The Early History of English Poor Relief

by of Girton College E. M. Leonard

In a sermon preached by him before Edward in 1552 Ridley spoke much of the duties and responsibilities of those in high places towards the weaker classes. After the sermon we are told that the king sent for the Bishop and asked him what were the measures that he wished undertaken for the help of the London poor. Ridley asked leave to confer with the Lord Mayor and citizens of London, and, by them in the same year, a petition was presented to the Privy Council, showing the manner in which they hoped to proceed.

This petition stated that amongst the poor of the City the citizens espied three sorts; the "succourless poor child," the "sick and impotent," and the "sturdy vagabond." Christ's Hospital was now ready for the first, and some provision had been made for the second. With regard to the third class, that of sturdy vagabonds or idle persons, they considered "that the greatest number of beggars, fallen into misery by lewd and evil service, by wars, by sickness or other adverse fortune, have so utterly lost their credit, that though they would show themselves willing to labour, yet are they so suspected and feared of all men, that few or none dare or will receive them to work: wherefore we saw that there could be no means to amend this miserable sort, but by making some general provision of work, wherewith the willing poor may be exercised; and whereby the froward, strong and sturdy vagabond may be compelled to live profitably to the Commonwealth[65]." The poor to whom the citizens here refer are beggars; the poor householders who remained at home are not considered. Moreover in describing the sturdy vagabonds the word beggars is used, thus showing that it was the mendicant class of whom the citizens were thinking, and that they so far had little conception of distinguishing between the beggars and other poor. The citizens go on to say, that the classes of sturdy beggars they have in their mind are "the child unapt to learning," "the sore and sick when they be cured," and "such prisoners as are quit at the sessions." The general provision of work was to be furnished by a hospital, and it is carefully stated that the occupations there were to be "profitable to all the King's Majesty's subjects and hurtful to none." It is interesting to notice how it is proposed to get over the difficulty of pauper-made goods so far as the merchants were concerned. Certain citizens in the trade were to give out the raw material to the unemployed in the hospital. When they were wrought up, they were to receive back the finished goods and pay the hospital for their labour, while the stock of raw material was to be renewed. The manufactured goods would thus be put upon the market by the merchants with the rest of their stock and not in competition with them. They propose to exercise such trades as the making of caps and of feather-bed ticks and the drawing of wire. The "weaker sort" were to be employed in carding, knitting, and the dyeing of silk; the "fouler sort" in the making of nails and iron work.

Apparently the king and the Privy Council were satisfied with the plans of the City authorities, for an indenture was drawn up between the king and the citizens which was afterwards confirmed by the Royal Letters Patent[66]. Not only were the earlier grants concerning St Thomas's and Christ's confirmed, but the palace of Bridewell also was given to the City, in order that provision might be made for the relief, employment and discipline of sturdy beggars. Bridewell was not however immediately established but there is a report concerning St Bartholomew's in 1552, and Christ's and St Thomas's in 1553, which show that these three then were doing a considerable work. The pamphlet concerning St Bartholomew's was drawn up because there had been complaints concerning the expenditure and the partial failure of the work there[67]. The authorities state that the place was in a very dilapidated condition when it was received from the king, but that now, in 1552, one hundred beds were fully maintained; during the last five years on an average eight hundred persons had been healed, while one hundred and seventy-two had died. The regular expenses amounted to nearly eight hundred pounds a year and the regular income contributed by City and king reached the sum of £666. 13s. 4d. The extra expenditure and the deficit were contributed "by the charitie of certeine merciful citizens." The "biddell" of the hospital was especially charged to see that there was no abuse of its charity. If any person, that had been there cured, should counterfeit any "griefe or disease" or beg within the City, the beadle was to "committ him to some cage." Thus in 1552 the work of St Bartholomew's had been settled on a satisfactory basis. In 1553 reports were also drawn up of Christ's Hospital and St Thomas's[68]. Christ's then contained two hundred and eighty children[69], while another hundred were boarded in the country. More extensive powers seem to have been exercised at St Thomas's Hospital than at the other Royal hospitals, possibly because all the other hospitals dealt more especially with the poor in the City and it was therefore more convenient to separate their functions. St Thomas's was situated apart in Southwark and its governors exercised more general powers. Not only did the hospital relieve two hundred and sixty "aged, sore and sick persons" but it also pensioned five hundred other poor who lived in their homes: moreover in 1562 "yt is Agred uppon that A place shalbe appoynted to ponysh the sturdy and transegressors[70]." The annual expenses of Christ's and St Thomas's in 1553 together amounted to £3240. 15s. 4d., and of this sum £2914 was given by "free alms of the Citizens of London." Considering the value of money in those days and the probable number of the inhabitants, this was a very large amount. The liberality of the citizens was not always however stimulated by such bishops as Bishop Ridley, or such Lord Mayors as Sir Richard Dobbs, Sir Martin Bowes, and Sir George Barnes. In the reign of Elizabeth St Thomas's was in debt and the number maintained there had to be considerably reduced. Before 1557 Bridewell also was established and thus the number of the four Royal hospitals was completed. The hospital of Bethlehem was included in the original grant of Henry VIII. and probably had a continuous existence. It was a comparatively small institution, in which fifty or sixty lunatics were maintained, and in later times was always reckoned with Bridewell, so that it also formed part of the system of Royal hospitals under the management of the City although it was not counted as a separate hospital. In 1557 orders were drawn up for the government of the hospitals[71], and we can see that their erection had already made it more possible to distinguish between the different classes in need of relief. The City rulers do not now as in 1552 consider the word "beggars" interchangeable with the word "poor" but explain that "there is as great a difference between a poor man and a beggar, as is between a true man and a thief." ... "The policy of the erection of hospitals ..." they say "hath had good success and taken effect; for there is no poor citizen at this day that beggeth his bread but by some mean his poverty is provided for." The objects of the organisation are also explained to include the yielding "alms to the poor and honest householder[72]."

The hospitals are said to be linked together in their government, the objects of all are said to be the same; although to each hospital some governors were especially appointed, all had authority and responsibility with regard to the whole four[73].

The London Bridewell was destined to be the forerunner of so many Bridewells or Houses of Correction that it is perhaps interesting to examine more closely the rules for its management. Any two of its governors had power to take into the house persons presented to them as "lewd and idle." They had also power to search all places in which masterless men were likely to be found, and to punish landlords or tenants who harboured them.

The governors of the whole establishment were subdivided so that some might overlook every department. The rules with regard to the cloth-making establishment will illustrate the kind of supervision they were to exercise. They were first to make an inventory of the raw material and of the looms and other necessary implements. They were then to see that the clothier knew his business, and to order him to return a monthly account of the number of cloths which had been wrought. They were, moreover, to overlook the wool house, yarn house and spinning house and "to comptroll and rebuke" as they "shall see cause." They were to pay the workpeople, the weavers for weaving, the fullers for thicking and the spinners for spinning. The steward was to be allowed to charge for the diet of those that were employed. Every week they were to make a summary of their doings and every month a summary of their accounts.

Other crafts were supervised in the same manner; the nail house was in close connection with the Company of Ironmongers, probably in order to carry out the undertaking that the occupations "should be profitable to all the King's subjects and hurtful to none." The Ironmongers were to give "to this house, as the people of the same may reasonably live"; they were to have the preference with regard to the sale of the manufactured goods and to be allowed a month in which to make payment.

The worst vagrants were apparently sent to the mill and the bakehouse, but men who were fit for better employment were not to stay there. If the governors, we are told, shall "find any there above the ordinary, then shall ye cause the same to be known to the clerk of the work and see he bestow them in some other exercise."

Bridewell does not seem to have effectually reformed the vagrants, for the governors were to "see to the good order of the said mills, that neither the vagabonds do use shameless craving nor begging to the great grief of good men and slander of the house, neither that they obstinately and frowardly shall deny their aid and help towards the lifting up and taking down of such grain as shall be brought into the said mill[74]."

Bridewell, we have seen, was founded for the unemployed, but it is obvious from the language used that the citizens had mainly in their minds beggars who were unemployed, and from the first it seems rather to have been used for confirmed vagrants and untrained children than for labourers out of work. The governors certainly held regular meetings, about once a fortnight, and discussed the various cases that came before them. These nearly all concern petty offenders, thieves or vagrants, but there are one or two cases in which a man is admitted because "the City is charged to find him[75]." Other entries relate to young people who were apprenticed to the House and properly trained to work at some trade. In the later years of the century about two thousand persons passed through the hospital annually. Bridewell was the last of the Royal Hospitals to be established after 1557. Some provision was made for every class of the London poor. The municipal system of relief had begun with the punishment of vagrants; it proceeded to license all beggars entitled to ask for relief, and finally all the poor were nominally provided for and the funds were raised by compulsory taxation.