The Sad Tale of the Paupers Nobody Wanted : Proving the right of a British Citizen

 

In recent years, recent days even, we have heard people in this country denouncing refugees crossing from France because, “the British Taxpayer has to provide for them.”  In 1834 the government passed the New Poor Law to reduce the burden on the rate payers in England of providing for paupers with out relief by replacing it with indoor relief within the Union Workhouse.  The old rules of Settlement, where birth in a parish was necessary to receive help no longer applied so clearly but gradually the right of aid within a union of parishes was established.

However, in one sad case in Surrey and Hampshire no rights of support were legally allowed. It concerned a family where the wife, Catherine Stringer, had been born in Prussia (Germany), the daughter of a British soldier, and her husband, Michael Stringer, the son of a freed slave who had been born in Jamaica was considered a foreigner even though he received a soldier’s pension after more than 20 years’ service in the British army.

In November 1854, Catherine Stringer, who with her husband, Michael, had given birth to 14 children, presented herself at Guildford Union Workhouse, with her youngest 3 children because her husband had seduced their adopted orphan child, who at 18 was expecting his baby. Catherine was a British subject in every census record but had no right to poor relief.  Her husband was stationed in the barracks in Guildford, but when the Guildford Board of Guardians discovered she had a son-in-law in Portsmouth (where Catherine had once lived) who could take her in, they bought her train tickets so she could remove herself and her youngest children to Portsea.  Mr Ames, Master of the Workhouse took them to Guildford station and accompanied them in the carriage to Woking station where he put them on the Portsmouth train.

Subsequently the Poor Law Board in London ruled this removal from Guildford to Portsmouth was illegal.

Michael Springer is described on his pension documents as 5 ft 8 inches tall with dark brown hair, grey eyes and a swarthy complexion. He had a good military record and was a Sergeant as well as a Bugle Major. He retired aged 38 because of arthritis, probably caused by many years of service in Ireland after his upbringing in the warmer climate of Jamaica where he was born. In 1821 Michael married Catherine after meeting her in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where her father was also serving as a soldier.

Michael had served as a Bugle Major for 19 years with the 2^nd Battalion 60^th Infantry Regiment but prior to that he had enlisted in Jamaica at the age of 12. After being discharged in Ireland in 1834, where many of his children were born, he moved to the more favourable climate of Portsmouth. Unfortunately in 1851 he was convicted of the felony of larceny, which is why the 1851 census lists Catherine as Head of the house.

On finishing his sentence in 1852, Michael joined the Surrey Militia in Guildford until his discharge in 1854 when like his estranged wife he moved back to Portsmouth where some of their adult children lived. Soon his itchy feet took him back to Cork in Ireland but in 1861 Catherine is still in Portsmouth with some of her children.

I believe Michael remarried in Cork, probably bigamously but in 1875 Catherine died in poverty in the Union Workhouse on Portsea Island.

The problems the couple had in establishing rights as British citizens despite valid parentage, being born abroad as a result of her father's army service and in Michael's case owing him reward for his duty to Britain as a soldier, reflect the experiences of the Windrush generation and also of the difficulty experienced by some of my generation in obtaining a British passport because they were born in Singapore or Malaysia due to their father's military service. No wonder they had such tempestuous lives.

Catastrophic Fire at Clandon Park #NT

The Surrey Infantry Museum

Today I share with many people great sadness at the terrible destruction of Clandon Park House by the fire yesterday evening.  Although not the most beautiful house to look at from the outside, it contained a stunning collection of beautiful artefacts, ceilings and its unforgettable marble hall. There are many pictures online of its lovely rooms including some on my Pinterest page here

The Corps of Drums of the 1st Battalion of the Queen's Regiment at Clandon Park in 1989

Last year I visited an exhibition about the First World War Hospital which was set up in the house in 1915 and while there I also spent considerable time in the Surrey Infantry Museum in the undercroft.  This contained the collections of the Queen’s Royal Regiment and the East Surrey Regiment from three and a half centuries of service.  There were uniforms, medals, musical instruments, flags and pictures from the Indian mutiny, Crimean War, Boer War and both world wars of the twentieth century.

Here are some of them.

These life sized figures dating from 1715 wear the uniform of the Princess of Wales Regiment and were made when the Regiment was quartered in Carlisle.  They carry flintlock musket, sword and socket bayonet. The leather pouch contained three grenades. 

Just some of the many medals on display including several Victoria Crosses.

The Sovereign's Colour was presented to the Regiment at Gosport in 1847.  The last time it was paraded was in Singapore in 1947,

Update about the Colours

All photos from http://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/new_museum/new_museum.shtml

A year ago soldiers recreated the scene when Clandon was a War Hospital.

A sad story 

“Not aggravated by vice or intemperance”

I have been examining the 1854 medical discharge paper written about my great great grandfather.  His name (at that time!) was John Wheare and he had served just over 21 years in the 7th Regiment of Foot (Royal Fusiliers).  This did not include the three years when he deserted and then re-joined but that’s another story!

The army surgeon describes John as being five foot ten and a quarter inches in height, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion and this exactly matches the description on his enlistment attestation.

 

He then describes the symptoms from which John Wheare is suffering.  Apparently he had chronic catarrh and dyspnoea (difficulty) breathing.  The surgeon believed that this was caused by long army service and exposure to climate.  John had served in Gibraltar, Dublin, Barbados and Halifax, Nova Scotia.  I was relieved to read that his ill-health had not been aggravated by vice or intemperance!

Retiring aged 46 on an army pension, John Wheare narrowly missed embarking for the Crimea.  He was able to take a job with the Coastguard but sadly died 6 years later.

A Policeman's Lot

One spring day in 1976 my parents took me to the Cathedral of St Mary the Crowned in Main Street, Gibraltar.  There we were ushered into the vestry where a large old book lay open.  On its pages we read of the baptism of Jorge Weir, son of Juan Weir and his wife Rosa Smith in 1841.  This was the baptism of my great grandfather George Ware, the son of an army corporal, whose Irish wife insisted that their son was baptised in a Catholic church rather than by the Anglican chaplain in the garrison.  George already had an older sister and two years later another sister was baptised at the Cathedral.  Perhaps because of the crowded conditions in which army families lived in Gibraltar, this little girl did not live long. 

 In 1844 the 7^th Royal Fusiliers, with whom John Ware was serving, embarked for Barbados.  There, Rose Ware gave birth to another daughter, Margaret and both she and George thrived in the warm climate.  Their mother, however, was seriously ill with Scarlet Fever during the voyage home, but thankfully she recovered and in 1848 the family set sail for Halifax, Nova Scotia, where a year later James Ware was born.  After just over two years the Wares returned to England, first to Winchester where another son, William, was born in 1850 and after a short time in Portsmouth to Devonport where the last sibling Louisa appeared in 1853.

John Ware had been born in York but on his discharge in 1854 he chose to live in Hull where he had found employment with the Coastguard.  Sadly Rose died within a year and 14 year old George found himself work on a whaling ship.  At the age of 16, George married 17 year old Elizabeth and they had a young son John George.  Seeking a better life for his family George set out for London to join the Metropolitan Police force.  Working in Limehouse, he was known for his toughness.

 George only stayed in London for 2 years but this valuable experience was put to good use when he moved to the police force in Leeds.  There, according to the writer of his obituary, “His intelligence and smartness were quickly recognised, and he was entrusted with much detective work, in which he particularly distinguished himself.”  He quickly gained his sergeant’s stripes, and it was not long before he was promoted to be an inspector, and further to be Deputy Chief Constable- and all this within the space of 5 years.

At this point George Ware heard of an opening in Kings Lynn, Norfolk.  Lieut. Cornelius Reeve was retiring as Superintendent of Police.  George applied for the position and despite being only 25 he was selected from a large number of candidates.  As a young man of the lower classes and an experienced policeman he was an unusual choice.  It was normal to choose a retired army officer of greater age, but the Lynn Watch committee had asked Lieut. Reeves to resign for being drunk on duty and they were impressed with George Ware’s record in Leeds.  His family was given rent free accommodation adjoining the Guildhall, next door to the Police Station in the Saturday Market and Mrs Ware was appointed Hall Keeper at £15 per year.

But all was not plain sailing for Superintendent Ware.  Six months after taking command George prepared his men for an inspection by Major-General Cartwright.  On 24^th June 1867 the Watch Committee looked on proudly as Supt. Ware drilled his men.  The Major-General congratulated him on the efficiency of the establishment and was impressed by the arrangements for interim custody of prisoners.  He was, however, less satisfied with their relief to vagrants and directed that, “strict attention should be given to the searching of all suspected applicants, so as to distinguish as far as practicable the destitute wayfarer from the professional beggar and vagabond.”  Supt. Ware was personal charged with relief of casual paupers which he found most distasteful.

Two weeks later, the Mayor of Kings Lynn instructed Supt. Ware that his men should use every means at their disposal to prevent public begging in the streets.  But George resisted; he knew the hardships which people would suffer to keep their families out of the Workhouse and he feared the bad reputation his officers would receive if they constantly chased ragged urchins around the streets.  An angry interchange, between the brash young police Superintendent and the middle aged solicitor who was Mayor, meant that the Watch Committee had to deal with the fall out.  At a meeting of the committee next day the Mayor complained about Supt. Ware’s improper and insulting behaviour and George was told to move out with his family by Michaelmas.  Thankfully at the Town Council meeting 5 days later, the call for George’s resignation was considered to be out of all proportion to the offence.  The Mayor agreed to ask the Watch Committee to rescind their decision since Supt Ware had offered him a full and satisfactory apology.

On the personal front, George also suffered during his early years in Kings Lynn.  Within a month of their arrival, his daughter Elizabeth died and daughter Lillie born the following year died at 12 months.  Soon his wife, Elizabeth was also dead, leaving him to bring up his two sons John and Leon.  Things improved when he met and married Rebecca Linferd in 1870.  She was a farmer’s daughter from the nearby village of Walpole St Peter and as the years went by, she and George had six children.

Although George’s job was unchanged, the Watch Committee thought it appropriate to change his job title in 1889 when he became Chief Constable of the Borough Force.  Throughout his tenure George Ware was a, “hands on,” policeman who solved many crimes of national proportions.  Living close to Sandringham, he frequently had to arrange Royal protection and accompany parades.  Coming from a musical family he had established a police band which became very popular.

In 1898, suffering from chronic gout and attacks of bronchitis George Ware tendered his resignation after 40 years in the police force.  He was presented with a gold watch, a testimonial signed by 142 subscribers and a cheque for £133.  He retired to Bournemouth where he died in 1911 nursed by his third wife, Jane.

Sources

"A Movable Rambling Police" An official History of Policing in Norfolk by Brian David Butcher

"Glimpses of Fiddaman's Lynn" by Rosemary & Stan Rodliffe

Lynn Advertiser 28 April 1911

You can read about one of Superintendent Ware's investigations here