P for pauper?

[Top-of-the-hill]

  I am looking at a burial register for 1791 and am finding entries marked with capital "P" and lower case "pauper". Do they mean something different?

[Bookbox]

Looking at more pages of the register, there does seem to be a distinction made between P and pauper. So it might be P for Pensioner - someone receiving a regular parish pension, paid for by an endowment or charitable fund, as distinct from a pauper in receipt of casual poor relief.

[cockney rebel]

I thought first "Private" but I#ve only seen that at Baptisms..
Rebel

[Milliepede]

My first thought was Private but Pensioner would make sense.  It’s a longer word to write out in full. 

[Top-of-the-hill]

  Thanks for your thoughts on this. Perhaps Pensioner is the answer.

[Spelk]

Maybe it is down to whether the vicar or curate was making the entry.

[cockney rebel]

From Ancestry_
"Genealogical Clue: Finding a 'P' or 'p' next to a burial entry often indicates that the individual was buried at the expense of the parish (i.e., a parish pauper funeral)"

Could be correct, I guess, but with Ancestry just you never know...!

Rebel

[hanes teulu]

Maybe it is down to whether the vicar or curate was making the entry.

Looking at the register, the use of "P" or "Pauper" (a couple of entries enjoy both "P" and "Pauper") appears to apply to the Curacies of Montague Davis and Thomas Edwards.

The earliest use of "P" is 16 Nov 1783 (Montague's name appears at foot of following sheet) and the latest for Thomas Edwards 27 Jan 1794. There is one entry later than this but difficult to identify whose curacy (it hasn't been an exact science).

There are instances of burials that must have fallen to the Parish to pay but are not marked to indicate so. Or is payment by parish implied eg "A vagrant name unknown, 7 Jul 1788". Of course, the vagrant could have had a bob or two on them or something of value?

[osprey]

Could this be to do with the Stamp Duty that was imposed on entries in parish registers between 1783 & 1794? Entries for paupers were exempt, but may have been noted as paupers so no payment required.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamp_Duties_Act_1783