Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: From 1662 to 1712 new laws changed the relationship of the poor to their places of habitation by formalizing criteria – regarding property, employment, and kinship – without which ‘settlement’ could not be gained, and a migrant could be removed. In the 1700s, concepts of ‘settlement’ became a part of the national culture. The article examines an important if unintended consequence of the piecemeal legislation: the creation of a large body of administrative forms, familiar to all who visit the local archives, which had an impact on a great number of people. The article’s first section introduces the history of the printed form in England and identifies the London printers who marketed the settlement forms, particularly John Coles, who was prominent c.1730–1770. The second section illustrates the use of the forms in the North-West and the South-East of England, including the continued use of script in administrative record-keeping, and the symbiotic relationships between print and script – which further places in context the enterprises of the London entrepreneurs. The final section shows how the printed form emerged triumphant, as form production had not only devolved to the provinces, where it became a central aspect of local government, but had been internalized by the legislature in its relationship to the poor. This article thus uncovers aspects of the government of the poor, state formation, material culture, and print culture in England c.1690–1780. Its theoretical implications concern the relationships between print, script, and the state, which preoccupy an array of disciplines. The arguments emphasise the role of both the law and the market in shaping the evolving eighteenth-century state, and the importance of considering not only the implementation of state power from above, but initiatives from below, in response to the law.
Source: Past & Present
DOI: 10.1093/pastj/gtx029
Author: Naomi Tadmor
Institution: Lancaster University
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2739947514