The Early History of English Poor Relief

by of Girton College E. M. Leonard

In most towns the right of exercising skilled trades and of opening shops was denied to any but freemen so that many difficulties were already imposed on the settlement of new comers. The organised relief of the poor increased these difficulties, it is true, but it did not altogether create them.

But it is more interesting to examine the experiments of the time with regard to the unemployed.

3. (2) The action of towns with regard to the unemployed.

In some districts a stock of materials was purchased either by private charity or by municipal funds. Portions of these materials were given to the poor that they might manufacture them. The finished article was then returned and afterwards sold, while the worker was paid according to the value of his labour. Sometimes a master was employed to teach the trade. Thus a Mr Watts left certain lands to the Mayor and Corporation of Rochester partly for this purpose. An old parchment roll contains the rules of the charity. The Mayor was to choose one honest citizen or several as "Providours of the Poore." The "Providours" were directed to buy flax and wool "to set the poor to work." This was to be worked into yarn and the spinners were to be paid for their labour. The yarn was to be sold in the open market, if possible, at a profit[243]. The same kind of plan was probably in operation at Canterbury and Colchester. Archbishop Grindal bequeathed a hundred pounds to Canterbury[244] for the purpose of providing the needy inhabitants with work, and Lady Judde left a like sum to Colchester "as a stock to buy and provide from time to time Wool, Yarn, Flax and such other merchandize and things as the season should require; for the setting on work such poor persons, inhabiting within the said Town, and Liberties of the same, as should be able to work and labour[245]."

In St Albans we know more of the details of the experiment and find that there training was provided as well as employment and the funds were furnished by the town. In 1588 the town rulers engaged a Dutchman named Anthony Moner to teach the poor of the town to spin worsted and other yarns[246]. Eight pounds were taken from the town chest in order to pay for the looms, combs and wheels which were to be used. Inquiries were made throughout the town for poor children who could be spared to learn the new trade; they were to be taught in six weeks and then paid for their labour[247]. About the same time terms were arranged for four men to be taught by the Dutchman. When taught they were to be paid through "the Company[248]," so that apparently the custom of St Albans was like that of London; the work of the poor was sold through the Company representing the citizen workers of the same occupation. The corporation paid £10 for the original stock of wool and every two tods were to be paid for when the next were fetched[249]. The undertaking is therefore partly an example of the employment of the poor by municipal capital and partly an early instance of technical education provided by town rulers.

Something of the same kind was probably done at York. In 1578, £400 was raised for "settyng the poor of this citie on worke," half of which was contributed by the city and half from the money of Sir William Bowes. In the will of Thomas Brafferton money was also left for this purpose and more detailed directions were given as to its use. A stock of wool, flax or hemp was to be bought and "delivered within the parishe of Thornabie to be by them wrought and made into cloth and the poore people for the working thereof to be paid after such rate as nowe or hereafter shallbe used for such lyke work within the said parishe[250]." In 1591 proposals were made for the same kind of undertaking at Lincoln, and a technical school was established at the expense of the corporation[251]. At Leicester also the town contributed money on several occasions to set the poor people to work[252]. In 1597 the Court of Quarter Sessions in Devonshire make an order that means for setting the poor to work should be provided by the local justices as if this were quite a usual practice[253]. There is no reason to suppose that the instances above quoted are exceptional. There is however more evidence on the subject during the next period.

But perhaps more often a workhouse or hospital was erected. At Reading one was built on the site of the house of the Grey Friars. This hospital contained twenty-one children and fourteen old persons. The funds were provided by the poor's box, by private contributions, by collections in the three parishes, and by the work of the poor. The accounts are in existence from 1578 to 1648, and the value of the work of the poor was very considerable. For the fourth quarter of the year 1578 it amounted to £12. 8s. 8d.[254], and this at a time when the ordinary sum paid for the maintenance of an adult poor person was about a shilling a week. There were also Poor Houses at Colchester and at King's Lynn[255].

But the most general arrangement made for the unemployed poor and for vagrants was the erection of a House of Correction. The House of Correction before the Civil War was not in all cases nearly so much like a gaol as it afterwards became. Often it was also a hospital for the old, and an industrial school for the young. Christ's Hospital at Ipswich is a good example of this kind of institution. This hospital was founded in 1569 and was controlled by the town. Governors were elected yearly who were to meet every week, and a paid official called a guider was appointed to look after the poor there. In 1594 and in 1597 such guiders were elected and the orders drawn up on these occasions tell us the nature of their duties. In 1597 for every person sent to the hospital who was to be forced to work and "corrected" the guider was to receive fourpence, after that he had nothing for their keep but their work. But for others who were sent to Christ's Hospital and were not to be "corrected," twelve pence a week was paid, and the value of their work also. In the orders of 1594 the guider is allowed eightpence a week for those unable to work, and special provisions were made about the clothing of the children[256]. It is thus quite evident that at Ipswich the hospital was used, not only for vagrants, but also for children and for the impotent; not only for people who deserved punishment, but also for people who were simply in need of relief.

In the well-known example of the House of Correction at Bury the scale of diet and daily routine are specified. There were two principal meals, dinner and supper, and on days when meat was eaten everyone was to have eight ounces of rye bread, a pint of porridge, a quarter of a pound of meat and a pint of beer; on the fast days instead of meat one-third of a pound of cheese or one or two herrings were provided. Those that behaved well were allowed a little bread and beer in addition, and those that would not work were limited to bread and beer only. On the whole the diet compares favourably with that of a modern workhouse. All were to rise at four in the summer and five in the winter, and had to work until seven, with intervals for morning and evening prayer. The amount of punishment was minutely regulated; the "sturdy rogues" were to receive twelve stripes, while those guilty a second time of "unchaste or unchristian speeches or behaviour" received three[257].