The Early History of English Poor Relief

by of Girton College E. M. Leonard

The preamble states, that the number of vagabonds was not "in any part diminished but rather daily augmented and increased." In the country, the justices of the peace and, in the towns, the mayors, bailiffs etc. were the officers responsible for the execution of the statute. They were ordered to search for the impotent poor of their districts and to give them letters authorising them to beg within certain limits. All beggars who begged outside the specified limits or without a license were to be put in the stocks. The impotent beggars were thus confined to a particular neighbourhood but were allowed under restrictions to beg for their subsistence. Poor scholars, shipwrecked mariners, and released prisoners might only beg if properly licensed. Otherwise they, or any other "valiant beggars," were to be taken to any justice or to the high constable, and by order of these authorities were to be whipped in the nearest market town. After punishment the vagrants had to swear to return to the place where they were born or last dwelt three years, and there to work for their living. A certificate was to be furnished to each of them stating the place and day of punishment, the place where the beggar was to go and the time he was allowed to get there. While on the way he was free from whipping, but if he exceeded his time or went elsewhere he was liable to be whipped whenever caught. Not only were able-bodied beggars punished, but those who gave alms to them were also to be fined, although the old practice of giving doles was allowed to continue, and the masters and governors of hospitals were excluded from the operation of the Act.

The main principles of the statute are identical with those enacted under Richard II., but the directions are much more detailed. Moreover provision was also made for the punishment of the inhabitants of any district where the statute was not executed. The regulations adopted are very similar to those already in force in London, where impotent beggars were already badged and sturdy ones whipped at the cart's tail.

The provisions are chiefly repressive; designed to limit the number of beggars rather than to provide relief. For this reason therefore they were not effectual, and a second statute (27 Hen. VIII. c. 25) was passed also in this reign. This Act was probably drawn up by Henry himself and is similar to measures passed at almost exactly the same time in France and Scotland. The preamble refers to the former statute and states that, "forasmuch as it was not provided what was to be done when the sturdy beggars and impoant poor arrived in their hundreds nor how the inhabitants were to be charged for their relief and for keeping at work the able-bodied, it is now ordered that the authorities of the Cities, Shires, etc." are to "charitably receive" the beggars and relieve them "by way of voluntary and charitable alms in such wise that none of them shall be compelled to wander idly and openly ask alms." The same officers are also to compel the valiant beggars to be kept at continual labour so that they may earn their own living.

Very few people were excepted from the operation of these provisions. Beggars with letters, travelling home at the rate of ten miles a day, are to be relieved; lepers and bedridden people may remain where they are; friars mendicant may beg and receive as they have been accustomed; and servants, leaving their service and having letters to that effect, may be free for a month from the operation of the statute. But with these exceptions, all who have not work or property were to be set to work or relieved. Authority was also given for the compulsory apprenticing of vagrant children, between the ages of five and fourteen, and thus for the first time this prominent feature of the later administration of poor relief appears in a statute. The execution of these provisions involved considerable expenditure, and the Act therefore proceeds to provide for the raising of funds. The Mayor or Governor of every city, borough and town corporate, and the churchwardens, with two others of every parish, were to collect alms every Sunday. This plan is similar to that already adopted in London where, in 1533, the aldermen were ordered to supervise the Sunday collections for the poor. There was no attempt at compulsion, but parsons, vicars and curates, when preaching, hearing confessions or making wills were to exhort people to be liberal. Certain games were forbidden by the same Act and the fines for breaking this or any part of the statutes were to go to the poor.

Alms were not to be given by the individual to any casual beggar but were to be placed in a common box, and doles were to be given only in the same fashion. As a rule each parish thus supported its own poor, but rich parishes were to help poor ones when necessary. Although a great deal of restriction was placed upon the casual almsgiver by these regulations there were many loopholes by which he might still evade the law. It remained lawful to relieve fellow parishioners, shipwrecked mariners and blind or lame people, lying by the wayside. Moreover certain poor people might be authorised to collect broken meat. Noblemen might give to anyone and abbots and friars were commanded to give as before.

This statute is the first in which the state not only enacts that the poor shall be provided for in their own neighbourhood, but also makes itself responsible for the administration of relief and the raising of funds. At the same time the clause, which provided that all alms were to be voluntary and that if they were insufficient the officers were not to be fined, made the Act only permissive in practice, for it could only be enforced when the inhabitants of a district chose voluntarily to provide the necessary money.

In this statute, as in the 22 Hen. VIII. c. 12, a double set of officials for the administration of the law is provided. The funds were to be raised in every parish, but the mayor, as well as the churchwardens, was responsible for the collection of the parochial alms in the towns, and the municipal officers were the people who were mainly responsible for receiving and relieving the vagabonds and poor within their jurisdictions. Thus, not only do these two statutes make general the practices which existed in London before the statutes were passed, but they also place their execution in the hands of the same authorities. So far, however, the orders of both Parliament and the towns were directed far more to the repression of beggars than to the collection and administration of funds for the relief of the poor. Legislators seem to have thought that sufficient funds already existed, or could be easily collected, and carefully avoided all approach to compulsory payments for this purpose.

6. The two earlier statutes of Edward VI.

After the dissolution of the monasteries this was no longer the case. No other statute was passed in Henry's reign, but between 1547 and 1569 there were many and, as a rule, these relate chiefly to expedients for raising money.

A statute of 1547, however, relates mainly to vagrants[115]. It provided that a sturdy beggar might be made a slave for two years, and if he ran away a slave for life. The sons of vagrants also might be apprenticed until they were twenty-four, and the daughters until they were twenty, while the punishment of rebellion was slavery. This Act is often condemned as being the most severe Act of a savage series. It is, however, quite possible that it was not considered so savage in 1547. It must be remembered, that under the existing law an "incorrigible rogue" was punishable with death[116], and that this very punishment of servitude is suggested in More's Utopia as a much milder and better punishment than death for both petty thieves and vagrants. The regulation certainly altogether failed, for this part of the statute was repealed two years later: so far as able-bodied beggars were concerned, the 22 Hen. VIII. c. 12 was reenacted and the whipping punishment there provided remained in force until 1572.