Tony,
Hope you are well.
The topic is dealt with in some detail in a Chapter on "The
Brief-Bearers" in the "Old Book of Wye" by G.E. Hubbard, 1951, albeit
largely for the first half of the 17thC but also in Kent. He writes that
"the trickle of entries [for vagrants of several sorts] grew into a
flood after the 1650s". He also says that were issued by magistrates and
entitled the travellers to claim food or money from the churchwardens of
parishes along the way. Hubbard grouped the Wye entries under six
headings 1. Plain vagabonds 2. Soldiers back from the wars 3.
Shipwrecked sailors 4. Released "slaves of the Turks" 5. Victims of fire
or other natural disasters 6. Roaming ministers of religion, and he
discusses each category.
Ernie
On 12/09/2015 20:24, Tony Singleton wrote:
> In several parishes in my area of the Weald of Kent, I have discovered
> payments by churchwardens to large numbers of travellers or
> "passengers" in the period 1675-1725, with a peak around 1688-90.
> Some are soldiers and sailors, some dutchmen, who have obviously been
> displaced by conflict and are making their way to or from a Kent port
> or to London to get back home. Many are civilians who have lost their
> possessions by fire, flood, or shipwreck, and are seeking relatives,
> some from as far away as Ireland? All are travelling "with a pass" or
> a "certificate", and I would like to know more about these documents
> and who issued them. Some references suggest that they were only
> valid for a limited time.
>
> Tony Singleton
>
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