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TRANSCRIPT
Acknowledgement
the HALGS is very grateful for the
opportunity given to us by Jean O'Donnell
MBE, to print extracts from the book she wrote
about John Venn and the Friends of the
Hereford Poor.
Jean O'Donnell is a trustee of the Hereford
Society for Aiding the Industrious, work that
was started by John Venn in 1841
Figure 52 Map of Portfields c.1855, before Venn Road (later Kyrle Street) was made,
the numbers being shown on the tithe map. Only the washing baths are shown ant
the land of the Portfields was divided into allotments . The present footpath to
Ledbury Road is an ancient route that originally led to Scutt Mill. As well as Venn
Road, the Society also created St. Guthlac Street; the vicarage for St. Peter’s was
built at 1 Ledbury Road in 1871; land was sold in 1874 for the working Boys’ Home
(Now Herefordshire Council Offices) and subsequently more land was sold on which
to build St. Owen’s Elementary school in Symonds Street. In Bath Street, Wye
Terrace and the other frontages were developed and sold by the Society and
eventually the rest of the land was sold to the council for working-class housing
round Central Avenue. Almshouses were built in 1938 on the experimental garden
and part of the farm. The pig cots were used during the Second World War and
disappeared with the remaining farm buildings during the street widening of 1967.
THE EARLY YEARS OF THE SOCIETY
At the end o€ the first year of its work the Society reported (on 15 March
1842) that they had formed several departments with their own
subcommittees. One of these was concerned with the allotment of land.
They had obtained 28 acres of land and 21 of these had been let in small
allotments of one eighth of an acre each. the rent was generally 15 shillings
per piece but some were higher at 20 For this, the tenant had the land
fenced, drained and manured and the tithes paid. The land, within a mile of
the city, had been let at once to 172 tenants, and others were waiting.
Another 7 acres at Clehonger had been taken by the Society, rather unwisely
as it turned out, but had not yet been let. Other potential land had not been
obtained as there was reluctance by farmers to part with land for cultivation
by those who might buy their products.
The main committee believed their enterprise had brought great benefit
to the working-man and his family because it gave them an occupation when
times were hard and enabled them to grow food. the Society appealed to
landowners to let them rent more land so that ‘the moral welfare of the
working classes could be promoted’ and the poor rates kept down. There was
also a feeling that spade cultivation in itself was good for people and it was
recommended as part of the school curriculum.
One of the great reformers that John Venn had come to know through
the Clapham Sect was Lord Ashley, later 7"‘ Earl of Shaftesbury. John met him
frequently at the annual Church Missionary Society meetings in Exeter Hall
where the earl took the chair. Born a year before john Venn they were
contemporaries and shared their Evangelical ideals. the fight Ashley made for
the white factory slaves that resulted in no children being employed under 9
years old and the shortening of their working hours, was just one small part of
his social reforms. His strength of purpose was as strong as that of
Wilberforce and in 1833 the Society
for the Improvement of Factory Children was formed. This was the year that
john Venn came to Hereford. A majority of the clergy were in favour of
limiting working hours for children and saw it as an opportunity to give them
some education and save their ignorant souls. It was known as eternity work.
Shaftesbury’s fight in Parliament for the ten-hours bill followed, and as a
result factory hands found they no longer had to labour into the night and
that they finished earlier on a Saturday this also meant that men and women
saw more of their children and family life improved. He also fought for
the prohibition of employment of women and children in the coal mines,
and for a ban on chimney boys. He took homeless children from the
streets and gave them a training ship for seafaring: the Arethusa. He
campaigned for the repeal of the corn laws, against American slavery and
many other noble causes. Shaftesbury’s energy and compassion was for
the working classes.
It is perhaps no surprise, therefore that a pamphlet john Venn wrote
in 1844 entitled The State of the British Labourer in which he made
proposals for forming a British labourers’ Friendly company that would
facilitate the letting of small allotments of land to help the agricultural
poor, was addressed to the Earl of Shaftesbury. ‘The condition of our
agricultural poor is deplorably bad’ he wrote. ‘the rate of wages in
Herefordshire is about seven shillings a week, with a liberal allowance of
beer or cider. But many cannot obtain work.’ Shaftesbury was at that
time piloting a Bill though Parliament to facilitate the use of small
allotments and for the regulation
of loan societies. Both of these
provisions were to become part
of the strategy of Venn’s Society
for Aiding the Industrious in
Hereford.
At its meeting on 16 March
1844, the allotment sub-
committee under its chairman R.
Hereford and with ]0hn Venn
present, made several decisions.
One of the principles they stated
was that after the initial fencing,
draining and manuring the
tenants should continue their
own manuring. It was decided to
print a leaflet on ‘Hints’ which
would be given to each tenant.
Prize money was to be donated
by some of the committee and
local worthies and small cash
prizes for first, second and third
in a variety of categories were to
be given. More typically, ‘the Figure 25 title page from
The State of the British Labourer
land committee (or allotment sub-committee) met on Tuesday, June
25th, at ten o'clock in the Bye Street Office and then went to inspect the
allotments and adjudge the prizes.’ At this time land was rented out in
Friars Lane, Whitecross, Barton no.1 and Barton no.2 (two separate
fields), Hunderton, Bartonsham and Litley. In July it was reported that
some tenants were not cultivating their holdings properly, and it was
resolved to warn them that their tenancy would be terminated if they
did not meet the requirements. At the next sub-committee meeting it
was agreed that Richard Jones at Litley was to be told to quit. the
following year another Jones was found guilty of theft and asked to
leave.
In 1845 Edward Poole, a landed gentleman of Hornend at Stretton
Grandison and owner of ‘Bares Court, a small estate, offered the ‘Society
31 acres at Barr’s Court and associated farm buildings. the rent was £3
Figure 26 Middle Basin Hereford and Gloucester Canal. the rural aspect of the city
land through which the canal was cut is illustrated by the presence of a rick for
either bark or hay on the left. The Hereford and Gloucester Canal reached Hereford
in May 1845 after a protracted delay in the stretch from Ledbury due to lack of
funds. When the railway line and Barrs Court Station was opened in 1854 the use of
the canal declined. The Poole family continued to let land to the Society and the last
piece consisting of 8.14 acres in Plough Lane, Canon Moor was transferred to the
City Council as late as 1972. It is now a trading estate.
per acre, which was cheap as the usual rate was £5. In January of the
following year the secretary was requested ‘to take all necessary
measures for setting our a piece of land at Barr’s Court adjoining the
canal, in allotments.’ Fencing was good oak pale hurdles, and ‘quick’
hedging was also used. For the farm, seed was purchased: lucerne,
mangle wurzel and 2 acres of potatoes plus 5cwt. of guano from Peru for
manuring the crops, with another 48 tons of manure for the wheat crop.
Mr. Llanwarne was asked to act as farm manager. But by June the reason
for taking on the farm had gone. the intention had been to provide work
for unemployed labourers but instead there was a shortage of workers
for the farm, and it was thought desirable to give it up as soon as
possible. In August 1847 Mr. Llanwarne was asked to dispose of the
wheat crop and the hay-rick, and the land that was to be retained for
allotments was now divided up into pieces of one eighth of an acre by
Mr. Fosbrooke, the surveyor. The remaining allotment holders had
entered the awards and the first prize at Barr’s Court was awarded to
Thomas Lloyd and £1 2s. 6d. was donated by Edward Poole for the
purpose.
When the canal was excavated near the estate some of the top soil
was left in heaps of which two piles were offered to the Society. Some of
it was requested by James jay, a member of the committee, who
undertook to replace it with stable manure.
By the seventh annual meeting in 1848 the Society was letting out
52 acres of land to 352 tenants. Money prizes were awarded as usual;
10s. for first, 7s. 6d. for second and 5s. for third. these were handsome
awards. The committee recorded that they had heard that the system of
allotments was being widely and rapidly extended throughout the
kingdom; and that they had been informed that in many places the
experiment of increasing the size of the allotments, in some cases to a
considerable extent, had been tried with great success, they agreed that
early consideration would be given to doing the same if land could be
obtained, but this does not seem to have happened. (In 1887 the
Allotments Act required the local authority, then the sanitary authority,
to acquire land and provide allotments for the labouring population at a
reasonable rent. Only then did allotments become widely available.)
Slight complaints were received by the Society from the tenants over
the years, mainly concerning the state of the fencing. Just before the First
World War, in 1913, there was a serious complaint about the new
householders of the Hereford Co-operative Housing Estate known as the
Garden City. this new development in Barfs Court Road was next to the
allotments and the fences round the new homes were inadequate.
Complaints about trespass on the allotments were made and the matter
was referred to the Chief Constable.
At the same time Hereford Council decided to widen Coningsby and
Monkmoor Streets so that allotment holders there were given notice to
move out. the same thing happened in Friar Street, but the council
officers had pegged out the new road over the allotments before the
tenants were given notice to quit. they were, naturally, very angry. the
secretary of the Society at the time, Mr. William Garrold Lloyd, wrote to
the Hereford Times and the Hereford Journal about it so that all the
tenants knew what was happening, but he added that it was a pity the
allotments ‘inspired by the late Rev. John Venn that have existed for
nearly 70 years now have to be discontinued’.
Many of the early allotments in Hereford were created by the
Society. In i941, a hundred years after the formation of the Society, Mr.
Marchant, the then chairman, pointed out that there were still 140
allotments in use and well cultivated. the last allotments to be sold were
at Plough Lane in Whitecross, behind the Plough Inn, and now an
industrial estate, together with 8 acres at Canonmoor that were sold for
building land. Competitions were held for tenants and certificates
awarded as late as 1961.
One other of the Society’s initial schemes was a loan department.
Between £1 and £10 could be borrowed by anyone bringing a proper
recommendation and one good Security (probably an individual who
would cover any loss). ten pence in the pound was deducted for interest
before the loan was received and a compulsory loan-book Cost 3d. After
three weeks the money had to be repaid in instalments of 8d. per £1. In
the first eight months of the scheme 131 sums had been lent amounting
to £538. the loans were financed by sums of money lent by patrons who
received 3% interest. In 1848, 630 loans totalling £2,472 were made. today
loans continue to be made for helping education and small businesses.
There was also a provident bank that took deposits in the Society’s office
every day. these small sums could be withdrawn at any time, upon a
fortnights notice in summer and a week's notice in winter. During the first
year 3,057 sums had been deposited amounting to £159 4s. 2d. This fund was
an encouragement to save and to pay rents when they were due. The Savings
Bank in Packer’s Lane (East Street) did not deal in such small sums so this
provided a safe way of keeping money for a rainy day.
The Society did not make its own direct payments to ‘distressed persons’,
but did undertake to administer such payments on behalf of donors having
undertaken their own investigations into the need. there were 60 such potential
beneficiaries in the first year, but 40 had been sent away as ‘utterly undeserving’
with £24 4s. Sd. granted in relief to the others. The main committee considered
that this method of charity by application to the Society had checked the
amount of begging and benefited ‘the industrious and deserving’.
Figure 27 James Jay JP at the office (HRO). He was a remarkable figure as he stood
6 feet 3 inches in height and was as thin as a lamppost. A solicitor and known as
Lanky Jim, he was mayor of Hereford twice, in 1847-8 and 1862-3 and worked hard
for social improvement. He had a strong personality and was outspoken in public.
This sketch dates from the late 1840s when be was mayor at the time the steam
corn mill opened in 1848. In 1844 be served on the allotment sub-committee and in
1847 be was on the new mill sub-committee
Another early concern of the Society was the cost of coal. Until the
railways brought cheap coal from South Wales in 1854, the price prevailing in
Hereford was high in winter months. the Society therefore hired a large yard
at a rent of £8 a year that was capable of holding 500 tons. then, by
borrowing the capital, 395 tons were bought at summer prices and resold by
delivery to the door in the winter at the cost of lid. a hundredweight.
this was a reduction of 5d. on previous winter prices and over 4,727 separate
deliveries were made in the winter of 1841 / 2. the slight loss of £25 to the
Society was deemed worthwhile, and may also have brought down the
general price of coal in Hereford. The Poor were urged to pay a deposit in the
summer and before 1 November so that they could receive the benefit of a
further penny reduction and save themselves from a state of ‘miserable
anxiety’.
The number of tons of coal sold in the severe and protracted winter
of 1846 rose to 1,047, more than double that of the previous year. Much
of it was sold at 6d per
hundredweight.
All this charity had been efficiently
managed to the extent that the
office and coal yard had been set up
leaving a small balance of £8 in
hand. In former years £400 had
been expended on indiscriminate
relief, but now it was expected that
far more could be done for an
annual expenditure of £120.
Employment was a major concern of
the Society and it had been hoped
that by keeping a book of vacancies in
the office and registering those
looking for work the Society could
carry out the role of a labour exchange
but few employers made use of the
scheme. the Society did issue a plea
for wages to paid on Fridays or
Saturday mornings rather than on
Saturday evenings when pay would
often be dissipated in buying alcohol.
Figure 28 Notice of Annual Meeting,
18958, sent to the Society members by
the secretary, Thomas Day
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