The Knitter - UK (2019-11)

THE ‘CENSUS of the

poor’ made in Norwich

in 1570 is a very

interesting document

that gives us a glimpse

of the lives of poor

knitters in the city.

The document is unique to England,

and covers around a quarter of the native

English-born population of Norwich.

The problem of supporting and

controlling the poor concerned both

the local and national authorities in

Elizabethan England. Relief for the

poor occurred in many places before the

Elizabethan Poor Law was enacted in

1597/8. A few places produced a survey

of their poor, listing who they were,

and often providing other details about

them, and this is by far the largest of

those that have survived.

Norwich was the second city in

England in this period, with a population

of 12,000–15,000. The census was drawn

up prior to a reorganisation of the city’s

poor relief scheme. It was based on

the household, and contains a lot of

informative details about the people

in more than 800 individual households.

Ages and occupations are given for most

adults and children.

The census reveals that adults and

children were earning a living from

knitting in Norwich at this point in time.

Sixty-one adult women were knitters,

as were 75 children under 21, which is

around 7% of both the total poor women

and the total poor children listed in the

census. Adult knitters could be all ages

and all marital statuses, though 50% are

in the age bracket 25 to 44 years. Over

half the child knitters were aged between

eight and 12. Quite a number of both

adults and children had a second

occupation as well – the majority of these

spun yarn for the textiles for which

Norwich was noted. A few adults also

washed or ‘helped others’, four children

from one family also wove, and one child

aged 12 knitted and went to school.

Despite being listed as poor, virtually

all those listed in the census were still

expected to earn their living, although

they were sometimes given a little

support with alms. The only exception

to this amongst the knitters was

80-year-old Cycley Reves. She was

described as blind and unable to work.

Age and blindness did not necessarily

excuse a knitter: Margaret Hessell, who

was also 80, and described as blind and

weak, was still considered capable of

earning some of her living by knitting,

though she did get two (old) pence a

week in alms [there were 12 pence in one

shilling, and 20 shillings in a pound].

There are three main descriptions of

poverty – ‘indeferent’, poor and very

poor. However, belonging to one

category did not guarantee alms. Sycely

Clare lived in St Stephen’s parish: she was

a widow aged 60 who was described as

‘poor’ and received sixpence in alms.

However, Gilion Tivet and Elizabeth

Halle were widows of the same age, but

though both were noted as ‘very poor’,

neither received any alms.

William Stevenson’s child aged 14

and John Bonde’s aged 20 are both noted

as earning the bulk of the household

income, and both knitted ‘great hose’.

These were stockings, which would be

put over other hose to protect them when

out and about. (The terms hose and

stockings were interchangeable in this

period.) Sometimes the enumerator

mentions what other knitters were

making. It was usually stockings, but

two knitters made caps. Agnes Idler was

one of these cap knitters, and she had

been abandoned by her husband. He had

left her two years earlier and provided no

support. Her four children all knitted as

well, but we are not told what they made:

their ages ranged from two to 17.

Sometimes trades that one would not

associate with the poor appear in the

census. Thirty-eight-year-old Alyce

Ysborne knitted and ‘helped others’, but

her husband is described as a goldsmith.

The enumerator states the four children

are idle – the eldest was nine: one

wonders if he thought at least the eldest

should be working at something. They

did own their own house, as did a few

others in the census.

Most of the heads of the knitters’

households had lived in Norwich for

a long time –‘have dwelt here ever’ is a

common phrase. Some were more recent

immigrants, such as Rose King who was

a widow and had dwelt in the city for six

years, coming from Yarmouth. Her four

children of 12, 10, eight and five years,

are described as weaving and knitting

The life of a

medieval knitter

Historian Lesley O’Connell Edwards explores the personal

circumstances of poor knitters in Norwich in 1570

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Details of poor

people living

in parishes such

as St Peter

Mancroft were

recorded

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