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The Poor Law Act 1601 also known as the Elizabethan Poor Law and Old Poor Law or 43rd Elizabeth formalised earlier practices of poor relief distribution in England and Wales.The Old Poor Law was not one law but a collection of laws passed between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. The system's administrative unit was the parish, it was not a collectivist government policy but a piece of legislation which made individual parishes responsible for Poor Law legislation. The 1601 saw a move away from the more obvious forms of punishing paupers under the Tudor system towards methods of 'correction'. This is a list of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament during that bodys existence prior to the Act of Union of 1707. ...
This is a list of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament during that bodys existence prior to the Act of Union of 1707. ...
This is a list of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament during that bodys existence prior to the Act of Union of 1707. ...
This is a list of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament during that bodys existence prior to the Act of Union of 1707. ...
This is a list of Acts of Parliament of the Scottish Parliament. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Ireland for the years up to its dissolution in 1800. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1707-1719. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1720-1739. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1740-1759. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1760-1779. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1780-1800. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1801-1819. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1820-1839. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1840-1859. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1860-1879. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1880-1899. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1900-1919. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1920-1939. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1940-1959. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1960-1979. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1980-1999. ...
This is an list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 2000 to the present. ...
This is a list of Acts of the Scottish Parliament. ...
This is a list of Acts passed by the Parliament of Northern Ireland. ...
This is a list of Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly passed by that body during its existence between 2000 and 2002 when it was suspended. ...
The is a list of Orders in Council for Northern Ireland which are primary legislation for the province when the it is being directly ruled from London and also for those powers not devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly. ...
Statutory Instruments (SIs) are parts of United Kingdom law separate from Acts of Parliament which do not require full Parliamentary approval before becoming law. ...
The is a list of Church of England Measures which are church legislation Church of England. ...
Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification - by Athelstan AD 927 Area - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK) 50,346 sq mi Population - 2005 est. ...
Motto: (Welsh for Wales forever) Anthem: Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau Capital Cardiff Largest city Cardiff Official language(s) Welsh, English Government Constitutional monarchy - Queen Queen Elizabeth II - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP - First Minister Rhodri Morgan AM Unification - by Gruffudd ap Llywelyn 1056 Area - Total 20,779...
Several amending pieces of legislation can be considered part of the Old Poor Law:
The Poor Relief Act 1662 (13&14 Car. ...
The Workhouse Test Act also known as Knatchbulls Act was poor relief legislation passed by the British government by Sir Edward Knatchbull in 1723. ...
Gilberts Act (1782) also known as The Relief of the Poor Act 1782 was a poor relief Act which aimed to organise poor relief on a county basis, these counties would be grouped into parishes which could set up workhouses between them. ...
Speenhamland was an English system of outdoor relief intended to mitigate rural poverty during the early 19th century. ...
Main points of the 1601 Act
- To board out (making a payment to families willing to accept them) those young children who were orphaned or whose parents could not maintain them,
- To provide materials to "set the poor on work"
- to offer relief to people who were unable to work — mainly those who were "lame, impotent, old, blind", and
- "The putting out of children to be apprentices".
Types of Poor relief and benefits of the system Relief for those too ill or old to work, the so called 'impotent' poor, was in the form of a payment or items of food ('the parish loaf') or clothing also known as outdoor relief. Some aged people might be accommodated in parish alms houses, though these were usually private charitable institutions. Meanwhile able-bodied beggars who had refused work were often placed in houses of correction (indoor relief). However, provision for the many able-bodied poor in the workhouse, which provided accommodation at the same time as work, was relatively unusual, and most workhouses developed later . For specific national programs, see Social Security (United States), National insurance (UK), Social Security (Sweden) Social security mainly refers to a field of social welfare concerned with social protection, or protection against socially recognized needs, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment, families with children and others. ...
Categories: Stub ...
After the passing of the 1601 Elizabethan Poor Law, indoor relief was poor relief that took place within a workhouse or almshouse. ...
As the administrative unit of the system was the parish it allowed greater sensitivity towards paupers. Overseers would know their paupers and therefore be able to differentiate between the deserving and undeserving poor.
Problems with the Act
Implementation of the Law There was much variation in the application of the law and there was a tendency for the destitute to migrate towards the more generous parishes, usually situated in the towns. There was wide variation in the amount of poor relief given out. As the parish was the administrative unit of the system there was great diversity in the system.
Outdoor relief Outdoor relief continued to be the most popular form of relief for the able-bodied poor even though the law described that "the poor should be set to work". In 1795 the Speenhamland system was introduced as a system of outdoor relief - again there was variation within the system with some parishes subsidising with food and other food. The speenhamlad system was popular in the south of England - elsewhere the Roundsman and Labour rate were used. Speenhamland was an English system of outdoor relief intended to mitigate rural poverty during the early 19th century. ...
For specific national programs, see Social Security (United States), National insurance (UK), Social Security (Sweden) Social security mainly refers to a field of social welfare concerned with social protection, or protection against socially recognized needs, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment, families with children and others. ...
The Roundsman System (sometimes termed the billet, or ticket, or item system), in the English poor law, a plan by which the parish paid the occupiers of property to employ the applicants for relief at a rate of wages fixed by the parish. ...
The Labour Rate was a system of poor relief (outdoor relief) where workers were paid at a given rate. ...
Issues of Settlement Arguments over which parish was responsible for a pauper's poor relief led to the passing of the Settlement Act 1662 which allowed relief only to established residents of a parish - mainly through birth, marriage and apprenticeship. A pauper applicant had to prove a 'settlement'.If they could not, they were removed to the next parish that was nearest to the place of their birth, or where they might prove some connection. Some paupers were moved hundreds of miles. Although each parish that they passed through was not responsible for them, they were supposed to supply food and drink and shelter for at least one night. The Poor Relief Act 1662 (13&14 Car. ...
Individual parishes were keen to keep costs of poor relief as low as possible - there the settlement acts paupers in some cases were shunted back and forth between parishes.
The Settlement Laws allowed strangers to a parish to be removed after 40 days if they were not working - but the cost of removing such people meant that they were often left until they tried to claim poor relief. In 1697 Settlement Laws were tightened when people could be barred from entering a parish unless they produced a Settlement certificate. Under the terms of the Elizabethan Poor Law 1601 poor relief was help given to the poor. ...
Affect on labour market The Act was criticised in later years for its effect in distorting the labour market, through the power given to parishes to let them remove 'undeserving' poor. Another criticism of the Act was that it it applied to rated land not personal or movable wealth - therefore benefiting commercial and business interests.
Cost of implementing act The building of workhouses was expensive. The Workhouse Act of 1772 allowed parishes to combine and apply for a workhouse test - where conditions were made worse than those outside. The workhouse test - was a condition of the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834. ...
The Act stated that workhouses,poorhouses and houses of correction should be built for the different types of pauper. However, it was not cost effective to built these different types of buildings. For this reason parishes such as Bristol combined these institutions so that the profits paupers made were plunged back into the maintenance of the system.
Reliance on the parish The systems reliance on the parish can be seen as both a strength and a weakness. It could be argued it made the system for humane and sensitive - but a local crisis such as a poor harvest could be a great burden on the local poor rate. In Britain, under the 1601 Elizabethan Poor Law the poor rate was a tax on property levied on the parish whch was used to provide poor relief to the parish poor. ...
The eighteenth century
Bristol abandons the system The eighteenth-century workhouse movement began at the end of the seventeenth century with the establishment of the Bristol Corporation of the Poor, founded by Act of Parliament in 1696. The corporation established a workhouse which combined housing and care of the poor with a house of correction for petty offenders. Following the example of Bristol some twelve further towns and cities established similar corporations in the next two decades. Because these corporations required a private Act, they were not suitable for smaller towns and individual parishes. Bristol (IPA: ) is a city, unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, 115 miles (185 km) west of London and located at With a population of 400,000, and metropolitan area of 550,000, it is Englands sixth, and the United Kingdoms ninth, most populous city...
Starting with the parish of Olney, Buckinghamshire in 1714 several dozen small towns and individual parishes established their own institutions without any specific legal authorization. These were concentrated in the South Midlands and in the county of Essex. From the late 1710s the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge began to promote the idea of parochial workhouses. Olney is the name of some places in the United States of America: Olney, Alabama Olney, Georgia Olney, Illinois Olney, Kentucky Olney, Maryland Olney, Missouri Olney, Montana Olney, Oklahoma Olney, Oregon Olney, Texas Olney is also the name of a place in the United Kingdom: Olney, Milton Keynes Olney is...
Buckinghamshire (abbreviated Bucks) is one of the home counties in South East England. ...
Essex is a county in the East of England. ...
The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is the oldest Anglican mission organisation. ...
Workhouse Test Act (Knatchbull's Act) The Society published several pamphlets on the subject, and supported Sir Edward Knatchbull in his successful efforts to steer the Workhouse Test Act through Parliament in 1723. The act gave legislative authority for the establishment of parochial workhouses, by both single parishes and as joint ventures between two or more parishes. More importantly, the Act helped to publicise the idea of establishing workhouses to a national audience. The Workhouse Test Act made workhouses a deterrent as conditions were to be regulated to make them worse than outside of the workhouse. However during this period outdoor relief was still the most popular method of poor relief as it was easier or administer. The Workhouse Test Act also known as Knatchbulls Act was poor relief legislation passed by the British government by Sir Edward Knatchbull in 1723. ...
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative institution in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories (it alone has parliamentary sovereignty). ...
By 1776 some 1912 parish and corporation workhouses had been established in England and Wales, housing almost 100,000 paupers. Although many parishes and pamphlet writers expected to earn money from the labour of the poor in workhouses, the vast majority of people obliged to take up residence in workhouses were ill, elderly, or children whose labour proved largely unprofitable. The demands, needs and expectations of the poor also ensured that workhouses came to take on the character of general social policy institutions, combining the functions of creche, and night shelter, geriatric ward and orphanage.
Gilbert's Act Gilbert's Act was passed in 1782 to combat the excessive costs of outdoor relief. It promoted indoor alternatives and allowed parishes to combine for the impotent poor. However outdoor relief was still used to help to able-bodied poor. Gilberts Act (1782) also known as The Relief of the Poor Act 1782 was a poor relief Act which aimed to organise poor relief on a county basis, these counties would be grouped into parishes which could set up workhouses between them. ...
For specific national programs, see Social Security (United States), National insurance (UK), Social Security (Sweden) Social security mainly refers to a field of social welfare concerned with social protection, or protection against socially recognized needs, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment, families with children and others. ...
Impotent poor was a classificiation of poverty used in Britain during the 1600s. ...
The able-bodied poor was a classification of the poor widely used during the 1600s in Britain. ...
Reasons for Overhauling the system
Industrialisation The 1601 system was for a pre-industrial society, the massive population increases after the Industrial revolution strained the existing system. Mechanisation meant that unemployment was increasing, therefore poor relief costs could not be met.
French Wars The Napoleonic Wars meant that there were periods of frade blockades on Britain. The blockade and bad harvests in 1813 and 1814 meant that bread prices were kept artificially high. When the imports returned many farmers went bankrupt - the high prices had caused unemployment and therefore an increasing the poor rate. The bankruptcies meant that their workers became unemployed pushing the poor rate higher still. The Corn Laws were passed to protect British farmers - however this kept prices artificially high and made more people claim relief. In Britain, under the 1601 Elizabethan Poor Law the poor rate was a tax on property levied on the parish whch was used to provide poor relief to the parish poor. ...
The Corn Laws, in force between 1815 and 1846, were import tariffs ostensibly designed to protect British farmers and landowners against competition from cheap foreign grain imports. ...
Corruption In 1819 Select Vesteries were set up - these were committees set up in each parish whom were responsible for Poor Law administration. There were concerns over corruption within the system as contracts for supplying food and beer often went to local traders or these vestries.
Cost The cost of the current system was increasing. The increasing numbers of people claiming relief peaked after the economic dislocation caused by the French Wars when it was 12 shillings per head of population.
Fear of unrest One reason for changing the system was to prevent unrest or even revolution. Habeas Corpus was suspended and the Six Acts passed to prevent possible riots. The Swing riots highlighted the possibility of agricultural unrest. In common law countries, habeas corpus (/heɪbiəs kɔɹpəs/), Latin for you [should] have the body, is the name of a legal instrument or writ by means of which detainees can seek release from unlawful imprisonment. ...
Following the Peterloo massacre of August 16, 1819, the UK government acted to prevent any future disturbances by the introduction of new legislation, the so-called Six Acts which labelled any meeting for radical reform as an overt act of treasonable conspiracy. Parliament had reconvened on November 23 and the...
Intellectuals See main article Opposition to the Poor Law
Jeremy Bentham argued for a disciplinary, punitive approach to social problems, whilst the writings of Thomas Malthus focused attention on the problem of overpopulation, and the growth of illegitimacy. David Ricardo argued that there was an "iron law of wages". The effect of poor relief, in the view of the reformers, was to undermine the position of the "independent labourer". Both the Elizabethan Poor Law and the Poor Law Amendment Act attracted a great deal of opposition from a wide range of people in society, from paupers and workers; to the landed gentry and academics. ...
Jeremy Bentham (IPA: or ) (February 15, 1748 O.S. (February 26, 1749 N.S.) – June 6, 1832) was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. ...
Rev. ...
David Ricardo (April 18, 1772 – September 11, 1823), a political economist, is often credited with systematising economics, and was one of the most influential of the classical economists, along with Thomas Malthus, and Adam Smith. ...
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