I think it was to do with the Poor Law - a parish would only pay relief to people who came from there - their "legal place of settlement". There is a good description of this in "Rural Life in Wessex" by J H Bettey ISBN 0-86299-425-X. He suggests that the "settlement examinations" provide "a wealth of detail about the lives of just that sort of person who does not normally figure in any other official document". Does anyone know how you can get to look at these? Philip Wills ----- Original Message ----- From: Eileen White <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 12:49 PM Subject: [WSX] NP > Hi Listers, > What did it mean, in the early 1800's, when a person stated that a particular place was their Native Place? My ancestor was baptised at Heytesbury but claimed his NP was Tisbury. > Cheers > Eileen > > > ==== WESSEX-PLUS Mailing List ==== > To find a UK mailing lists - try John Fuller's page at: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~jfuller/gen_mail_country-unk.html > John also includes some useful non-Rootsweb Lists eg Moonrakers etc > >
Thanks for the suggestions re NP and also for the book suggestion. It sounds interesting and I will see if I can track down a copy via a library here in Oz. Regards Eileen ----- Original Message ----- From: Philip Wills To: Eileen White ; [email protected] Sent: Friday, February 21, 2003 2:56 AM Subject: Re: [WSX] NP I think it was to do with the Poor Law - a parish would only pay relief to people who came from there - their "legal place of settlement". There is a good description of this in "Rural Life in Wessex" by J H Bettey ISBN 0-86299-425-X. He suggests that the "settlement examinations" provide "a wealth of detail about the lives of just that sort of person who does not normally figure in any other official document". Does anyone know how you can get to look at these? Philip Wills ----- Original Message ----- From: Eileen White <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 12:49 PM Subject: [WSX] NP > Hi Listers, > What did it mean, in the early 1800's, when a person stated that a particular place was their Native Place? My ancestor was baptised at Heytesbury but claimed his NP was Tisbury. > Cheers > Eileen > > > ==== WESSEX-PLUS Mailing List ==== > To find a UK mailing lists - try John Fuller's page at: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~jfuller/gen_mail_country-unk.html > John also includes some useful non-Rootsweb Lists eg Moonrakers etc > >