Voices in the Crowd: The Kirkby Lonsdale Township Letters, 1809–36

Mr Stephen Garner I Disier you be so good as to Reed Thoas few lines over be for the gentlemen at the meeting First gentlemen Betty Teabay Disiers you give a Tension To what I going to say I Never was so Ragged Since I A Pension Came I have Not A Clogg to my foot nor A Pettcoat to Put on Nor A Hancorcher to Put on my Neck Nor No Stockins to my legs Nor no Singlets to my Back & for Stase I never had Non this maney years And you Send to me A Bedgoun Which I Never had Send be Fore you Send me a Shiff that was no change What Did you think I must change into while it was washed And I Disier you Send me a gown with those things For I shall be Starved to Deth in this thing Bedgown This Winter And by Doing you much oblidge your obedant Servant Betty Teabay1 Innocent of punctuation and idiosyncratic in spelling and capitalisation, this brief letter of 3 September 1809 was written to the poor law authorities of Kirkby Lonsdale by a non-resident pauper. Others like her also wrote home — from Lancaster, Preston, Blackburn, Wigan, Bradford, London, Glasgow and Wales, from 94 identifiable addresses and 22 unidentifiable ones (including Betty Teabay’s). It is, by any standard, a valuable record for the social historian exploring the human impact of early industrialism.2