Piece
See MH 82/12
Catalogue reference: MH 82/49
Date: 1954 Sept 16-1956 Nov 15
See MH 82/12
Item
Folios 193-194. Letter from Charles Keele, Captain RN and Guardian of the Southampton...
Catalogue reference: MH 12/10998/105
What’s it about?
This record is about the Folios 193-194. Letter from Charles Keele, Captain RN and Guardian of the Southampton... dating from 1 Apr 1849 in the series Local Government Board and predecessors: Correspondence with Poor Law Unions and.... It is held at The National Archives, Kew.
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Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
- MH 12/10998/105
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Date (When the record was created)
- 1 Apr 1849
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Description (What the record is about)
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- Content
- Folios 193-194. Letter from Charles Keele, Captain RN and Guardian of the Southampton Incorporation, to 'the Secretary of the Poor Law Commission' [the Poor Law Board]. He states he has been a member of the board of guardians for nearly two years and before his period in office expires he feels he should bring to their attention the 'very defective and unsatisfactory manner' in which the assistant overseers account to the guardians for the collection of the poor rates. Although an effort has been made to alter the system there is still so much outstanding rates to account for under the old system of management that active steps are needed. The present assistant overseers or collectors have been in office for several years and act quite independently of the authority of the guardians. The local act requires that after the rates are agreed upon, the magistrates issue their warrants to the overseers for the publication and collection of the same and these are to be paid into the hands of the treasurer, but the practice for many years past has been to allow the collectors to fall into arrears. There are now several thousand pounds uncollected. In balancing and closing the old rate books and in order to investigate doubtful cases when the rates have not been paid, every attempt made by the guardians to obtain from the collectors the receipts, or counterparts, with which they have been entrusted, has been evaded. He gives an example from the rate books from April 1846 to January 1847 for Saint Mary's parish. The amount assessed for the parish was £6827, the amount collected, or at least accounted for was only £4861 leaving a deficiency of 1966 for the year. In these books the defaulters are reported as excused, dead, void, gone, not recoverable, and insolvent; of these, the only persons the guardians have any knowledge of are those returned as excused. Every demand for the receipts or counterparts has been met with the response that such receipts 'not being required are always destroyed.' There is also a copied extract from the assistant overseers report to the guardians, after repeated attempts made for the production of their receipt books or counterparts 16 March 1849. Mr Spencer stated in behalf of himself and collectors, that previous to the new system of account keeping, they did not make out receipts for parties excused their rates. Spencer stated that in 1837 when the town was re-assessed, every person was rated, but the guardians resolved that it was no use to make out receipts where there was no possibility of getting any money. Keele notes that there is no such resolution in the journal. Paper Number: 10051/1849. Poor Law Union Number 407. Counties: Hampshire.
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
- Public Record(s)
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Language (The language of the record)
- English
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Closure status (Whether the record is ‘open’ (available to the public) or ‘closed’ (not available due to a legal exemption))
- Open Document, Open Description
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C10606691/
Series information
MH 12
Local Government Board and predecessors: Correspondence with Poor Law Unions and...
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This record is held at The National Archives, Kew
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Within the series: MH 12
Local Government Board and predecessors: Correspondence with Poor Law Unions and...
401 records
Within the piece: MH 12/10998
Southampton 407. (Described at item level).
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Folios 193-194. Letter from Charles Keele, Captain RN and Guardian of the Southampton...
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