We came across this piece in the Summer 2020 issue of the magazine ‘Who do you think you are?’. It is on page 46, in an article titled ‘The Lasting Value of Vouchers’. This magazine is free to read for members of Dorset County Libraries.

Milton Abbas Local History Group, does not have the actual vouchers, but all the entries that were once on the vouchers appear in the Overseers of the Poor Account Books and give the same information. All the account books which exist for Milton Abbas have been transcribed, and available to our members for research.

We also have in our library the ‘Diary of Thomas Turner’, who was a shopkeeper and Overseer of the Poor, and gives a great insight into rural village life. Especially interesting are the problems of being an Overseer – finding the local Justice of the Peace at home, attending the Petty Sessions, getting people in front of the justice, removing paupers to another parish, and so on. All unpaid and taking many days work a year.