City parishes often attracted people who were born some distance away, and parish overseers were keen to get rid of anyone who might be a drain on parish funds if they had not gained settlement.
In August 1792, 98-year-old Andrew Polin, who lived in the parish of St Mary Abbot, Kensington, appeared before the Middlesex justices of the peace. He said that he had been born in Kingston upon Hull in the county of York. About 58 years previously, he had married his first wife, Martha Williams, a spinster, at the parish church of St George Southwark, Surrey. They had one child now living, Ann, aged about 45. He had married his present wife, Ann, then Ann James, a spinster, at the parish church of St Mary Over, Surrey, about…
