Thrale history

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Gardener, is at this present instant with child by me, I therefore for a satisfaction to ye Perrishoners att this Vestre and for ye affections that I bear for ye said Mary Gardener, Dew promise for to indemnifie ye said Perrishoners from all cost and damdiges that may or shall arise, from ye said Mary Gardener or ye child which shall or may be from her body.

            As Witness my Hand
                  Jeremiah Lattimore.

Signed in ye
Presence of
Benj. Preedy.
Ralph Thrale.

This statement was signed in 1749; a similar case is recorded a century earlier.¹⁵

The following year Mr. John Thrale of Hammond’s Farm was one of the overseers and had to deal with another case. A certain Mary Prentice was in trouble on account of a Sandridge bachelor called Stokes, and every month from May to September she was paid two or three shillings from the poor fund. But in September Mr. Thrale paid five and six for a warrant to arrest Stokes and then a week later the entry is made "pd. ye charges for taking Stokes and marrying him to Mary Prentice and my journey to Hempsted £5. 2. 6". So Mary being safely, and we hope happily, married, we hear no more of her in Sandridge.

There were, of course, other Marys in the village and the overseers allowed Mary Bigg one shilling with which to buy a spinning wheel. A frequent item in the accounts is "ye black woman 2/-." This lady was apparently a nurse and received one and six for nursing two children for one week. Then there was Black Mary, who was given sixpence to buy straws, probably in connection with the Straw hat industry in Luton. Ye blackwoman had a daughter but we cannot say whether this was Black Mary or not. There is no doubt, however, that there were at least two African women living in the village at this time.

In 1753 the shoemaker deserted his wife and left her a charge on the rates. Besides giving her regular relief the overseer bought for her “a flockbed and boulster and blanket” for six shillings. In June she fell ill, and the sad story ends thus:-

It is no exaggeration to say that the conditions under which the English village labourer lived during this period were horribly degrading. By the enclosure of lands working people had lost their rights In the soil and all power had passed into the hands of the wealthy few. Voting was on a property basis, which meant that the poor were not represented in Parliament. At the election which took place in 1754 only four Sandridge men had the vote. There were three candidates for the two Hertfordshire seats. Mr. Thomas George and Mr. John Thrale of Hammonds voted for Paggen Hale and Charles Gore, who were elected, but Ralph Thrale of Nomansland and Mr. William Packham voted for Edward Gardener. In 1774 Sandridge had ten voters who almost all voted for Plumer and Halsey, the successful candidates. Jonathan Parsons was the only Sandridge man who voted for Lord Grimston. In 1784 Sandridge had eight electors, in 1793 thirteen, and in 1802 and 1805 twelve. After the passage of the 1832 Reform Bill, the franchise, though still on a property basis, was extended, so that at the election in December twenty Sandridge men had the vote.

It has been noted that even hard working men found it difficult to settle In any parish but their

Footnotes

15. Record Of The Hertford County Sessions. Nine volumes edited by W. J. Hardy, F.S.A, and Colonel William Le Hardy, M.C., F.S.A. Vol.5, p.401.↩︎