Clerkenwell: Poor Relief Act 1775
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1775 c. 23 |
| Year | 1775 |
(15 Geo. 3) C A P. XXIII.
'WHEREAS the ParishofSaint James, Clerkenwell , in the County of Middlesex , consists of two Districts, called the District of Saint James , and the District of Saint John : And whereas the Poor of the said Parish are very numerous, and the present Workhouse is not large enough to contain them, and a considerable Debt for their Relief has been unavoidably contracted: And whereas the present Method of raising and applying Money for the Maintenance of the Poor of the said Parish is attended with many Inconveniencies: And whereas, if proper Powers were granted for relieving, governing, and employing the said Poor, and for paying the said Debt, and for enlarging the present or building a new Workhouse, and for raising and applying Money for those Purposes, it would contribute greatly to the Ease of the Inhabitants of the said Parish, and the Good of the Community:' May it therefore please your Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament, assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That the ReverendWilliam Sellon , Joseph Keeling, George Friend, Richard Gomm, William Blackborrow, Rivers Dickenson, Roger Griffin, John Pay, Benjamin Long, Thomas Chadley, Samuel Search, Hugh Dixon, Robert Nash, John Fowler, Francis Devalingen, Christopher Bartholomew, Joseph Barron, James Gibson, William Gibson, John Olney, John Taylor, William Amery, John Pullin, Thomas Kilburn, Morgan Austin, James Willshire, John Severn, William Crank, James Holliday, Robert Hawkins, Henry Sargood, George Sedgley, Joseph Brayne, Peter Crawford, Thomas Crawford, Robert Skeritt, John Thorpe, Andrew Walker, Thomas Mitchell, John Robinson, the Reverend John Davies, Thomas Collier , for and on Behalf of the District of Saint James ; and the Reverend Sir George Booth Baronet, the Reverend Roger Parry, Joseph Faikney, Heaton Wilkes, William Nightingale, William Montague, George Jon, Richard Rugg, George Stow, Uriah Bristow, Gilbert Bearblock, James Emenson, William Fosbrook, John Court, William Story, John Barton, William Wildman, James Upjohn, Thomas Kirk, Francis Peter Mallett, Benjamin Lyon , for and on Behalf of the District of Saint John , together with the Ministers, Churchwardens, and Overseers of the said two Districts for the Time being, shall be, and are hereby appointed Guardians or Governors of the Poor of the said Parish, for putting this Act in Execution.
II New Guardians, &c. to be elected in case of Death, &c.
II. And be it further enacted, That when any one or more of the Persons hereby appointed Guardians or Governors, as aforesaid, shall die, or refuse to act, or shall remove out of the said Parish, it shall and may be lawful for the Inhabitants of both the said Districts (paying to the Rates of the said Parish for Church and Poor) to assemble and meet together in the Vestry-room of the said Parish, onTuesday in Easter Week in every Year, or within one Month after, to elect and appoint one or more Person or Persons to be Guardian or Guardians, Governor or Governors, in the Room of the Guardian or Guardians, Governor or Governors, so dying, or refusing to act, or removing out of the said Parish: And all Persons who shall be so and appointed shall be and are hereby vested with the same Powers and Authorities as the Persons in whose Places they shall respectively be elected and appointed were invested with.
III Number of Guardians not to exceed sixty-three.
III. Provided always, That the Number of the said Guardians and Governors shall not exceed sixty-three; and that, upon making the Election or Appointment upon theTuesday in Easter Week, or within one Month after, as aforesaid, such Persons only as are Inhabitants of the District of Saint James shall be elected to fill up the Vacanciesoccasioned by the Death, Refusal to act, or Removal, of such Guardians or Governors as were Inhabitants of the said District; and such only as are Inhabitants of the District ofSaint John shall be elected to fill up the Vacancies occasioned by the Death, Refusal to act, or Removal, of such of Guardians or Governors as were Inhabitants of the said District; so that the Numbers be forty-two for the said District of Saint James , and twenty-one for the said District of Saint John .
IV Qualification of Guardians, &c.
IV. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That no Person shall be capable of acting as a Guardian or Governor in the Execution of this Act, unless he shall be assessed and pay to the Poor's Rate of the said Parish at the annual Sum of twenty Pounds, or be possessed of a real or personal Estate to the Value of five hundred Pounds (except the respective Minister or Churchwardens of either District, or the Overseers of the Poor of the said Parish, and then only during the Time they shall continue in Office): Andif any Person, not being so qualified, shall presume to act as a Guardian or Governor in the Execution of this Act, every such Person shall, for every such Offence, forfeit and pay the Sum of thirty Pounds to any Person or Persons who shall sue for the same; to be recovered in any of his Majesty's Courts of Record atWestminster , by Action of Debt, or on the Case, or by Bill, Suit, or Information, wherein no Essoin, Protection, or Wager of Law, or more than one Imparlance, shall be allowed, and wherein the Proof of Qualification shall lie on the Person prosecuted; and it shall be sufficient for the Prosecutor to prove that the Person so prosecuted acted as a Guardian or Governor in the Execution of this Act.
V. Provided also, That no Victualler, nor any Person who shall sell Ale, Wine, or Spirituous Liquors, by Retail, shall be capable of acting as a Guardian or Governor in the Execution of this Act, unless he shall be a Churchwarden or Overseer of the Poor of the said Parish, and then only during the Time he shall continue to be Churchwarden or Overseer of the Poor, as aforesaid.
VI Time and Place of the first Meeting of Guardians.
VI. And be it further enacted, That the said Guardians or Governors shall meet at the Workhouse of the said Parish on the secondTuesday after the passing of this Act, and shall then and there proceed to the Execution of this Act; and they are hereby impowered to adjourn from Time to Time, and meet at the same Place, or at any other Place within the said Parish: And if at any Meeting so appointed there shall not appear a sufficient Number of Guardians or Governors to act, or to adjourn to another Day; or in case the said Guardians or Governors so assembled shall omit, neglect, or refuse to adjourn themselves; then, and in every such Case, any two of the said Guardians or Governors, or the Clerk to the said Guardians or Governors, shall appoint a Meeting of the said Guardians or Governors to be held at the Workhouse of the said Parish, publick Notice whereof shall be given, by affixing the same in Writing upon the principal Doors of the Churches ofSaint James and Saint John , within the said Parish, at least three Days before such Meeting.
VII Inhabitants to meet on Easter Tuesday yearly, for the Purpose of appointing Overseers of the Poor, &c.
VII. And be it further enacted, That the Inhabitants of the said Parish, paying to the Church and Poor's Rates, are hereby authorised and required to assemble and meet together in the Vestry-room belonging to the said Parish onEaster Tuesday in every Year, or within ten Days after; and the major Part of the Inhabitants so assembled shall then and there make out a List of eight fit and proper Persons, being Inhabitants of the said District of Saint James , to be Overseers of the Poor of the said Parish; and no List shall be legal but that made as above in the Vestry-room of the said Parish; which List shall be returned to any two or more Justices of the Peace for the County of Middlesex , acting in the Division of Finsbury , at a Petty Sessions to be held for that Purpose, whereof publick Notice shall be given in both the said Churches of Saint James and Saint John , on the Sunday next preceding the holding of such Petty Sessions, of the Time and Place of holding the same; and out of which List the Justices of the Peace, or the major Part of them then present, shall nominate and appoint four Persons, being Inhabitants of the District of Saint James as aforesaid, to be Overseers; and the Overseers so nominated, together with the Churchwardensof the said Parish, shall be Overseers of the Poor of the said Parish for the Year then next ensuing, and shall, within three Days after such Nomination, and Notice thereof given, or lest at his or their Place or Places of Abode, take that Office and Duty upon him or them, upon Pain that every such Person refusing or neglecting so to do shall forfeit the Sum of ten Pounds; and any two Justices of the Peace for the said County, acting in the Division ofFinsbury , are hereby authorised and impowered to nominate some other fit Person or Persons to the said Office in the Place of him or them refusing or neglecting as aforesaid, and the Person or Persons so nominated in the Room of such Person or Persons shall take such Office or Duty upon him or them, under Pain of forfeiting the like Sum of ten Pounds for every such Refusal or Neglect, to be recovered in Manner herein after mentioned; all which said Forfeitures shall be paid to the...
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