When old papers were removed from Badsey Vicarage in 2022, amongst them was a document from 1871 relating to the Evesham Union. This was a Parochial List of Out-Door Poor in the Parish of Wickhamford. This refers to an official list used in the 18th and 19th centuries, documenting individuals receiving poor relief whilst living in their own homes, rather than in a workhouse. The records were maintained by parish overseers and churchwardens to track expenditure on the destitute, elderly and sick in their care. This particular document was described as a “LIST OF PAUPERS who resided in this Parish while relieved, for the Half-Year ending Lady Day 1871”. There were only two people named – Harriet Tomlinson and Job Taylor. The cause of requiring relief was given in each case as “Illness”. Harriet received 12s 6d and Job the larger sum of £2 9s 0¼d. Lady Day is celebrated on 25th March. The document was signed by Robert Smith, Relieving Officer.
Harriet Tomlinson
She was baptised in Wickhamford on 2nd January 1831, a daughter of Thomas Tomlinson, a labourer, and his wife, Judith. She was recorded in the village on all of the censuses between 1841 and 1891. At the latter, she was aged 60 and unmarried, living in half of the present-day Grey Gables, Manor Road, and working as a dressmaker. She was listed as head of the household and the only other occupant was her niece, Mary Elizabeth Tomlinson. In the earlier censuses, Harriet was recorded as a gloveress in 1851, 1861, no occupation in 1871 and a dressmaker in 1881. The lack of any work in 1871 would coincide with her being listed as ill in the Parochial list of that year. She seems to have recovered and lived on for some years. At the 1901 census, she was living in Evesham, at 25 Church Street, Bengeworth and still working as a dressmaker on her own account, aged 70. Her niece was still living with her. She was living in Harvington, with her niece, in 1911. Harriet Tomlinson lived to be 81, dying in 1912 and she was buried in Harvington, with a memorial and the inscription:
IN
LOVING MEMORY
OF
HARRIET TOMLINSON
WHO DIED JUNE 3rd 1912.
AGED 81 YEARS.
GOOD LORD REMEMBER ME.
It would appear that the help she received in 1871 was very beneficial and enabled her to live for another forty years.
Job Taylor
He was baptised in Childswickham on 26th September 1806, a son of William and Susannah Taylor. He married Ann Burbridge in Didbrook cum Hailes, Gloucestershire, in 1832, and they had seven children between 1831and 1847, one of whom was named Job, after his father, in 1836. For the 1841 and 1851 censuses the family were living in Bishops Cleeve, but had moved to Broadway by the time of the 1861 census. His occupation was recorded that year as a farm servant carter.
Reports appeared in the newspapers in late 1863/early 1864 about a bankruptcy case concerning Job Taylor, a labourer of Wickhamford. Under the Bankruptcy Act of 1861, he was adjudged bankrupt in forma pauperis (i.e. in the manner of a pauper) by the Registrar of the County Court of Worcestershire after attending a hearing at Worcester Gaol on 14th October 1863. He was required to attend a meeting of his creditors at Evesham Guildhall on 4th December 1863. There, he was obliged to submit to examination and “make a full disclosure of all his estate and effects”.
For the 1871 Census, 65-year-old Job Taylor was living with his daughter and son-in-law, Emma and David Howes, and their four children in a cottage in the village street, Wickhamford. (This was later demolished and 52 & 54 Manor Road were built on the site.) Job was described as a widower and he had no occupation, which suggests that he was in poor health, as a man of his age would normally still have been employed in that era. He died in late 1873, aged 68, and was buried in an unmarked grave (Plot A95) in Bengeworth Cemetery, Evesham. This might have indicated that he ended his days in the nearby Evesham Union Workhouse, but this was not the case. A Register of Deaths in the Evesham Union in the period does not mention Job Taylor.
In his case, the relief given in 1871 would have been of some help, but Job Taylor died two years later.
What were the payments made in 1871 worth in 2026?
There are many methods used to calculate the present-day value of the money given to Job Taylor and Harriet Tomlinson in 1871. A Bank of England calculator, based on the cost of goods, shows that Harriet’s 12/6d is equivalent to £63 today. Similarly, the £2 9s 0¼d given to Job is equivalent to £260 today.
Conclusions
With only the one document concerning this matter that was available in the Vicarage, any conclusions are largely conjecture. The payment for Lady Day was probably one made to cover a quarter of the year. The dates for other Union payments would have been made at Mid-Summer, Michaelmas and Christmas. The large difference in the amounts paid to Job and Harriet probably give a clue as to the severity of their medical conditions. The smaller amount for Harriet may have covered a short-term illness or injury that prevented her from working as a dressmaker for a short while. In Job’s case, the larger sum on money indicates that his condition was long-term and prevented him from doing any sort of work. It would have been for his living costs for the quarter-year up until Mid-Summer, 1871. His death, two years later, would seem to give credence to this theory.
Tom Locke – March 2026
Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to Peter Stewart for supplying the picture of Harriet Tomlinson’s grave and the permission of Julian Rawes for its use in the article. The Rev’d Philip Morton donated the document, on which this article is based, to the Badsey Society.