This article appeared in the Norfolk Chronicle and Norwich Gazette two hundred years ago this month.
“CITY & COUNTY OF NORWICH. NOVEMBER, 1826.
WHEREAS, the under-named Persons having Absconded, and left their Wives or Families a Charge upon the several Parishes under-mentioned, the Guardians of the Poor of the said City and County, hereby offer a Reward of FORTY SHILLINGS, together with all reasonable Expences, to such Person or Persons as may Apprehend the Men so Absconded, or any of them, or cause them, or any of them to be Apprehended and Lodged in any of his Majesty’s Goals, upon due notice being given to Mr. JOHN SWIFT, No. 40, Pottergate-street, Norwich, Beadle to the said Corporation of Guardians.
ST. MARTIN AT OAK.
EDWARD WATERING, five feet nine inches high, Hawker and Pedlar.
PAUL SALTER, Shoemaker, five feet four inches high.
ROBERT VICKERS, Labourer, five feet eight inches high, one eye (wife and two children).
WILLIAM HARDYMAN, Weaver, supposed to be at Kidderminster, (wife and three children).
ST. ANDREW.
WILLIAM DENT, five feet nine inches high, stout made, dark hair, light eyes, scar on his lip.
WILLIAM FRANCIS, Tailor, at work in London, five feet four inches high, and light complexion.
ST. PETER PER MOUNTERGATE.
JOHN SCARLES, a Linen Weaver, aged 44, five feet two inches high, grey eyes, was 19 years ago in the West Middlesex Militia.
JOHN SMITH, Shoemaker, Absconded seven years ago, aged 31, five feet five or six inches high, light hair and dark eyes, marked with the small pox, and did belong to Chatham Division of Marines.
ST. JOHN SEPULCHRE.
JOHN FUTTER, Carpenter, between 50 and 60 years of age, five feet four inches high, and is at work in London.
ST. JULIAN.
JOHN DACK, Dyer, five feet seven inches high, dark complexion, rough features.
ST. PAUL.
WILLIAM KING, Weaver, five feet four or five inches high, light complexion, and slender make.
ST. SAVIOUR.
SAMUEL NICHOLSON, Tailor, five feet eight inches high, thin made, supposed to be in London.
ST. AUGUSTINE.
GOLDING TURNER alias MURRELL, five feet six inches high, dark eyes, light complexion, thin made, a Greenwich Pensioner at 10l. per ann.
JAMES POTTER, an Ordnance Pensioner at 6d. per diem, supposed to be at Canterbury.
ST. JAMES.
ISAAC GOUT, aged 28, Tinman and Weaver, five feet four inches high, light eyes, and pitted with the small pox.
JAMES MELVINT, turner, five feet seven inches high, light complexion. (bottoms chairs) aged 36, and living in the neighbourhood of London.
CHARLES CROWE, late a Soldier in the 43d Regiment of Foot, and now an Out-Pensioner of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea.
ST. PETER OF MANCROFT.
JOHN KELF, five feet four inches high, blue eyes, light hair, aged 26, and Bombazine Weaver.
This notice in the newspaper offered forty shillings, or £2, for the apprehension of men accused of leaving their wives or families dependent on Norwich’s parishes. Reasonable expenses would be paid as well, provided the men were apprehended and lodged in one of His Majesty’s gaols, with notice given to John Swift, the Guardians’ Beadle, at 40 Pottergate Street. It’s a rather different sort of local newspaper announcement from someone trying to sell a wardrobe.
The descriptions provide little glimpses of the men being sought, including their occupations, heights, appearance and former military service. Indeed, the heights of those involved are a reminder of the average male height in the early nineteenth century which estimates suggest was around 5’6″. There were weavers, shoemakers, a carpenter, a dyer and a hawker, alongside men receiving military or naval pensions. John Dack had “rough features”, which seems a somewhat dispiriting description to have preserved for two centuries, whilst Robert Vickers was identified as having one eye. Other entries record the marks left by smallpox, details that might have helped someone recognise a man in the street long before photographs could accompany such a notice.
William Hardyman was supposedly in Kidderminster, James Potter was believed to be in Canterbury and several others were working or living in London. John Smith had apparently been absent for seven years, suggesting that the Guardians were prepared to pursue men over their families’ support for quite some time. James Melvint was described as a turner who “bottoms chairs”, perhaps an unusually specific detail.
There are considerably fewer details about the people left behind, with wives and children generally unnamed and only occasionally counted. We don’t hear their accounts, nor those of the men themselves, so the notice cannot explain every separation or establish what had happened within each household to cause this separation. Some men were apparently working elsewhere, but that alone doesn’t tell us whether they had sent money home, lost contact or deliberately abandoned their families. What survives is the Guardians’ public attempt to find them.
I regularly walk along Pottergate without thinking about John Swift receiving information about missing husbands, although I suspect I’ll remember him next time. I’m not sure that the Eastern Daily Press publishes articles like this today….