The Early History of English Poor Relief

by of Girton College E. M. Leonard

In 1692 the first proclamation was published; this stated that the Act for Houses of Correction had been neglected, and ordered the heritors and inhabitants of each parish to meet and put in execution the other good laws made for the poor[697]. In the same year a second proclamation was issued which stated that the previous order had had little effect because it was uncertain where the beggars were born and because suitable provision was not made for them in their parishes[698]. The next year therefore another proclamation was promulgated, and, it is said, "due obedience" was not yet given to the laws, "so that the poor are not duly provided for in many places nor the vagabonds restrained." In 1698 the fourth and last proclamation was published, and again it is stated that the poor laws have not taken effect, partly because there were no houses provided for the poor and partly because the people responsible for the execution of the laws had been negligent of their duty[699].

The statements of these proclamations show that little poor relief was then administered in Scotland, but a stronger proof that this was so is furnished by the existence of the misery endured by the poor during these years: this was so great that it is said whole parishes in some districts were nearly depopulated[700].

7 f. Insufficiency of relief indicated by prevalence of beggary.

But the fact which throws the strongest light upon the administration of poor relief in Scotland is the continued existence of beggary. This was the real method by which most of the poor were relieved. Even the Town Council of Aberdeen tolerated licensed beggars, and in 1664 a resolution was passed by the synod, which shows that the licensing of beggars was then a general practice in the diocese; it is ordained that a minister should license "those creaving for support" only within his own parish[701].

In 1699 the beggars of Stirling also were licensed[702], but the existence of licensed beggars was not the worst of the evil. This method of dealing with the matter, it is true, is very strong evidence that insufficient poor relief was given because it is furnished by the administrators themselves; the beggar must be destitute, or they ought not to have given him a license, and he could hardly have been among those who were too proud to receive relief. But the districts where unlicensed beggary prevailed were in a far worse condition. How great the evil was may be seen from the evidence of Fletcher of Saltoun, who wrote in 1698. His complaints and even his language closely resemble that of Harman when he describes the English beggars under Henry VIII., and that of Hext, concerning those who lived under Elizabeth; they are in strong contrast to the self-satisfied reports of the English justices of the reign of Charles I. "There are," he says, "at this day in Scotland (besides a great number of families very meanly provided for by the church boxes, with others, who, living upon bad food, fall into various diseases) 200,000 people begging from door to door. These are not only no ways advantageous, but a very grievous burden to so poor a country, and though the number of them be perhaps double to what it was formerly, by reason of the present great distress, yet in all times there have been about 100,000 of these vagabonds who have lived without any regard or submission either to the laws of the land or even of those of God and nature.... No magistrate could ever discover or be informed which way any of these wretches died, or that ever they were baptized. Many murders have been discovered among them; and they are not only a most unspeakable oppression to poor tenants (who, if they give not bread or some sort of provision to perhaps forty such villains in one day, are sure to be insulted by them), but they rob many poor people, who live in houses distant from any neighbourhood. In years of plenty many thousands of them meet together in the mountains, where they feast and riot for many days; and at country weddings, markets, burials and other like public occasions, they are to be seen, both men and women, perpetually drunk, cursing, blaspheming and fighting together[703]."

This terrible state of things indicates clearly that no efficient system of poor relief was then in force in Scotland, and shows the evil resulting from trusting the relief of the poor to charity, when charity was altogether insufficient. It is, however, well known that in more charitable days the Scotch system of poor relief found many supporters who urged that the poor obtained sufficient help, and that the organisation which relied on charity called forth a much more noble spirit in both rich and poor than that which depended upon compulsion. This opinion prevailed especially in 1818, although even then beggary was nearly universal[704] in Scotland, but it must be remembered that in 1818 Scottish poor relief gained by comparison with the English because England was then suffering from the increase in pauperism produced by the lax rules of administration which had been introduced into her system of poor relief during the preceding twenty-five years.

7 g. Reasons for the failure of the administration in Scotland.

But in the seventeenth century the danger was rather that there should be too little relief than too much. The citizens of Glasgow, like those of Aberdeen, introduced compulsory assessments, and said the "commendable cair" for the poor now shown was "to the glorie of God and good report of this citie"; but, in spite of this good result, altered their methods, apparently because of the unpopularity of the poor rate[705]. It is easy to see why this happened. Town governors and kirk officials were much more affected by unpopularity with the ratepayers than justices of the peace, and were much less influenced by the central government. Consequently it seems that because in Scotland the system of poor relief was not in the hands of the justices of the peace, there was no period in the history of Scotch poor relief corresponding to the years in which the Book of Orders was enforced in England under Charles I. The result was that in Scotland the poor laws though made were not thoroughly administered until the present reign.

8. The history of poor relief in France.

The history of poor relief in France is very similar to that in Scotland, except that in the earlier stages French legislation is in advance of that of England.