Tamsin Bailey 1
May 2013:DCRS: Poor Cloth Workers of Exeter
'Destitute or gentleman? The voices and identity of the poor cloth workers of Exeter's 'Golden
Age'
My research aims to identify individuals and groups of people involved in the woollen cloth industry
in Exeter between 1660 and 1720; to classify those groups, examine the roles people took, their
experiences, identity, outlooks and attitudes. I will be trying to discover aspects of continuity or
change within these groups, the extent to which such changes might be confined to or affected by
the cloth industry or whether they might be more widespread across Exeter society in general,
whether there were social benefits conferred by the cloth industry in Exeter which might
subsequently have led to social mobility. I am using the prosopographical analysis of documentary
material with the aim of illuminating Exeter's social structure and the typical career patterns of those
involved in the cloth trade, and how these might have changed over time.
This will be
supplemented by detailed case studies of certain individuals and families from the elite in Exeter and
members of the middling sort and the poor where sources permit.
The late seventeenth and early eighteenth century saw the peak, or 'Golden Age' of Exeter's
influence in the still dominant cloth trade in England, exporting up to twenty five percent of the
national output: by 1700 Exeter had a yearly turnover in cloth of two million pounds per year.1 The
City is therefore a key place to study in that period for an understanding of the social history of the
cloth trade.
A number of key questions arise in relation to this research: for example the processes of the
woollen cloth industry, its trade and export and changes in national and international markets; the
cultural position of woollen cloth manufacture, it's place in the national psyche, and ideas around
collective action within the industry; the importance of Exeter as a major port and city in the late
eighteenth and early eighteenth century and its context within urbanization trends in early modern
England in general; groups in society such as the elite, the poor and middling sort, how they
interacted and their own self perception of their identity, continuity and change within social groups
and how prosopographical analysis has been used to inform research surrounding social structure;
and the gender perspective in relation to the cloth industry.
My recent research is concerned with the poor cloth workers of Exeter in the late seventeenth
century, and their relationship with those who provided for them in the form of public relief or
private philanthropy. An examination of qualitative material introduced here will in future be
analysed alongside quantitative data on the geographical and social distribution of poverty, as
1
Joyce Youings, Tuckers Hall Exeter. The History of a Provincial Company Through Five Centuries (Exeter:
The University of Exeter, 1968), pp. 86 - 87.
Tamsin Bailey 2
May 2013:DCRS: Poor Cloth Workers of Exeter
measured by hearth tax and poor rate exemption and poor relief receipt, and expanding on the work
already carried out on these records by W. G. Hoskins.2
In this paper I am going to talk in particular about aspects of their identity and their attitudes
towards work.
Sources from the Exeter City and Tuckers Hall archive are examined for what they may reveal about
the poor cloth workers: their self perception and, how and why they presented their identity to the
authorities who shaped their lives.
Insights may be gained from comparing this with the
representations of the poor by those who governed them and in particular those who provided
public or charitable relief. It is only then that we can fully understand the reasons behind the
identities expressed by the poor in the documentary archive.
Very little research has touched on 'work' or 'identity' in early modern Exeter, nor has previous
research focused specifically on the poor involved in the woollen cloth industry. Hoskins suggested
the broad outline of social structure in early modern Exeter,3 Joyce Youings investigated the
institutional structure of the Tucker’s Hall guild of clothworkers, 4 more recently Nicholas Brodie has
investigated the 16th century system of poor relief5 – but none have been concerned with charting
individual or group experiences of identity.
At this point I will briefly introduce two of the organisations in Exeter which are involved in this
study:
Firstly the Tuckers Guild: by this name I refer to the Incorporation, or trade guild, of Weavers, Fullers
and Shearmen in Exeter. Established in 1471 they are the second oldest guild in the city.
Secondly, when I talk about The Chamber I am referring to Exeter's ruling oligarchy of 24 members
who were the governing body of the City.
Types of Sources & Who were 'The poor cloth workers'
Many of the sources available for researching the poor within the woollen cloth trade in late
seventeenth century Exeter, refer to them as a collective and ill-defined group of people, all
2
Exeter in the Seventeenth Century: Tax and Rate Assessments 1602 - 1699, ed by W.G. Hoskins, Devon &
Cornwall Record Society, New Series, Vol. 2. (Torquay: The Devonshire Press Ltd, 1957).
3
W. G. Hoskins, Industry, Trade and People in Exeter 1688 - 1800 (Exeter: The University of Exeter, 1968)
Joyce Youings, Tuckers Hall Exeter. The history of a Provincial Company Through Five Centuries (Exeter:
The University of Exeter, 1968).
5
Nicholas Brodie, 'The Names of all the Poore People: Corporate & Parish Relief in Exeter, 1560s - 1570s' in
ed. Anne M. Scott, Experiences of Poverty in Late Medieval and Early Modern England and France (Farnham:
Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2012)
4
Tamsin Bailey 3
May 2013:DCRS: Poor Cloth Workers of Exeter
generally linked by their need for financial assistance. There are sources which relate to the States'
quantifying of 'the poor', identifying and recording them in the 1671 Hearth Tax and the Poor Rates
for Exeter of the 1690s; and those concerned with organising and controlling the poor such as the
parochial Overseers of the Poor records. There are sources which refer to the poor in relation to the
provision of public relief, for example the Minute Book of the Blue Maids Hospital, beginning in 1672
and the Petitions for Relief and Benefits6 and others which offer advice to parish wardens on how to
manage that relief and the rules surrounding eligibility for relief.7
Other sources from which we can draw information about the poor cloth workers in Exeter relate to
various forms of private philanthropy. These can be categorised as testamentary charity which were
one off gifts of relief to the poor; or long term bequests in which the benefactor set up almshouses,
hospitals, charitable trusts which paid for apprenticeships, loan schemes or recurring annual
bequests of money or clothing. Most of the charitable bequests do not differentiate between the
poor of different occupations, although there are a few exceptions. Of these charities, many were
administered by the Chamber, some, mainly those one off testamentary gifts, were administered by
named executors. A number were administered by the Tuckers Guild and were specifically designed
to assist those working in the woollen cloth trade - it is these last which I will discuss later.
These sources shed light on the attitudes towards and perceptions of the poor held by those who
provided for and controlled them. In contrast are the Petitions of the poor, found in the City
archives and amongst the parish records for Exeter.8 The Petitions differ from many of the records
of the poor, being the closest we can get to their individual voices: Steve Hindle suggests that whilst
such petitions were unlikely to have been written by the poor claimant themselves, the clerk who
wrote them seems to have done so by their sides.9 There are some examples in Exeter of a clerk
adding their own supporting statement to a petition, giving further weight to this view.10 Directed
towards the Mayor and Aldermen of the City, in the hope of obtaining a specified form of relief, they
reveal the circumstances the poor found themselves in, but can also provide insight into the work
6
Exeter City Archive (ECA), Devon Record Office (DRO), Minute Book of the Blue Maids Hospital, 1672 1836, D2/149A ; ECA, DRO Petitions for Relief, Benefits, Offices etc, documents (doc) 1/1 - 6/53
7
ECA, DRO, PW1: St Sidwell, Exeter, Feoffee Accounts, 1659 - 1747
8
ECA, DRO Petitions for Relief, Benefits, Offices etc, documents (doc) 1/1 - 6/53; Overseers of the Poor, Holy
Trinity, Exeter, PO 2 - 50, 1718A add/, 6th Feb 1704 ( the bundle of petitions date between 1677 and 1679);
Overseers of the Poor: Exeter St Johns, 'Petitions for relief addressed to the Mayor of Exeter and subsequently
directed to the Overseers', 41 items: DD36626/8 - DD36754/5, 1673 - 1733.
9
Steve Hindle, 'Civility, Honesty and the Identification of the Deserving Poor' in eds. Barry & French, ibid,
chapter 2, p. 51.
10
For example, St John Parish Records, DRO Overseers of the Poor: Exeter St Johns, 'Petitions for relief
addressed to the Mayor of Exeter and subsequently directed to the Overseers', DD36626, Petition of John
Johnson, Sergeweaver, dated approximately 1673/4 or 1681/2. The clerk recording the petition comments: '..I
am persuaded the necessities of this poor Complainant are very urgent & your worships will do a great Act of
charity & __ for relief..'
Tamsin Bailey 4
May 2013:DCRS: Poor Cloth Workers of Exeter
they did, their attitudes and their identity: we see the ways in which the poor portrayed themselves
to their potential benefactors, and how far that image correlated with the picture of 'deserving poor'
painted by those in authority. The petitions often make poignant reading. I am going to discuss
evidence from three sets: those from the parish records of Holy Trinity, dated between 1677 and
1679; petitions from the parish of St John's dated 1673 and 1733; and a set of petitions in the City
archives, from several parishes, dating from the 1660s to 1700.
Looking at the sources in more detail
Taxation records provide statistical information quantifying the poor amongst the parishes of the
city: they show that parishes such as St Sidwell, Holy Trinity and St Mary Major and had significantly
higher numbers of poor in the late seventeenth century than other areas of the city.11 They do not
provide occupational information, but I have used them to cross reference names with other records
to build up a picture of the poor. (show locations on map slide)
The Blue Maids hospital in Exeter was set up by the Chamber in 1672 ostensibly to shelter poor girls,
and to bind them out in apprenticeship when they were of an appropriate age. The hospital minute
book provides details about family relations, and the occupations of those men whose daughters
had been admitted to the hospital. Many of the girls admitted in the late seventeenth century were
the orphan children of poor cloth workers: weavers, wool and worsted combers. Again, I have
mainly used this document to cross reference the names and families of poor cloth workers. One
record stands out, possibly demonstrating that the philanthropy of the hospital only extended to
those children fit to be put out to work, and that the hospital was designed as a means of controlling
one section of the poor, through apprenticeship, thus preventing their being a burden on the parish.
When Mary Ball, daughter of George Ball, deceased weaver of the parish of St Pauls, is found to be
'diseased in her body' on 2nd August 1681, shortly after she was admitted to the hospital, she is
dismissed since she is 'not held fitt to be longer contained therein'.12 Of course, the removal of one
diseased child from the hospital might also be a way of preserving the health of the other
inhabitants, who were not a burden so long as they were able to work, but with her father dead, one
wonders what then happened to Mary Ball: baptised on 22 October 1672, she must have been less
than ten years old. This record gives a glimpse of the attitude of civic authorities towards the Exeter
11
As is particularly reflected in the Heath Tax of 1671 and the Poor Rate of 1699 in Exeter, discussed by W.G.
Hoskins, Exeter in the Seventeenth Century: Tax and Rate Assessments 1602 - 1699, Devon & Cornwall Record
Society, New Series, Vol. 2. (Torquay: The Devonshire Press Ltd, 1957), p.x. The former list shows many
families doubling up in houses in St Mary Major and St Sidwell, An the annual value of houses in these parishes
for the latter list shows a high percentage of poor-class housing.
12
ECA, DRO, Minute Book of the Blue Maids Hospital, 1672 - 1836, D2/149A, August 1681
Tamsin Bailey 5
May 2013:DCRS: Poor Cloth Workers of Exeter
poor in the late seventeenth century, as potentially an unwanted, expensive burden, but as long as
they remained healthy they were an opportunity to be exploited or were an expense to be avoided.
Parochial records provide varying information regarding the poor cloth workers of Exeter. Holy
Trinity records of the Overseers of the Poor dated 1678 - 9, contain a bundle of petitions, most of
which are written on behalf of individuals involved in the woollen cloth trade. Many are from the
wives or widows of weavers gone to become soldiers in service of Charles II. Left with children, the
women request maintenance in the form of money to support their family. Occasional petitions
come from elderly men and women who are no longer able to carry out their work due to illness or
frailty: for example, Edith Morell (see slide) 'an aged woman' requests assistance as she is no longer
able to make enough money from spinning due to loss of sight. She explains that 'in spinning of
three pounds of wool she had but six pence because of the badness of her sight'13 she has lost her
husband to the army, and is now unable to manage alone. Other petitions from the cloth workers of
Holy Trinity complain of the 'dead time of trading', 'hard and cold times', of sick children and of lack
of employment, suggesting a shared experience of hard times and the struggle of daily life. Every
one of the petitioners already received money from the parish, but they complain that it is not
enough. In all the petitions examined, the request of the petitioner is agreed and signed off by the
Mayor and a deputy, the parish being ordered to pay more. Refusals of petition have not been
found so far. The reasons for this may illuminate the attitude of the Chamber towards the poor of
Exeter, although it may be because refused petitions were not kept since they required no further
action. Further research may answer this question. The Overseers records also contain documents
which again suggests the attitudes of civic authorities, in particular the parochial church wardens
and Overseers of the Poor for Holy Trinity, but also towards the attitudes of the Chamber who give
orders to the parochial authorities on how to deal with their resident poor, and on the 'types' of
poor who were eligible for relief. For example a document dated 1696 from the Mayor and
Aldermen of the Chamber to the churchwardens and parish overseers of the poor talks about the
necessary relief of the impotent poor:
'..the necessary relief of the old, blind and such other impotent people of your...parish as are
not able to work..'14
Copies of clauses from wills included in a set of feofee accounts for St Sidwell for the late
seventeenth and early eighteen century, also provide insight into attitudes held towards the poor by
their benefactors. For example, a copy of a clause in the last will and testament of Mr John
13
Holy Trinity Parish Records, DRO, Overseers of the Poor Accounts etc, PO 2 - 50, 1718 A add/, petition July
1678.
14
Ibid (1696).
Tamsin Bailey 6
May 2013:DCRS: Poor Cloth Workers of Exeter
Cheeke.15 Mr Cheeke makes a bequest of land, the rents from which are to be distributed to the
poor of St Mary Major, St Sidwell and Holy Trinity in the form of bread. The loaves are to be given to
whoever his Executors think fit
'..so as they have no other relief and are not Aledrawers nor idle persons but such as or have
been laborious and do truely want the same.'16
The importance of being understood to be hardworking, either in the present or the past, is clearly
recognised by petitioners:
For example, the petition of Edward Rippington (see slide):
'..whereas formerly he hath b[ee]n a hard labouring man maintaining himself and charge,
now being brought very low with sickness...the poor petitioner is brought to such great
necessity..being no longer able..to help himself..'17
Petitions of St John's parish dated 1673 to 1733, are addressed to the Mayor and Aldermen of the
Chamber, written on behalf of men of varying occupations, and of women all of whom are widows,
many are elderly or sick. I have looked particularly at petitions from cloth workers and women.
Numerous petitioners complain that the wardens of the parish have reduced the amount of money
they receive as poor relief, sometimes by significant amounts.18 They state that because of this, they
are unable to survive and so ask the Chamber to order the parish wardens to reinstate their relief.
Edmond Safford, woolcomber, says that he only receives twelve pence a week from the parish and
that this is '..to little to maintain an ancient mans meat drink washing lodging and cloths..'.19 This
statement in particular suggests that the poor had their own expectations of what they were
entitled to receive by way of poor relief, to provide them with what they considered to be an
acceptable standard of living. It also raises questions concerning what the petitions reveal about the
values of the basic elements of survival, the cost of living and what the poor themselves stated they
needed to avoid starvation; together with information about what those in authority decided the
poor needed and how much money they agreed the poor could be expected to survive on.20 Again
15
Parish Records of St Sidwell, DRO, Feofee' Accounts, PW1, 1659 - 1747.
Ibid.
17
John Parish Records, DRO Overseers of the Poor: Exeter St Johns, 'Petitions for relief addressed to the Mayor
of Exeter and subsequently directed to the Overseers', DD36661, petition of Edward Rippington (no date)
18
For example, ibid, DD36658, petition of Margaret May, widow, 1688: relief cut from 13 pence per week to 4
pence. And again in 1689, from the 18 pence Margaret May's relief had been increased to by order of the
Mayor, to 9 pence (DD3662)
19
Ibid, DD36663, Petition of Edmond Safford, woolcomber, 1st July 1689
20
Future research will record such quantitative data from the petitions to enable some of these questions to be
answered. It will also be noted whether the petitioners ever state a sum of money that they require as relief
(which would be quite a powerful statement), or whether it is always a sum which has first been suggested by
the parish wardens or the Mayor.
16
Tamsin Bailey 7
May 2013:DCRS: Poor Cloth Workers of Exeter
all the petitions for the parish of St John are agreed and signed off by the Mayor of the time, and
include orders to the parish wardens to pay petitioners what they have requested. This may be a
regular amount, or may order the parish wardens to provide care and relief to the petitioner
'according to his necessity'. This type of order may have been open to some abuse by the wardens:
there are examples of petitioners making several complaints to the Mayor that they are still only
receiving a very minimal sum of money from the wardens, not enough to live on, and sometimes
nothing at all. In these cases the Mayor eventually orders the wardens to pay an exact sum of
money or to provide a reason why they should not.21 Petitions appeal to the sympathy and piety of
the Mayor and the Chamber, speaking of the '..charitable benevolence of Christian People..'.22 In
return for such sympathy the petitioners offer piety and prayers for the health and prosperity of
their benefactors. This reciprocal relationship between the wealthy and the poor can be seen as the
product of past attitudes towards the poor as 'closer to god', and therefore in the best position to
pray for the souls of their wealthy philanthropists.23 It is interesting to note that whilst by the
second half of the seventeenth century, attitudes towards the poor were gradually moving towards
an image of them as a threat to be 'excluded from sympathy and aid', or as a 'potentially productive
resource'; the older image of the poor as those who were closer to the Kingdom of Heaven, who
enabled the rich to demonstrate charity, pity and generosity, still endured and was significant
enough for the petitioners to refer to that old relationship in their requests.24 The exact wording of
such promises by petitioners to pray for their benefactors calls for further examination in the light of
shifts in the early modern period from Roman Catholic to Protestant models of pious charity.
Petitions from the City Archives request relief from the Chamber, but the claimants have not so far
been in receipt of public relief. For example, in the mid 1680s, John Andrew, weaver of St Sidwell,
(see slide) is described as 'a hard laborious man in his calling and never was chargeable to the
parish'. His reasons for petitioning the Chamber are to ask for money to purchase a spinning 'turne'
or wheel for his daughter who is now able to spin. Other requests are for funds to enable the poor
to bind out their children. For example, July 1684 John Wood, fuller of St Mary Major states that he
is a poor man with a very weak wife and two children to maintain. He wants to apprentice out one
of his children, a sixteen year old boy, but is unable to pay the forty shilling fee required. The
petitions to the Chamber range in date from the mid 1660s to 1700, but many of those from
21
For example: St John Parish Records, ibid, DD36646, Petition of John Johnson, Sergeweaver, makes three
petitions in one year, the final one asking the Mayor to find out from the parish wardens why they have not
provided the relief they formerly promised to him.
22
Ibid, DD036659, petition of Charity Hawkes, Widow, 1688
23
Paul Slack, Poverty and Policy in Tudor and Stuart England (Harlow, Essex & New York: Longman Group
Ltd, 1988), pp. 17 - 20. Slack suggests that the relationship between rich and poor was a tributary one, with
tribute paid on both sides: poverty and charity were inextricably bound up with religion and morality in early
modern England.
24
Ibid, pp. 17 - 18.
Tamsin Bailey 8
May 2013:DCRS: Poor Cloth Workers of Exeter
weavers or woolcombers give reasons such as the 'deadness of trading' for their requests of relief.
They also speak of smallpox epidemics affecting wives and children, of disability due to injury and of
age related problems such as blindness and frailty. It will be interesting to correlate such references
to disease epidemics with known patterns of disease in Exeter in future.
These sources give a view of the poor cloth workers of Exeter as destitute poor, at times struggling
to maintain their existence ( without public relief), due to a downturn in trade, bad weather, disease
and old age. Whilst many of the rural and even urban poor might still work on the land alongside a
manufacturing craft in early modern England, in the West Country Coward suggests that cloth
workers spent more time on spinning and weaving than on farming, and were consequently more
dependent upon wages for their income than other groups of poor workers.25 They had nothing to
cushion the effects of poor trade, bad harvests, sickness and death.26
TH documents & poor
Evidence from the Tuckers Guild archives gives us a different picture of poor cloth workers.
The
Guild administered various charities, all of which were designed to assist the 'poor' amongst their
members; however it is clear that the forms of relief provided by these charities were not intended
to be handouts to keep their recipients from starvation. These long term bequests were often loan
schemes where a sum of money was lent, upon provision of surety, and must be repaid within an
agreed period of time. For example, Augustine Drake gave the Tuckers Guild
'..threescore pounds to be distributed out to ten men for fower years gratis, and everie
fower yeres to be repaid..'27
Other gifts provided items of clothing such as shirts or stockings for selected fullers and weavers:
freemen of the Tuckers Guild, nominated by other members.28 (next slide) Thomas Crispin, a
powerful and wealthy member of the Guild and at times of the City Chamber, provided an annual
annuity to pay for the binding out of members children as apprentices. Only once do the minute
books refer to an actual handout of money, rather than a loan, but this was to two 'ancient masters'
of the Incorporation, Robert Clarke and Thomas Miller, who '..are in some decay and seem to have
some wante'.29 These former masters were given a yearly allowance of sixteen shillings and eight
25
Barry Coward, The Stuart Age. England 1603 - 1714 (Essex: Longman Group UK Ltd, 2nd edn. 1994), p. 58
& 68.
26
see also Thomas Westcote, A View of Devonshire in MDCXXX with a Pedigree of Most of its Gentry, ed. by
The Rev. George Oliver, D.D & Pitman Jones, Esq (Exeter: William Roberts, 1845), p. 62
27
Tuckers Hall Archive, ibid, Transcription of the Tuckers Hall Minute Books by Beatrice Cresswell, Book 3,
1618 - 1698, 14th June 1642.
28
Ibid, Thomas Crispin's gift, set up on 16th November 1676
29
Ibid, Book 2, p. 100, 'xix die Februarii Ao. Eliz. xxxviio'.
Tamsin Bailey 9
May 2013:DCRS: Poor Cloth Workers of Exeter
pence, and ten shillings respectively, split into equal monthly payments and are perhaps examples of
'gentlemen poor'. By paying this allowance the Guild prevented its members from having to go 'on
the parish'. Similarly, what were effectively small business loans, allowed the Guild to support its
members and enhance their financial prospects, but only provided they could inspire enough
confidence in their financial position to gain surety in the first place.
By cross-referencing those poor of the petitions, taxation records, hospital and overseer records,
and the Tuckers Guild 'poor' receiving relief, it is noticeable that the Guild poor do not ever appear
in the other records, and vice versa. This suggests that there were two levels of poor amongst the
cloth workers of Exeter in the second half of the seventeenth century. On the one hand, the Tuckers
Guild sought to keep those wealthy enough to have become Freemen from slipping into poverty
and directed assistance to them for this purpose: these were people in danger of poverty. On the
other hand, the Guild showed little interest in the weavers, woolcombers, serge makers and
certainly not the spinners, who were women, who already maintained an existence in poverty . As
we have seen, these poor cloth workers frequently required extra assistance on top of the parochial
relief they already received. It is likely that they could neither afford to pay the initial fee to become
a freeman of the Tuckers Guild, nor its constant requests for funds. The opening entries of the third
minute book of the Guild in 1619 detail the cost of two men joining as ten pounds, and although
some members were allowed to pay in instalments, they were required to provide surety so would
have to have had a certain level of economic status to obtain this.30 Thus belonging to the Hall was a
relatively expensive business.
Women
One group of workers were not, in general, expected to belong to the Tuckers Guild: these were the
women involved in the woollen cloth industry (although there are exceptions). 'Poor' women
appear in the Tuckers Guild minute books in receipt of charitable gifts of clothing, but were not
given money. These women were normally widows of deceased guild members, but whether they
still had any involvement in the cloth industry after their husband's death is unknown at this stage.
We learn more about women in the cloth industry from the petitions: the few who appear in the
City petitions made a living from spinning. For example, in 1684 Susan Payn of St Sidwell parish,
begs the Chamber for a 'spinning turn' or wheel, as she is too poor to buy one.31 Women did feature
more strongly in the Holy Trinity petitions, left on their own, or widowed due to their weaver
husband joining the army in the service of the King. For example, the petition of Martha, wife of
Thomas Gusrolt, weaver, Holy Trinity parish:
30
31
Ibid, Book 3, 1618 - 1698.
ECA, DRO, Petitions for Relief, Benefits, Offices etc, document (doc) 2/7; 1684
Tamsin Bailey 10
May 2013:DCRS: Poor Cloth Workers of Exeter
'Her husband has lately gone to serve his Majesty and left her and two children. One is a
very weak child. The petitioner by hard labour cannot maintain them. she asks your
Worships to order the said parish wardens to provide towards the maintenance of her
children'32
The significance of what these sources say about women will be addressed later.
What do the sources reveal about the identity of the poor?
What then do the sources discussed reveal about work amongst the poor cloth workers of early
modern Exeter? What stands out is the emphasis made in the petitions on the willingness to work
amongst individuals. They give reasons for why they are unable to, but are generally stating that
they would if they could, and that before they reached their present condition they were working
very hard. For example, Thomas Webber, weaver of St Sidwell:
'Hath suffered from the falling sickness for twenty eight years, which also troubles his wife,
but despite this he did labour in his calling for the maynteynance of him and his, but for this
halfe year he could not worke because of sickness and weakness growing uppon him.
Besides his wife is troubled with the same disease and one poor child to mayntayne'33
Petitioners also frequently state that they have tried to avoid asking the parish for help by pawning
their belongings. For example, the petition of 'Israell Coort', sergeweaver of St Sidwell parish, dated
1683, addressed to the 'Right Worshipful Henry Gandy Esq. and Deputy Mayor of the City of Exeter
with the worshipful Aldermen his Brethren'. 34 Israell's wife is a
'..very sick and weak woman that for the space of fower yeare hath bin in a very week
condition unable to help herself or get anything and most of his time hath been taken up in
attending and helping her..'35
The petitioner states that he has pawned and sold what he had 'carefully gotten' to relieve his
family, and is now in considerable debt. Where petitioners ask for the implements of work, such as
32
Holy Trinity Parish Records, DRO, Overseers of the Poor Accounts etc, PO 2 - 50, 1718A add/, 6th Feb
1704. Martha, wife of Thomas Gusrolt, weaver, February 1677
33
ECA DRO Petitions to the Chamber for Relief, Benefits, Offices etc, Folder 1/1 - 1/57, 4/19: petition of
Thomas Webber, St Sidwell, Weaver (n.d). Similarly: 3/7: petition of George Follet, St Sidwell, Weaver (n.d),
'A sick and poor man and hard working, with a wife and 6 small children. his wife is sick and one of his
children sick and he himself obstructed in his work by reason of the sharp cold weather. He has sold and
pawned his goods, but is now ready to perish in want..'
34
ECA, DRO, Petitions for Relief, Benefits, Offices etc, doc 1/38, 1683.
35
Ibid.
Tamsin Bailey 11
May 2013:DCRS: Poor Cloth Workers of Exeter
a spinning wheel, or for money to pay for the medical treatment of an injury, they are asserting their
ability to work if they have the tools to do their job (whether they be spinning wheels or working
limbs). Whilst the danger of taking petitions at their face value is acknowledged, it is possible that
the petitions reflect something of the individual's own outlook, and attitudes towards work.
Similarly some conclusions may be drawn about work from petitions made by women involved in
the cloth industry: petitions like Susan Payn's show women constructing themselves as workers in
their own right, requesting tools to carry out their occupation. Women left to bring up children
alone with their husbands away at war or dead, emphasise in their petitions that they are willing to
and have been working, but request maintenance for their children. They are not then feeble
women, unable to look after themselves.
The petitions in the City and parish archives in particular allow us insight into the individual identities
of the poor, revealing an awareness and understanding amongst the poor of what was expected of
them as 'deserving poor' and that they were willing to bolster their cause through the language of
their claims, although it should be noted that the fact that the petitions all conform to a similar
format, raises questions around who determined that format, and how much of a say the petitioner
had in filling in the gaps, making it personal to their own circumstances. The language of the
petitions also suggests that the benefactors of the poor held particular views on who was eligible for
relief: it could therefore be argued that those who provided relief helped to shape the identity of the
recipients. Considering some of the language contained in the petitions further raises questions as
to whether the petitioners were aware of wider events which might have affected their
circumstances. For example, when they cite poor trade as a reason for their circumstances, how far
were they aware of the causes of this poor trade? The members of the Tuckers Guild were aware of
such problems, evidenced by their complaints about the smuggling of English wool, and it is easy to
imagine rumours passing from clothiers to weavers and other cloth workers.36 The fact that the
petitioners mention poor trade at least suggests an understanding that it would be taken by their
benefactors as a legitimate reason for their destitution.
Historians have extensively discussed the poor, and the ways in which the state and church
attempted to organise and subordinate them in the early modern period, together with the
strategies employed by the poor to exploit or to challenge the systems developed for dealing with
their situation.37 It is acknowledged that the picture of the poor produced through the use of
36
See Introduction, page 9.
Anne Scott, 'Experiences of Poverty', in Experiences of Poverty in Late Medieval and Early Modern England
and France, ed by Anne Scott (Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2012), chapter 1, p. 1; Similar discussions
may be found in Michael J. Braddick & John Walter, 'Introduction. Grids of Power: order, hierarchy and
37
Tamsin Bailey 12
May 2013:DCRS: Poor Cloth Workers of Exeter
records created by the state and church, provides a one sided, 'top down' view of their identity.
Christopher Dyer has looked at the experience of the poor in late medieval England, investigating
their origins, place in society, outlook and perceptions, rather than looking at the poor from the
point of view of the better off.38 Dyer's main techniques in researching the experiences of the poor
are prosopographical, focussing on individual people, and attempting to compile their
bibliographies. When viewed together, such bibliographies then enable Dyer to answer questions
about who the poor were and how they might have found themselves categorized as 'pauper'. 39
Dyer uses records such as manorial court documents, some peasant inventories and land tax records
to develop an understanding of the definition of 'pauper' and to demonstrate the variety of people
who might fall into poverty, emphasising that 'the poor cannot simply be characterised as a rootless
mass of inadequates'.40 I hope to use a similar prosopographical approach to test the rhetoric of the
documents such as the petitions discussed here.
Less is revealed about the poor members of the Tuckers Guild who appear in the guild minute books.
The Hall must have had some form of criteria for identifying the poor amongst their members, who
nominated them for receipt of charity; and indeed those nominated for relief and listed in the
minute books have the initial of the member who suggested them against their names.41 The Hall
must have created its own definition of poverty and neediness.
What is far less easy to determine in Exeter is any form of identity amongst the poor which is not
tied up with poor relief in its various forms. The sources I have discussed shed light on the individual
identities of the Poor, and have suggested something of their outlook and attitudes towards work,
However, is it possible to argue that the poor cloth workers had any sense of collective identity
linked to their involvement the woollen cloth trade, rather than to their poverty alone?
There are occasional glimpses of something which might point to a sense of collective identity
amongst the poor cloth workers of Exeter. The Exeter Quarter Sessions for 1685 document an event
involving a large group of weavers from the parish of St Sidwell. In June 1685, these weavers
gathered together in Heavitree in support of the Duke of Monmouth (next slide), one Timothy Brock
subordination in early modern society', in Negotiating Power in Early Modern Society: Order, Hierarchy and
Subordination in Britain and Ireland, ed by Michael J. Braddick & John Walter (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2001), pp. 1 - 42.
38
Christopher Dyer, 'The Experience of Being Poor in Late Medieval England' in ed. Anne Scott, Experiences
of Poverty in Late Medieval and Early Modern England and France (Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2012),
chapter 2, pp. 19 - 39.
39
Ibid, p. 22
40
Ibid, p. 39
41
For example, Tuckers Hall Archive, ibid, Book 3, November 28th 1678, p.196
Tamsin Bailey 13
May 2013:DCRS: Poor Cloth Workers of Exeter
allegedly stating that he would 'go up to his knees in blood for the Duke'.42 The protestant Duke
landed at Lyme Regis and from there led his assault upon James II, supported by Dissenters mainly
from the cloth towns of Dorset, Somerset and Gloucestershire. In Taunton, sixty three percent of all
rebels supporting the Duke were engaged in the wool trade.43 In his research on the Taunton
Dissenters in the early modern period, William Gibson argues that in that town there was a clear
correlation between the wool trade, Dissenters, and a willingness to support the Duke of
Monmouth.44 It may be that there was a similar correlation between the weavers and other cloth
workers of St Sidwell who were intent on joining the Duke at Lyme Regis. Certainly this merits
further investigation into its significance. The Exeter Quarter Session records contain several entries
relating to the events in Heavitree: On 24th June 1685, Lewis Kingdom, a weaver from St Sidwell,
claimed that he heard Nicholas Davy and John Tuckfield, also weavers of the same parish, discussing
how the Mayor had said that he would set their parish on fire if it could be proved that sixty or
eighty men from that parish were implicated in the Monmouth rising.45 On 29th June, the quarter
sessions record how Avis Molland, widow, and Mary Hyne, wife of John Hyne, Tailor of Exeter,
informed that Margery, the wife of Robert Searle (servant of William Tucker, Cordwainer) had told
them that:
'..if the Master Combers were taken upp and carried away there were a Thousand ffive
hundred or two thousand ffive hundred Weavers would rise with Clubbs and Staves enough
to beat downe the Towne'46
The actions of the St Sidwell weavers in support of Monmouth, reflects a shared contempt for the
city authorities & Master combers which perhaps gave these cloth workers a sense of collective
identity: certainly they were seen as troublemakers by the city authorities. However, the situation is
likely to have been more complex than this: as a period of political upheaval, with Exeter's more
influential inhabitants split between Whigs and Tories, there was the very likely possibility that some
members of the elite, perhaps including wealthy clothiers, would have supported an act of rebellion
in the name of the Duke of Monmouth, but would not have dared to express this openly, and so
covertly influenced the actions of the St Sidwell weavers. Equally the weavers may have had their
42
ECA, Exeter Quarter Sessions, EXQS66, f97v; 1685 - Edward Whiting, sergeweaver from St Sidwell, was
also implicated in the uprising, but turned informer and confirmed Brock's words, along with John Jenkins,
weaver.
43
Gibson, William, Religion and the Enlightenment: 1600 to 1800. Conflict and the Rise of Civic Humanism in
Taunton (Bern, Switzerland: Verlag Peter Lang, 2007), p. 146. Research into the Monmouth rebellion has also
been carried out by Peter Earle, Monmouth Rebels. The Road to Sedgemoor 1685 (London: Weidenfeld &
Nicholson, 1977) and for an opposing view, Robin Clifton, The Last Rebellion: The Western Rising of 1685
(London: Maurice Temple Smith, 1984).
44
Ibid, p. 147
45
ECA, EXQS66, f94r. 1685
46
ECA, EXQS66, f101v; 1685
Tamsin Bailey 14
May 2013:DCRS: Poor Cloth Workers of Exeter
own political opinions and been aware of the divisions between those clothiers whom they worked
for. Furthermore, their location outside of the city walls meant that the weavers of St Sidwells were
also outside the jurisdiction of the Tuckers Guild, the significance of which requires further
examination.
This case throws up another line of inquiry: the importance of place in work and identity. The poor
cloth workers were concentrated in particular parishes, notably St Sidwell, but also Holy Trinity and
St Mary Major. It will be necessary to look further at the geography of these areas and why cloth
workers were concentrated there.
In summary, a brief examination of sources which relate to the poor cloth workers of Exeter in the
late seventeenth century reveals: (final slide)
1 - That there were two distinct groups of poor amongst those involved in the cloth industry.
2 - That it is hard to access the poor’s own self perception of their identity, as opposed to their
willingness to present themselves in a certain way to the city authorities.
3 - But that there are some glimpses of a rebellious and anti-authoritarian identity amongst poor
cloth workers.