“They do also present that the soil of divers moors, commons and wastes, lying for the most part about the same forest of Dartmoor and usually called by the name of the Common of Devonshire, is parcel of the Duchy of Cornwall, and that the foresters and other officers of his majesty and his progenitors Kings and Queens of England have always accustomed to drive the said commons, moors and wastes of other men (lying in like manner about the said forest) home to the corn hedges and leap yeates round about the same Common and forest, some few places only exempted, and that the said foresters and officers have taken and gathered to his majesty’s use at the times of drift within the same commons such profits and other duties as they have and ought to do within the said forest; how be it they intend not hereby to prejudice the particular rights which any persons do claim for themselves or their tenants in any commons or several grounds in or adjoining to the said common or forest, but do leave the same to judgment of the law and to the justness of their titles which they make to the same.
“More they do present that all the King’s tenants which are Venvill have accustomed and used to have and take time out of mind in and upon the forest of Dartmoor all things that may do them good, saving vert (which they take to be green oak) and venson, paying for the same their Venvill rents and other dues as hath been time out of mind accustomed, and doing their suits and service to his majesty’s courts of the manor and forest of Dartmoor aforesaid, and also excepting night rest, for the which every one of them have of long time out of mind -yearly paid or ought to pay 3 d., commonly called a grasewait, and also to have and take tyme out of mind common of pasture for all manner of beasts, sheep, cattle in and upon all the moors, wastes, and commons usually called the Common of Devonshire, and also turves, vagges, heath, stone, coal and other things according to their customs, paying nothing for the same but the rents, dues and services aforesaid, nevertheless their meaning is that the Venvill men ought not to turn or put into the said forest or common at any time or times any more or other beasts and cattle than they can or may usually winter in and upon their tenements and grounds lying within in Venvill.”
It is not always easy to determine precisely those parishes that were described as being in Venville; such parishes were said to be
GROUP 11—SOCIETY oath, to return, forthwith, the next straight way, to - the place where he was born, or where he last dwelt the space of three years, and there put himself to labour, like as a true man oughteth to do.” If he was caught a second time begging while able to work, he must have a hole bored through the gristle of his right ear— the instruction in a later renewal of the statute being that the instrument must be a hot iron, and the size of the mutilation “ the compass of an inch about.” For a third defence he could be put to death, “ as a felon and enemy of the commonwealth.” Under the same statute “ all idle children ” over five years of age could be “ appointed to masters of industry, or other craft or labour, to be taught.” When Slavery was a Punishment for the Saucy Child
These laws were made more stringent in the reign of Edward VI., the vagrant, for a first offence, being branded with the letter V ; for the second offence with the letter S (slave) ; and the third penalty was death. Anyone could take away the child of a “ loiterer and idle wanderer,” and bring it up till twenty, if a female child, and till twenty-four if a male, and appropriate the produce of its labours ; and if it should at any time resent chastisement by its master, the penalty was that it should remain a slave for life. This statute, be it said, for the relief of that age from some measure of odium, only remained in force two years, but it shows the governing spirit of the period. The punitive laws, with forced apprenticeship, and fixed wages for which every man must work when work was demanded of him, of course, proved ineffective, and presently—in the reign of Henry VIII.— arrangements were made for voluntary alms to be contributed for relief of the poor, after persuasion, on Sundays and holidays ; but, this being a failure, collections for “ the poor in very deed ” were made compulsory in the reign of Elizabeth, with possible imprisonment for non-compliance. A Poor Law that Remained in Force fos; Twenty-Three Decades Later, shortly before the death of the great queen, the Poor Law, as it has been known ever since, was in essence established —that is to say, in each parish all the inhabitants were taxed compulsorily, overseers of the poor were appointed,. and arrangements for collecting and distributing the funds were made. Work was to be provided for those who could work, and relief was to be given to those who could not work. Poor children were to be trained to some handicraft, and the idle were threatened with punishment. The difficulty, of course, was in finding work when workmen could not find it for themselves—and that difficulty was never overcome. The Elizabethan law remained in force, with modifications, till 1834, but became less and less fitted to deal with the needs of the country as industrial conditions changed, until during fifty years preceding the Poor Law of 1834 it became gradually swamped by gross abuses. Early in the eighteenth century (1723) the distribution of the funds gathered under the overseers’ levy had become so unsound that indoor relief had to be insisted on as a safeguard, and the applicants were “ offered the House ” as a test of the reality of their poverty. The parish apprenticeship system became a scandal, and a law was passed for the protection of apprentices. But the full inadequacy of the scheme was not revealed until, towards the end of the eighteenth century, three great disturbing influences came simultaneously into operation. The Changed Economic Conditions that Overthrew the Elizabethan Poor Law These were, first, the Enclosure Acts, which dispossessed the rural labourers of their common rights and made them wholly dependent on their daily wage. The law that there should be four acres of land to every cottage was repealed. The change of the land into pasturage reduced the number of labourers needed, and' such as were left largely lost their share in the land through the Enclosure Acts. Between 1710 and 1760 only about three hundred thousand acres were enclosed from the commons, but between 1760 and 1843 nearly seven million acres were enclosed. Simultaneously with this restriction of rural labour a second great change in urban employment and village industries was going, on through the invention of machinery and the use of steam. Hand labour of all kinds was superseded, and could not be absorbed by the new forms of manufacture, nor could it readily adapt itself to any of the requirements of the period. At the same time such labour as had a chance in the industrial Or agricultural market could not defend itself by combination, for all united action on the part of workmen was forbidden as conspiracy by \he law. This throwing- out of workmen, by shrinkage and change in employment, was accompanied, too, by a great rise in the 3767
The 38-year-old mother said she had found a doctor in Holland who was willing to prescribe cannabis oil and hence they shifted there in September 2017.
"Nothing short of a miracle," Deacon said as the medication brought the boy's seizures down to about one a month.
Deacon, a hairdresser, said as they were running out of money, they had to shift back to Britain . However, after shifting, the medication could not be continued as the drug is illegal in the country.
Deacon said: "We have proved this treatment is successful for him. This is a child's life and health. We need this treatment desperately."
Baroness Meacher, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Drugs Reform , told the Daily Mail: "It is scandalous that a six-year-old boy is prevented from having the medicine that can transform his life."
However, the Home Office on Saturday night (17 February) said it would not issue a licence for the personal consumption of a "Schedule 1 drug" such as cannabis.
Deacon has now created a Facebook page called as "Alfie's Hope" to help support her son's medication.
Requests for a medical cannabis licence to help a boy whose rare form of epilepsy improved after taking the drug have been denied by the Home Office.
Six-year-old Alfie Dingley, from Kenilworth in Warwickshire, suffers up to 30 violent seizures a day.
His parents want to treat him with medical cannabis oil, which is illegal in the UK.
The Home Office said the drug "cannot be practically prescribed, administered or supplied to the public".
A spokesperson added that it can only be used for research.
Alfie's mother, Hannah Deacon, said "you've got to fight for your kids, I want to know that I've done everything I can".
Members of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on drug policy reform is calling on the government to assist with Alfie's plight.
Image copyrightMAGGIE DEACON/PA WIREImage captionMs Deacon said Alfie's cannabis dose was "very small", just three drops of the oil
Ms Deacon said Alfie went to the Netherlands to take a cannabis-based medication in September.
She said that while there, the medication, prescribed by a paediatric neurologist, saw his seizures reduce in number, duration and severity.
At one point while in the UK, Alfie had 3,000 seizures and 48 hospital visits in a year, but while abroad he went 24 days without a single attack.
"It's very rare and very aggressive, there's only nine boys in the world with Alfie's condition," Ms Deacon said.
"We never imagined how well it would work. He's just a six-year-old boy, he deserves a happy life. We've found something that makes him happy and now we've got to take that away."
Ms Deacon said his cannabis dose was "very small" and he was taking three drops of the oil, which is made using whole plant cannabis.
Image copyrightMAGGIE DEACON/PA WIREImage captionAt one point, Alfie had 3,000 seizures and 48 hospital visits in a year
Alfie's mother said the steroids he currently takes in hospital could eventually cause his organs to fail if he keeps taking them at the rate he is.
"He doesn't know any different, he's had a very traumatic life. He's held down and injected," she said.
With the Dutch cannabis medication, it is estimated Alfie would have about 20 seizures a year.
He stayed with his parents in a holiday camp in the Netherlands to receive the treatment, but without medical insurance in the country they had to return home in January.
The APPG wants Home Secretary Amber Rudd to issue a licence for him to continue taking the medication.
Group co-chair, Conservative MP Crispin Blunt said: "It would be heartless and cruel not to allow Alfie to access the medication.
"Parliament really must look at reforming our laws to allow access to cannabis for medical purposes, which has huge public support."
Image copyrightEPAImage captionMPs have called for Home Secretary Amber Rudd to issue a medical cannabis licence
The Home Office said it recognised that people with chronic pain and debilitating illnesses are "looking to alleviate their symptoms".
A spokesperson added: "However, it is important that medicines are thoroughly tested to ensure they meet rigorous standards before being placed on the market, so that doctors and patients are assured of their efficacy, quality and safety.
"Cannabis is listed as a Schedule 1 drug, as in its raw form it is not recognised in the UK as having any medicinal benefit and is therefore subject to strict control restrictions.
"This means it cannot be practically prescribed, administered, or supplied to the public in the UK, and can only be used for research under a Home Office licence.
"The Home Office would not issue a licence to enable the personal consumption of a Schedule 1 drug."
The man has been getting medication from the same pharmacy in Basingstoke every month for 14 years and said he had "seen the pattern of them being overwhelmed".
Image captionThe patient said he went through a "horrendous" experience after Boots gave him the wrong medication
The person who gave him the wrong medication was "looking a bit frazzled", he said, and he "chalked it up to them being really stressed".
"It is shocking that this happened to me, and what I went through was horrendous," said the patient.
"Had that been someone else who took different medication to me, they could have died as a result."
What happened to the patient?
14 December - The patient was given the wrong medication - amlodipine instead of amitriptyline - at a Boots pharmacy in Basingstoke, Hampshire.
17 December - He took two pills at bedtime but had a "nagging doubt" so googled the name, realised it was a completely different medication, then called 111 and was told he was on the "borderline beginning of toxicity".
18 December - He "felt like someone was standing on my chest and I was having to take big deep breaths every few minutes throughout the entire night and following day as the medicine was making me feel like I couldn't catch my breath". By the afternoon he was feeling the same symptoms "with an added massive headache that had hit me when I woke up after a brief hour or so of sleep".
19 December - His "nasty, thumping, unbearable headache" lasted until the afternoon and he "couldn't sleep hardly at all" during that time, "had absolutely no appetite and felt a constant nausea".
20 December - He still had a "fuzzy muddled head" feeling, a constant pain in his right calf and a shortness of breath that caused him to periodically take "big deep sighing breaths to cope".
This type of a mistake is known as a "dispensing error".
Three people died between May 2012 and November 2013 following dispensing errors at Boots pharmacies - Douglas Lamond, 86, who died in May 2012, Arlene Devereaux, who died on her 71st birthday in November 2012, and Margaret Forrest, 86, who died in November 2013.
Inquests and a fatal accident inquiry were held into the deaths, and understaffing was not found to have contributed to any of them.
Image copyrightFAMILY PHOTOSImage captionDouglas Lamond, Arlene Devereux and Margaret Forrest died following dispensing errors at Boots pharmacies
The Basingstoke patient said: "From what I saw that day, when I was given the wrong medication, there clearly is a staffing issue.
"I noticed how the place was slammed with people waiting for their medication as does happen quite often.
"I noticed that as usual the queue went slowly because it seemed like the dispensing assistants at the counters were all mega busy."
How dangerous is amlodipine?
Dr Rupert Payne from Bristol Medical School said it is "very difficult to know" whether the drug could have been fatal if the patient had carried on taking it, as patients can "vary considerably in the side effects they get with drugs".
"Virtually any drug is potentially fatal in overdose," he said.
Dr Payne said 10mg of amlodipine would be a "fairly standard dose". The patient took two 10mg pills, and the sticker on the packet advised him to take up to three.
"If it was two 10mg tablets he had, that would be more than the recommended dose and would be more likely to cause side effects," said Dr Payne.
"Common side effects in the short term could include sleeping difficulties, dizziness, headache, flushing and racing heart."
Richard Bradley, pharmacy director for Boots UK, said: "Boots takes patient safety very seriously and I was sorry to hear about [the patient's] experience.
"I can assure you that this incident was reported to the Superintendent Pharmacist's Office when it was highlighted to the pharmacy team in Basingstoke and a local investigation has been undertaken.
"Pharmacies are generally busier in the run up to Christmas as patients want to make sure they have their medicines, but this particular pharmacy was fully staffed.
"We have been in touch with [the patient] directly to apologise and discuss his concerns; we have learned from his experience to put further measures in place in the pharmacy to help prevent this type of mistake happening in the future."
Sodium valproate, also known as Epilim, can be prescribed by doctors as a treatment for epilepsy and bipolar disorder.
It carries a risk of causing physical abnormalities, autism, low IQ and learning disabilities if babies are exposed to the drug while in the womb.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the drug is "kept under constant review", while the Department of Health said it expects the MHRA to take further action if a review finds more can be done to highlight the risks associated with it.
Image captionSue Jenkinson took sodium valproate while she was pregnant with her two daughters
Sue Jenkinson, from Liverpool, took the drug while she was pregnant and both of her two daughters developed foetal valproate syndrome.
They have since had their own children and they believe they are showing signs of the condition, despite neither taking valproate during their own pregnancies.
"It's because I took that medication, that's why my kids haven't got a normal life and they struggle every single day of their lives," Ms Jenkinson said.
Her grandson Ryan has medical problems including dyspraxia, learning difficulties and a bowel condition, and is being monitored by Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology Gus Baker.
Prof Baker said he is currently identifying Ryan's "strengths and weaknesses" and "trying to map them on to what we understand about sodium valproate and how it affects children".
"I'll probably be in a good position to provide a formulation of what I think has happened to him and what we might be able to do to ameliorate those difficulties that he is clearly having," he said.
Image captionSue Jenkinson believes foetal valproate syndrome has been passed through three generations of her family
Mr Lamb, a former minister for care and support, is part of a campaign calling for the government to back compensation claims.
"We are in a good dialogue. The minister, Lord O'Shaughnessy, appears to be completely conscious of the need to stop this scandal continuing," he said.
In France, a charity-led campaign is being supported by the government and Mr Lamb has called for something similar "to happen here without delay".
The drug's maker Sanofi said valproate had been "made available to physicians to treat epileptic patients in the 1970s".
"It was and still is one of the most effective treatments for epilepsy, a serious and complex disease that can be potentially fatal to patients," it added.
The firm said it was "aware of the challenging situations faced by families with children with conditions that may be related to their mother's treatment with antiepileptic drugs".
However, they said the drug "has at all times been supplied in the UK with a warning of the risk of malformations in babies".
Image captionThis warning has been on the outside of valproate pill packets since 2016 in Britain
Research from Konkuk University in South Korea involving mice has also suggested disabilities caused by valproate could afflict successive generations within families.
Professor of Pharmacology Chan Young Shin said he found evidence "the compound could cause autism spectrum disorder trans-generationally".
The MHRA has said the study had "many limitations", but some families believe this has happened to them.
Mr Lamb said the research into whether the syndrome can pass between generations showed the consequences of taking valproate during pregnancy must be "extraordinarily distressing for the families affected".
Image captionKaren Buck has been told her daughter Bridget only has months to live
Any potential help for affected families will probably be too late for Bridget Buck.
The 19-year-old, from Stanmore in north-west London, was born with severe medical problems including brain damage and spina bifida after her mother was prescribed sodium valproate.
"I do all Bridget's overall care. I think for Bridget, I talk for Bridget, I walk for Bridget. I live for Bridget," her mother Karen said.
Yet she has been told the speed her daughter is deteriorating means she will probably only have months to live.
"Mothers shouldn't have to bury their daughter, no mother should do that," she said.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "Patient safety is always our priority. We want to make sure doctors give women the right information when prescribing these drugs — that's why the medicines regulator is already reviewing how effective measures to highlight these risks have been.
"We expect them to take further action if they find that more can be done."
