Visitations

This volume contains the returns from Bedfordshire parishes to interrogatories circulated to the parish clergy of the diocese of Lincoln by Bishops William Wake and Edmund Gibson on their triennial visitations. Wake was Bishop of Lincoln from 1705 to 1716 (in which year he became Archbishop of Canterbury), and Gibson succeeded him at Lincoln from 1716 to 1723.

Bishops of the established church were bound to follow the medieval practice and every three years go round their diocese to investigate the state of the parishes and clergy, so as to discover and correct any disorders. Between visitations, the archdeacons had the major role in investigating wrongdoing.

Some of the early evidence for the visitation system in Lincoln Diocese is described in The State of the Church, which mentions an episcopal visitation of the Bedford archdeaconry in 1571, and the volume contains also one or two extracts for Bedfordshire from the returns of the episcopal visitation of 1607. At Tempsford, Clement Hales and his wife did not attend church; and at Woburn Henry Bell, the parish clerk, churched a woman in William Astry’s house without leave of the incumbent. This is of particular interest, because by 1706 Woburn is the only Bedfordshire parish omitted from all visitation returns. Through the efforts of the Russell family, Woburn had successfully claimed to be exempt from the bishop’s jurisdiction.

The Toleration Act of 1689 gave the established church a new problem - how freedom of worship had affected the attendance at parish churches. The Compton return of 1676 gave the approximate number of dissenters, papists, and supporters of the established church in each parish in the province of Canterbury in that year, but a considerable time had passed since 1676. Bishop William Wake decided on a new style of episcopal visitation, and in 1706, 1709 and 1712 circulated a questionnaire to his clergy.

The questionnaire of 1706 asked about the patron and the living, and whether it was a rectory or a vicarage; how many families lived in the parish; the number of dissenters and meeting houses; the value of the living; if there were endowed schools or almshouses; the names of local gentry; and (curiously enough) whether there were any antiquities of note in church or parish.

Bishop Gibson’s Questions to his Clergy

Good Brother

The Practice of transmitting Queries to the Clergy, which was begun by my Pious and Learned Predecessor, is of such great and apparent Use, that I should think my self much wanting, not only to my self but to my successors, if I did not continue it; especially, having found the manifold Advantages of it, by my own Experience.

The particular Queries which I send you, are the same that you have usually receiv’d in order to the General Visitations; and I doubt not but you will return your particular Answers at the Time of my Visitation, with the same Exactness that you have hitherto done; particularly, upon those Heads, which relate to the Place of your ordinary Residence, and to the Times of performing Divine Service in the Church.

I must further intreat you, not to reckon your selves unconcern’d in the Presentments of your Churchwardens, but to urge them to a serious Perusal of the Articles of Enquiry; which I have drawn into as narrow a Compass as I could, in hopes that the fewer the Questions are, the more exact and particular their Answers will be. To this end, I beseech you, not only to press upon them the Obligation of their Oath, and to assist them in framing their Presentments; but also to point out to them the particular Persons and Things in your Church or Parish, which you observe to fall under the respective Articles, and which they in consequence are bound to Present.

I am aware, that the Work of Visitation hath been usually accompany’d with the Work of CONFIRMATION. But an ill State of Health which I have labour’d under for some Months past, hath made it hazardous if not impracticable for me to undertake both these together; especially, in this hot Season, to which the long Session of Parliament hath driven the Time of the Visitation. For these reasons, I have determin’d, not to Confirm in the Course of my Visitations, but to come again to you on purpose to perform that Work, when I shall have no other upon my Hands, nor any need of being attended by the Officers of my Court.

Bishop Wake’s Questions to his Clergy

1706

Reverend Brethren,

Having discharged what I was commanded to do, I take this opportunity to desire you when you come to the Visitation, to bring with you in writing the best account you can of your several parishes in the following particulars:

I What is the name of your Parish, and in what Deanery doth it ly?

II Who is the Patron of it? Is it a Rectory or Vicarage? Of what extent? How many familys are there reputed to be in it?

III What Dissenters have you from the Church of England? Of what kinds are they? Have they any Meeting-house within your parish?

IV Is your Living under £80 p. ann.? And what is the usual value of it?

V Is there any Lecture, School, Alms-house, or Hospital endowed within your Parish? And what is the Endowment of it?

VI Doth any Person of Quality or any Gentleman of Estate live, or hath any Seat or house within your Parish?

VII Are there any Monuments of Note in your Parish Church or Chappell?

Or what other Antiquities do you know of within your Parish?

The more fully and particularly you answer to these Querys, or any other Matters that may serve to give me a full knowledge of the state of my Diocese, the more you will oblige, My Reverend Brethren,

Your faithfull Friend and Brother,

W. Lincoln

1709

Good Brother:

Having reduced my last Visitation Articles, which did in effect contain a compleat Summary of the Establish’d Orders and Discipline of the Church of England, to such of them as I esteem most proper for my present Enquiry, I cannot but take this Opportunity to recommend it to you, to assist and excite your Churchwardens, to make such a full and impartial Return to them, and Presentment upon them, as both their Oath requires, and in Duty they ought to do.

Bishop Gibson’s Questions to his Clergy

GOOD BROTHER

Bugden, July 23, 1720.

THE time drawing on for the holding my Second Visitation, I transmit to you the Paper of QUERIES which hath been usually sent before, in order to receive the Answers of the Clergy at the time that I Visit. And I must repeat, on this occasion, one request which I made before; namely, That your Answers may be more especially distinct and particular, upon those Heads which relate to the Place of your ordinary Residence, and to the Times of performing Divine Service in the Church, as being Heads of greatest Importance, and which it more especially concerns me to be acquainted with.

As to the PRESENTMENTS of the Church-wardens; I earnestly intreat you, as I did before, that you will not think your selves unconcern’d in them, but that you will urge them to a serious Perusal, and Consideration, not only of the Articles of Enquiry upon which they are to ground their Presentments, but also of the Oath which they are to take, and of the CANONS of the Church for making them regularly and conscientiously, which I have printed at length for their direction therein: And further, that you will assist them in framing their Presentments, and point out to them (if need be) the particular Persons and Things in your Church and Parish, which you observe to fall under the respective Articles, and which they in consequence are bound to Present.

If any Presentments which were made in my last Visitation, have either not been prosecuted at all, or not in a due and effectual manner, I desire to be inform’d of it at the conclusion of this Paper; where you are invited to communicate to me, among other things, any Neglects or Abuses which you have observ’d in the Officers of the Ecclesiastical Court; to the end, I may make due enquiry into the Cause and Occasion of such Omission or Neglect.

The Promise which I made you, to come to you on purpose for the work of CONFIRMATION, hath been perform’d by me; I hope, very effectually. And, considering at how many Places I have held Confirmations, and what great Numbers have been Confirm’d; there can be no present need, any where, of a General Confirmation.

Introduction

Up to 1930 Vauxhall was as vulnerable to the influences within the town as the other new industries and, far from creating initiatives within the Luton economy, was often adversely affected by local pressures. Although Vauxhall had emerged from the First World War as one of the largest single Luton concerns, its size was insufficient to offset the problems which it faced within the local labour market, those of a shortage of skilled workers and high rates of pay. In addition its problems were compounded by the changing state of the national economy from one of boom to slump between 1919 and 1921, and its relative performance in the car market in the 1920s. Its posture was in essence a defensive one in this period.

By contrast after 1930 Vauxhall's growth and profitability gave it the strength to exert considerable influence on the competitive bidding for labour between Luton firms. In order to attract sufficient skilled labour, Vauxhall continually raised its level of pay so that in 1950 the local association of the Engineering Employers’ Federation complained that it was unable to counteract its influence.

Luton and Vauxhall to 1930

The period between 1916 and 1920 was a time of labour shortage due to the war and the post-war boom. Workers were able to make progress in organising themselves and as we have seen in Chapter 5, not only did unionism in Luton reach new peaks, but for the first time even female labour was unionised, though not that employed in the hat trade.

After the abolition of leaving certificates (which prevented employees moving from one firm to another) in 1917, there was considerable enticement between firms by bidding up wages in order to attract labour. Thus inter-firm competition for labour was intense. It was a time of worker offence and employer defence. During this period Vauxhall was continually forced to follow wage rises given by other companies to retain workers.

Attempts were made to control the bidding up of wages by inducing firms to join the local EEF association. In May 1919 Bedford and Luton associations had amalgamated to form a Bedfordshire association, the BEEA.

This had little short term influence due to the differing natures of the two towns. In October 1920 this was acknowledged by the fact that Bedford increased its piecework rates by 2½ per cent and Luton by 4 to 5 per cent.

The intention of this chapter is to show how the engineering industry superseded the hat trade as the staple industry of Luton and how, because of this, the momentum of growth begun by the hat trade increased. We shall consider how employment was affected and specifically draw attention to the transition in which a predominantly female workforce was replaced by a largely male one.

The rise of the ‘new industries’ and their cushioning effect on the population from the Great Depression will be seen to explain Luton's prosperous local economy from the mid-1930s. Within this general structure we shall examine the role and importance of the New Industries Committee and the extent of diversification in Luton's economy after the influx of new industries.

The growth of Luton to 1921: the hat economy

The growth of Luton's population between 1851 and 1951 was rapid. Luton's growth was always well above the national average, and in some decades surpassed it by over 30 per cent, as can be seen in Table 29 overleaf.

There are three periods of exceptional growth, and they all coincide with periods of increased industrial activity. The 1850s and 1860s saw the rise of the hat industry; the decade from 1901 to 1911 saw the establishment of many new industries in Luton; and the 1930s witnessed the expansion of these new industries, particularly that of Vauxhall. This growth was comparable to such towns as Middlesborough, Crewe and Barrow-in-Furness in the 19th century. Whilst the development of these three towns rested heavily on the railways, Luton's expansion rested on the growth of the hat industry in the latter half of the 19th century, and on the arrival of engineering concerns in the 20th century. Thus while the hat industry declined in the interwar years the population growth was not adversely affected, as the predominance of engineering, particularly that of vehicle building, attained supremacy. This change in Luton's industrial structure was to have profound effects, not only on the prosperity of the town but on the balance of the labour force.

The growth of the hat industry

The main stimulus to the growth of the hat industry had been the imposition of tariffs during the Napoleonic Wars, which severely restricted Italian imports and encouraged the home trade? Initially, the plait was mainly locally grown and made and Luton emerged as a manufacturing centre of the final product, predominantly women's bonnets.

The following terms are used in relation to conferences between the Engineering Employers’ Federation and trade unions

A Works Conference literally took place on the works premises and would usually involve the management, shop stewards, convenor and, on occasions, the union area full time official.

A Local Conference took place when the dispute could not be resolved at shopfloor level or factory level. This would involve BEEA officials and local union officials as well as the management and men of the firm involved. Evidence would be presented and usually recorded verbatim.

Central Conference was the final stage in the process when ‘a failure to agree’ had been recorded at the local conference. These meetings usually took place at York and to a lesser extent at London. National level officials of union and employers would conduct the proceedings and present evidence. The proceedings were recorded verbatim.