The Early History of English Poor Relief

by of Girton College E. M. Leonard

The harvests of 1619 and 1620 had been exceptionally favourable, those of 1621 and 1622 were unusually bad[323]. In Somerset four or five hundred people assembled and took corn from those that carried it to market, and in many other parts of the country there were similar disturbances[324].

The Council adopted the usual methods; the Scarcity Book of Orders was amended and reissued, and two proclamations were drawn up ordering the restraint of maltsters and a reduction in the number of alehouses; the proclamation of October, 1622, expressly states that this was done because "barley is in time of scarcitie the bread-corne of the poore[325]."

Besides this the special commands addressed to the country gentlemen to return home were more emphatic than in former times, especially at Christmas in 1622. Their presence was necessary for two reasons. English gentlemen still kept great households and relieved many by their hospitality, and they also were expected to maintain order in their districts. They furnished information to the Government, arranged measures of relief for the poor and, if necessary, quelled and punished disorder. James I. had a great idea of their importance: he is credited with the remark to the effect that a country gentleman in town is like a ship at sea, which looks very small, while a country gentleman in the country is like a ship in a river, which looks very big. In 1622, therefore, two proclamations were issued ordering gentlemen to return to the country.

In the earlier of these one of the reasons for the regulation is stated to be because of "inconveniences which of necessity must ensue by the absence of those out of their countries upon whose care a great and principall part of the subordinate government of this realme doth depend[326]." In the second the king expressed his pleasure that so many had obeyed, and his displeasure with those who remained in London because he was "perswaded that by this way of reviving the laudable and ancient housekeeping of this realme the poore and such as are most pinched in times of scarcity and want will be much releeved and comforted[327]."

From a letter written in 1622 we find that the country gentlemen were by no means pleased at leaving the pleasures of Court; and "divers lords and personages of qualitie," we are told, "have made meanes to be dispensed w^thall for going into the countrie this Christmas according to the proclamation but yt will not be graunted, so that they packe away on all sides for feare of the worst, yet the L. Burghley hath found favor in regard of his father's age and weakenes[328]." The king was, however, firm in most cases, and not only issued the second proclamation in Dec. 22nd, 1622, but by a third in March 1623[329], continued the regulations, so that it is clear this measure was considered important and was found successful.

But in 1622-3 the orders of the Council do not only provide for the supply of the markets with corn. The poor were as much distressed by want of work as by the high price of bread. For some years there had been depression in the cloth trade, partly owing to the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War, and partly to the small amount of coin which was in circulation in England. In 1622 the Spanish ports also were closed to English cloth. The merchants and manufacturers found that heavy stocks were on their hands and ceased to employ the workmen. As in 1527 and in 1586 the lords of the Council tried to remedy the evil by forcing the employers to find work for their men. In Feb. 1621/22 they sent to the justices of ten of the clothmaking counties. They say letters have been written to them setting forth the "decay of cloathing and the great distresse thereby fallen upon the weavers, spinners and ffullers in divers counties for want of worke." They recognise that so great a trade cannot always proceed with equal profit, but upon it the "livelihood of so many poore workmen and their families dependeth" that they let the justices know that they have taken a course with the merchants for the purchase of the cloths in the clothiers' hands, and "we hereby require yo^u," they write, "to call before yo^u such clothiers as yo^u shall thinke fitting and to deale effectually w^th them for the imployment of such weavers, spinners and other persons as are now out of worke. Where wee maye not omitt to let yo^u know that as wee have imployed o^r best endeavo^rs in favo^r of the clothiers both for the vent of their cloth and for moderation in the price of wooll (of w^ch wee hope they shall speedily find the effects). Soe may wee not indure that the cloathiers in that or any other countie should att their pleasure and w^thout giving knowledge hereof unto this Board, dismisse their workefoelkes, who being many in nomber and most of them of the poorer sort are in such cases likely by their clamo^rs to disturbe the quiet and governement of those parts wherein they live. And if there shalbe found greater numbers of poore people then the clothiers can reviue and imploy, Wee thinke it fitt and accordingly require yo^u to take order for putting the statute in execution, whereby there is provisione made in that behalfe by raising of publicke stockes for the imployment of such in that trade as want worke. Wherein if any clothier shall after sufficient warning refuse or neglect to appeare before yo^u or otherwise shall obstinately denie to yeeld to such overtures in this case as shalbe reasonable and iust, yo^u shall take good bonds of them for refusing to appeare before us and immediately certifie their names unto this board."

The Council also say the woolgrowers must sell their wool at a moderate price, and finish up with the statement of the general principle on which they act. "This being the rule," they say, "by w^ch both the woolgrower, the cloathier and merchant must be governed. That whosoever had a part of the gaine in profitable times since his Ma^ty happie raigne must now in the decay of Trade ... beare a part of the publicke losses as may best conduce to the good of the publicke and the maintenance of the generall trade[330]."

This high-handed proceeding on the part of the Government might have been successful if the slackness in trade had been of very short duration. But in this case the crisis continued, and the employers were soon in as bad a plight as their men. The Suffolk justices state that in twelve towns out of two hundred the manufacturers have lost over £30,000 by bankruptcies, and in twenty towns only have cloth unsold worth £39,282. The employers cannot employ the men in clothmaking, but the justices will do all they can to relieve the industrious poor[331]. The reply of the Gloucestershire justices is to much the same effect: they add that the people begin to steal and many are starving. The Judges of Assize also say they have interviewed the clothiers of Gloucestershire, and have persuaded them to keep on their men for a fortnight: they were utterly unable to do so for a month[332]. The harvest of 1622 was again a failure and the distress increased. In December the Council write to the justices of Suffolk and of Essex concerning some "disquiet likely to happen ... amongst the poor sort of people who wanting their usuall employm^t by reason of the badd vent of new draperies w^ch gives them their onely meanes of maintenance doe beginne to threaten unlawfull and disorderly courses to gett reliefe." They request the justices to use their best endeavours to maintain order and say that with "extraordinarie care" they have taken a course for the relief of those suffering from extreme need. Early in the year 1623 a series of relief measures were undertaken, possibly in accordance with the "course" settled upon by the Council. Special plans of selling corn to the poor under cost price were adopted, and efforts were made to find work for the unemployed. We shall examine the details of these reports later[333], and will now only notice that they indicate a great improvement in the execution of the poor law; they also record a good harvest for the early crops of 1623 and an improvement in trade early in the year[334].

This crisis of 1622 seems to mark a time of transition in the action of the Privy Council with regard to the poor. The Orders in Council were then more numerous and better enforced than those of any preceding period, though they were only continued for a short space of time, and seem to have ceased when the more pressing causes of disorder were removed.

4. The action of the Privy Council after 1629 with regard to the provision of corn.