| Description | This sub-fonds relates to records of enrolment, registration, deposit and returns. It consists of records relating to claims for hemp and flax bounty, including:
- register of claims: copy Sessions Orders relating to claims and their allowance, tabulated lists of claims with name and abode of claimant, quantity of flax grown (and from 1795 place where grown) and bounty claimed [1783-1796]
- original claims for bounties: gives name and abode of claimant, quantity of flax and where grown and includes papers relating to the sale of flax. Claims are attested as required by the Act [1782-1797]
- bonds with the Clerk of the Peace against false claims to the bounty: gives name, abode, style of claimant, and sureties and quantity of flax grown [1783-1796]
- schedule of claims [1783-1795]
- letters and papers relating to the submissions of claims by Quarter Sessions to the central government, and payment of the bounty money with statement of claims [1782-1796]
- a copy of the Act of 1781 and "Abstract of an Act of Parliament for the encouragement of the growth of hemp and flax in England" 1782 (printed in York) [1781-1782] |
| Administrative history | To encourage the growth of hemp and flax in England, the Acts of 1781 (21 George III cap. 58) and 1786 (26 George III cap. 43) provided that a bounty not exceeding a total of £15,000 per annum was to be paid. Claims were to be attested and countersigned by a Justice and two parish officers before being sent to Quarter Sessions. A claimant before receiving a bounty was to enter into a bond with the Clerk of the Peace that he was really entitled to it. The Justices were to advertise the bounties in the local newspapers and claims were to be published at Midsummer Sessions. A statement of claims was to be made up by the Justices and sent to the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations who would settle the claims. |