On 18 December 1599, Thomas Hobson was among the signatories to a certificate in support of the petition for poor relief of one Geoffrey Colpottes. 

By the late sixteenth century, the Vice-Chancellor and his officers had come to be closely involved in the relief of poverty in Cambridge, together with control of over-crowding and prevention of fires, the avoidance of plague and the maintenance of roads. 

Presented to the Vice-Chancellor's Court, the petition and certificate resulted in the issue of a license to beg. Two years later, Colpottes was working as a carrier, probably employed by Hobson ¹ .

For an outline of the jurisdiction and procedure of the University courts, and the methodology employed in presenting records online, see the introduction to this CUDL collection .

¹ See biography of Hobson by Nigel Grimshaw on website of St Bene’t’s church at https://www.stbenetschurch.org/st-benets-a-history/thomas-hobson .