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Labourers in late sixteenth-century England: a case study from north Norfolk [Part II]

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

A. Hassell Smith
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Continuity and Change , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , December 1989 , pp. 367 - 394
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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References

ENDNOTES

1 See Appendix I under Barney, William; Bowman, mother; Coles, William; Dawson, Thomas; Dickman, John I; Greve, John; Lambard, widow; More, Ralph; Wilson, Thomas; Yeomans, William.

2 Thirsk, J. I., ed., The agrarian history of England and Wales, IV, 1500–1640 (Cambridge, 1967), 401.Google Scholar

3 See Appendix I under the column headed ‘landholding, demesne’. ‘Landless or almost landless’ is here taken to mean tenants with a customary holding of one acre or less. Those in this category are: Appleton, William; Batty, Edmund; Dawson, Thomas; Dickman, John I; Engeldew, John; Folkes, Robert; Hall, Robert; Ivory, John; May, William.

4 Will of Margery Coles, NRO Norwich Archdeaconry Court, Lyncolne f. 94.

5 For the provisions they bought from or sold to Bacon see Appendix I, especially under Appleton, William and Richard; Barney, William; Batty, Edmund; Coles, William; Dickman, John I; Engeldew, John; Hall, Robert; Ivory, John; More, Ralph; Wilson, Thomas; Yeomans, William.

6 For the exploitation of the Fen at Willingham (Cambs.) by landless and near landless villagers see Spufford, M., Contrasting communities: English villagers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Cambridge, 1974), 129–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7 UEA Bacon DATABASE under More, Ralph. After 1593 he and William Yeomans jointly supplied fish to Bacon's household.

8 Norfolk Record Office (NRO) Millican (photocopy) deposit (Q 189 A). For this manuscript see Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society XXXV (1970–1972), 156–7.Google Scholar

9 Smith, A. Hassell, Baker, Gillian M., and Kenny, R. W., eds., The papers of Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey volume I 1556–1577 (Centre of East Anglian Studies, Norwich, 1979), 46–76.Google Scholar

10 Smith, and Baker, , Bacon Papers 1 (1979), and II (1983)Google Scholar, various references under Johnson, Francis. He was a Dutchman who took an English wife and lived at Morston.

11 See Appendix I, especially under Appleton, William; Batty, Edmund; Croxen, Robert; Dawson, Thomas; Folkes, Robert; Greve, John; May, William; More, Ralph; Sly II; Wilson, Thomas.

12 NRO MS. 1572 (1C5). Accounts of John Walker, sheepreeve for Morston and Stiffkey.

13 UEA Bacon DATABASE under Gye, Robert; Bacon, Anne.

14 UEA Bacon DATABASE 4/15580, 13327, 16452, 10224, 14049.

15 For the development of stocking knitting in Norwich see Thirsk, J. I., Economic policy and projects (Oxford, 1978), 44–6.Google Scholar

16 See Appendix I under Green, George; Hodge, Edward; Lyon, Robert.

17 These figures are derived from two parish profiles compiled from a variety of sources. That for 1593–1594 is incorporated in Appendix I. In both cases transients – those who stayed for less than two years – have been excluded.

18 In the preparation of this article I have been stimulated by Professor R. Pahl's views in Pahl, R., Division of labour (Oxford, 1984).Google Scholar

19 For a critical appraisal of these books see Smith, A. Hassell, ‘Gentry accounts as a source for community studies? The case of Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey’ in The study of a north Norfolk coastal community: Stiffkey 1560–1630 (ESRC final report, 1981, Boston Spa), 6–27.Google Scholar

20 Families have been deemed to have had children of sufficient age if the parents were married in or before 1580. The families are: Appleton, William; Batty, Edmund; Bowman, John; Coles, fVilliam (by wife's first marriage); Croxon, Robert; Dawson, Thomas I; Dickman, John I; Greve, John; Lombard, Henry; More, Ralph; Spark, Edmund; Yeomans, William. Names have been italicized when one or more daughters worked as day-labourers for Bacon. For these families see Appendix I.

21 Husbandmen, carriers, fishermen and timber hewers.

22 See Appendix I under Appleton, William; Banyard, Bamaby; Banyard, Thomas; Batty, Edmund; Bowman, John; Coles, Thomas; Coles, William; Croxen, Robert; Dawson, Thomas I; Dawson, Thomas II; Dickman, John I; Green, George; Greve, Gilbert; Greve, John; Greve, William; Hill, William; Hodge, Edward; Lambard, Henry; Lyon, Robert; More, Ralph; Page, Edward; Page, John II; Sly I; Smith Peter I; Spark, Edmund; Yeomans, William. Names have been italicized when one or more daughters worked as day-labourers for Bacon.

23 For these figures see Part I, Appendix IV of this article, Continuity and Change IV I (1989).Google Scholar

24 For evidence from elsewhere of daughters working within the family economy see Chaytor, M., ‘Household and kinship: Ryton in the late 16th and early 17th centuries’, History Workshop X (1980), 47–8.Google Scholar

25 For an exception see Appendix I under Appleton, Richard.

26 See Part I, Appendix I under Appleton, Thomas I; Banyard, Barnaby; Batty, Edmund; Dawson, Thomas II; Grace, Thomas; Green, George; Hodge, Edward; Newton, Peter; Wyatt, George. See also Part I, Appendix II of this article, under Brigham, William; ?Loades, John; Lightfoot; Young, John; Lath; Rogers, John; Isborne; Burdon, Clement; Reeder, Robert; More, Bartholomew; Stokes, John; Roofe; Thompson, Edward; Thurst.

27 See Appendix I.

28 For a squire-dominated Midland parish where there were several groups of families each bearing the same surname, see Rogers, A., ‘An early seventeenth-century listing: Wollaton, Notts’, Midland History V (1979–1980), 35.Google Scholar

29 Appendix I under Dawson, Thomas I and II; UEA Bacon DATABASE under Dawson; Smith, and Baker, , Bacon papers I, 191Google Scholar; NRO, Stiffkey parish register; University of Reading Library, Norf. 20; NRO Norwich Archdeaconry will, Burre, f. 28.

30 Appendix I under Dickman, John; UEA Bacon DATABASE under Dickman, John.

31 NRO Martyn 22, overseers' accounts for the year 1604–1605.

32 UEA Bacon DATABASE under Dickman, Ann, daughter, father, John, mother and wife.

33 For the information in this paragraph, unless otherwise stated, see NRO, Stiffkey parish register; UEA Bacon DATABASE under Page; Page, Agnes, Alice, daughter, Edward, John, Mary, mother, wife.

34 Alice Greve, sister of John Greve (NRO, Norwich Archdeaconry will, Hytchcocke, ff. 57v–58).

35 University of Reading Library, Norfolk 20, book of payments and receipts 1576–1577, entry for 2.12.1576.

36 By 1593 they were aged 19, 21 and 22 (NRO Stiffkey Parish register).

37 Appendix I under Baker, John; Framingham, John; Greve, Gilbert; ?Lambard, Henry; Manser, Richard; Speller, John.

38 UEA Bacon DATABASE under Speller, Helen, Joan, John and Thomas; Smith, and Baker, , Bacon Papers II, 74 and III (forthcoming), 262–3, 264, 265, 268, 303–5, 307–8.Google Scholar

39 Smith, and Baker, , Bacon Papers IGoogle Scholar, various references; UEA Bacon DATABASE under Mounford, John, John junior, Edmund; Mynne, Elizabeth; Mynne Mistress. NRO, Stiffkey parish register.

40 Appendix I shows 6 families holding 15 messuages (Baker, John; Framingham, John; Greve, Gilbert; Lambard, Henry; Manser, Richard; Speller, John). To these nine spare messuages must be added one owned by Bacon and four held by absentee property owners who are unidentified in the Appendix.

41 Raynham Hall, MSS. of the Townshend and Bacon families, Box 4 no. 12.

42 NRO Hammond deposit 20.1.87 (S117A).

43 Appendix I.

44 Blacksmiths and millers came and went at Stiffkey so frequently that they are usually named generically rather than personally in the accounts books. Bacon had a smithy and mill to let, but the community was probably not large enough to provide a living for these tradesmen. For the fate of some see: Smith, and Baker, , Bacon Papers I, 192Google Scholar; II, 207–8; UEA Bacon DATABASE under Hawnde; Yale University, Beinecke Library 195, Stiffkey Millers accounts 1576–1580. Carpenters, also, were mobile. John Rogers stayed long enough for his child to be baptized in the parish; Lightfoot worked for about two years as a journeyman carpenter with Stephen Chappell. During this time his wife and son also appear in the records as day-labourers for Bacon (UEA Bacon DATABASE under Lightfoot). For other transients see UEA Bacon DATABASE under Nockold (shoemaker), Wesson (gardener), Wiggen and Greenacre (shepherds).

45 Smith, and Baker, , Bacon Papers I, 271.Google Scholar

46 Folger Shakespeare Library, E.b.3, accounts of the bailiff of husbandry for Stiffkey 1598–1599.

47 For the effect of the desire for privacy and social segregation on the planning of smaller houses see especially Mercer, E., English Vernacular houses (1975).Google Scholar

48 This is a view I shall develop in subsequent studies of the Bacon family and of Stiffkey Hall.

49 Smith, A. Hassell, County and court, government and politics in Norfolk 1558–1603 (Oxford, 1974).Google Scholar

50 Machin, R., ed., Probate inventories and manorial excepts of Chetmole, Leigh and Yetminster (Bristol, 1967), 26–8Google Scholar; Chaytor, M., ‘Household and kinship: Ryton in the late 16th and early 17th centuries’, History Workshop X (1980), 45–9.Google Scholar

51 The sixteenth century fabric of Stiffkey is still substantially intact; it includes several small houses which we hope to survey. A preliminary investigation by the late Mr Alan Carter led him to suggest that each comprised a small heated hall, a narrow service room and loft above both. Evidence from the early seventeenth century map of Stiffkey suggests that even these small houses were occupied mainly by husbandmen.

52 For example: Wrightson, K. and Levine, D., Poverty and piety in an English Village: Terling 1525–1700 (London, 1979)Google Scholar; Spufford, M., Contrasting communities (Cambridge, 1974)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Levine, D., Family formation in an age of nascent capitalism (London, 1977)Google Scholar; Wrightson, K., ‘Household and kinship in sixteenth-century England’, History Workshop XII (1981), 151–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Anderson, M., ‘Household structure and the industrial revolution; mid-nineteenth-century Preston in comparative perspective’, in Laslett, P. and Wall, R., eds., Household and family in past time (Cambridge, 1972), 226Google Scholar; Medick, H., ‘The protoindustrial family economy: the structural function of household and family during the transition from peasant society to industrial capitalism’, Social History I (1976), 291–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

53 Campbell, L., ‘The women of Stiffkey [1580–1600]’ (University of East Anglia, unpublished MA thesis, 1985), 16–18.Google Scholar

54 Ibid, p. 21.

55 See Appendix I under Appleton, Thomas; Banyard, Barnaby; Banyard, Thomas; Batty, Edmund; Bowman, John; Chappell, Stephen; Dawson, Thomas II; Grace, Thomas; Green, George; Greve, Gilbert I & II; Gye, Robert; Hall, Robert; Hill, William; Hodge, Edward; Lambard, Henry; Lyon, Robert; More, Ralph; Newton, Peter; Page, Edward; Smith, Peter I & II.

56 For a perceptive study of Sir Nicholas Bacon's personality see: Collinson, P., ‘Sir Nicholas Bacon and the Elizabethan via media’. Historical Journal 23, 2 (1980), 255–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

57 Smith, and Baker, , Bacon Papers I (1979), 26.Google Scholar

58 Smith, and Baker, , Bacon Papers I (1979)Google Scholar, under Man, Martin.

59 UEA Bacon DATABASE under Taylor, Richard; Eldridge; Nobbs, Anthony; Otty, ‘father’; Money, Edmund; Kendal, Robert; Burton, Martin.

60 Smith, and Baker, , Bacon Papers I (1979), under Mounford, John.Google Scholar

61 Chaytor, M., ‘Household and kinship’, History Workshop (1980), especially p. 27Google Scholar; Hanawalt, B. A., ed., Women and work in preindustrial Europe (Bloomington, 1986), vii–xviii.Google Scholar

62 Hilton, R. H., The English peasantry in the later middle ages (Oxford, 1975), 95–110Google Scholar; Penn, S. A. C., ‘Female wage-earners in late fourteenth-century England’, Agricultural History Review, 35 (1987), 1–14Google Scholar; Middleton, C., ‘Sexual division of labour in feudal England’, New Left Review, 113–14 (1979), 153, 160–61Google Scholar; Roberts, M., ‘Sickles and scythes: women's work and men's work at harvest time’, History Workshop, 7 (1979), 3–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Snell, K. D. M., ‘Agricultural seasonal employment, the standard of living, and women's work in the south and east: 1690–1860’, Economic History Review, 2nd ser. XXXIV (1981), especially 426–7.Google Scholar

63 Snell, Ibid.

64 Wrightson, K., ‘Two concepts of order: justices, constables and jurymen in seventeenthcentury England’, in Brewer, J. and Styles, J., eds., An ungovernable people? The English and their law in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (London, 1980)Google Scholar; Wrightson, K., ‘Aspects of social differentiation in rural England c. 1580–1660’, Journal of Peasant Studies 5 (1977), 33–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

65 For the role of women in the enforcement of social attitudes and in various kinds of informal and extra-legal types of protest see Houlebrooke, R. A., ‘Women's social life and common action in England from the fifteenth century to the eve of the Civil War’, Continuity and Change I (1986), 176–86.Google Scholar

66 Appendix I.

67 Rye, W., State papers relating to musters, beacons, shipmoney, etc. in Norfolk, from 1626 chiefly to the beginning of the Civil War (Norwich, 1907), 181–2.Google Scholar

68 UEA Bacon DATABASE under Chappell, Stephen; Smith, and Baker, , Bacon Papers II, 150–1, 228–9Google Scholar; Dodge, J. R., ‘The specialization and structure of Labour as seen through the building of Raynham Hall in 1618–21’ (unpublished MA thesis, University of East Anglia, 1988), 51–2 and Appendix I.Google Scholar

69 UEA Bacon DATABASE under Banyard, Barnaby; Batty, Edmund; Greve, Gilbert I; Smith, Peter. See also Appendix I.

70 NRO, Norwich Archdeaconry Court Will, Bastard f. 382.

71 Laslett, and Wall, , Household and family in past times, p. 40.Google Scholar

72 Mercer, E., English vernacular houses (London, 1975), 75–7.Google Scholar

73 Only two inventories are extant for the 68 families which appear in the profile upon which this article is based (Appendix I); one is that of a labourer. There are nine wills, three of which were made by labourers.

74 Wales, T., ‘Poverty, poor relief and the life cycle: some evidence from seventeenthcentury Norfolk’, in Smith, R. M., ed., Land, kinship and life cycle (Cambridge, 1984), 352.Google Scholar