CK3

Collection

This biography, written by Revd R. G. Griffiths, is largely dependent on Joyce Jeffreys’ “New Account Book” 1638-1647. This manuscript, consisting of 22 folios of receipts and 48 folios of disbursements, is kept at the British Library and catalogued as ‘Egerton MS. 3054’. Joyce Jeffreys was a prominent moneylender in and around the Hereford and Worcestershire region in the mid-17th century. Her accounts offer a rare opportunity to analyse the social world of the early modern spinster; her daily life, personal circumstances, social activities and family relationships are all reflected through the entries in her manuscript. The accounts also cover contemporary reaction to the Civil War in Hereford City. In particular it records payments towards the defences and the costs of billeting soldiers.