86:. Her father was William Cowper and he did embroidery. Her mother's name is not recorded, but after her father died she remarried to a man called William Shell who was a capper. Her mother and her new stepfather also died. Her stepfather left her an inheritance at the age of twelve of £6 3s 4d. William Giblett was one of the executors and he was also a capper. She became his apprentice working for nine years until he too died. Giblett's executor was Gabriel Wood and in time both Cowper and Giblett's widow went to work for him. Making caps was a skilled profession that was protected by law. In 1571 under the reign of
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would distribute money. In 1619 she was identified by
Christopher Fawcett as burdensome on St Saviour's parish. She was a vagrant and the parishes wanted to avoid paying for anyone who was not a native of that parish. Cowper was given a detailed interview and biographies of her are largely based on
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a new law was passed requiring men to wear a thick knitted cap every Sunday with a penalty fine of 3s/4d for anyone who failed to comply. The caps so worn had to be made in
England as the purpose was to protect the trade. Cowper herself realised at this time that the capping business was in decline
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named
Goodwife Cleere and then as a servant for the Dutch Rossendale family until the recently widowed father decided to return to the continent. From when she was about fifty, she could only find irregular work as a
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those records. She was returned to St Olave's parish but they returned her until in July 1619 the two parishes decided to split the cost of keeping her as the case was too complex to resolve otherwise.
74:(born 1559) was an English servant and vagrant. She lived in London and her life was recorded in detail as neighboring parishes tried to avoid her being dependant on their charity.
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138:"Cowper [known as Shell], Agnes (b. c. 1559, d. after 1619), servant and vagrant"
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She had no skilled work so she took to unskilled work. She was twelve years with a
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but she stuck with it until the 1590s when she was about thirty and out of work.
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142:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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107:created a poor law in England where
171:Cap in the V & A (16th century)
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82:Cowper was born in the parish of
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192:"The 1601 Elizabethan Poor Law"
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136:Gowing, Laura (2012-05-24),
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144:, Oxford University Press,
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238:British people in knitting
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150:10.1093/ref:odnb/101324
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84:St Olave Silver Street
33:St Olave Silver Street
109:Overseer of the poor
105:Poor Relief Act 1601
243:People from London
52:Kingdom of England
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196:victorianweb.org
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96:costermonger
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68:Agnes Cowper
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20:Agnes Cowper
223:1559 births
88:Elizabeth I
72:Agnes Shell
48:Nationality
217:Categories
201:August 23,
177:August 23,
155:August 23,
116:References
58:Occupation
101:charwoman
233:Vagrancy
61:capper
203:2023
179:2023
157:2023
78:Life
70:aka
40:Died
29:1559
26:Born
146:doi
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