example 8 April<br />

1784, 1 April 1790.<br />

326 G. E. Saville, ‘Alcester Constabulary’, ADLHS, OP27, (1982), p. 6.<br />

327 A. Griffin, This Noble Duty, A His<strong>to</strong>ry of Fire-fighting in Warwickshire, (Warwick, Feldon, 1989), p.13,<br />

suggests that Alcester’s brigade may have been founded because of the incendiarists who were active<br />

locally circa 1830. The firemen must have been part-time <strong>an</strong>d therefore listed in censuses under other<br />

occupations.<br />

328 Berrow’s Worcester Journal 22 J<strong>an</strong>. 1807 reports the promotions of officers in the Volunteers.<br />

134

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