I came across this slip of paper the other day dating from 1897
It is a receipt for the rent of pew no 26 in St Thomas Church Crookes Sheffield. It is for the period 1st April 1897 to 1st Ocober 1897. It is for the sum of one pound which equated to just over £130 GBP in today's money. The annual rent of the pew would be in today's terms £260 GBP, a sizeable sum.for the poor parshioners of Crookes parish. The only thing that is puzzling me is that I cannot make out the name of the person who is renting pew number 26
I was unaware of this practice but a search found that a John Charles Bennett. a PhD student at the University of Birmingham had actually done a thesis on the subject - The Anglican Practice of Pew Renting 1800 - 1960. There is an abstract from the thesis and a pdf. download for anyone who wishes to explore the subject further.
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