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