The Development of the English Poor Laws
Throughout the centuries, there has always been a section of people so poor that they have needed support from their communities in order to survive. Some, such as the aged and the sick, may need long term care. For others, through a sudden change in circumstances, help may be needed for a few weeks only. In the medieval period, care of the poor largely rested with the monks from the numerous religious houses, various charitable foundations and occasional alms given by the common people. There was no organised body whose job was to look after the poor. That situation changed during the Elizabethan period.
There had been Acts passed to regulate beggars and vagabonds but these had mainly been punitive, and in 1536 an act had even been passed to ban the giving of alms to such people. In 1558 a basic system was set up to raise money within parishes to provide poor relief, but in 1572, under Elizabeth I all previous acts were repealed and between then and 1601 mandatory assessments on property were made and eligible parishioners were required to pay a rate towards the relief of the poor in their parish. This was established as a principle of English law. By 1601 the parish was responsible for its own poor, Justices of the Peace (JPs) were charged with overall responsibility for the administration and overseers were appointed in each parish to oversee the poor, collect the poor law tax and distribute it to the needy. Although there were many changes and additions over the centuries, this system, now referred to as the Old Poor Law, remained the basis of the English Poor Law for over 350 years. There was, however, a major review of the Poor Law and significant changes were made in 1834, and this subsequently became known as the New Poor Law.
By 1834 the population of England and Wales had risen quite substantially, the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 had seen returning soldiers looking for work, and a series of bad harvests led to high food prices. In addition some parishes had instituted a wage supplement by way of an allowance relating to the price of bread and the number of children in the family. This was known as the Speenhamland System after its introduction in that place in 1795. The idea quickly spread throughout the south and although the system was not fully instituted in the East Riding there is evidence that an indirect allowance system was used by some parishes, and that a roundsman system was in use by others. This latter was when the parish officials sent the poor round the parish to work for local farmers at lower wages, supplemented by the parish. The effect was that farmers dismissed their workers to take the cheap labour, thus increasing the burden on the poor rate. This only served to depress wages and had a detrimental effect on labourers’ morale. This happened in Patrington where “the principal farmers gradually dismissed their Workmen in order to make a bargain with the parish….” The practice was described as “a dishonest and detestable system that degraded the humble but faithful Labourer into a Pauper…”[1]
In 1832 a Commission was set up to enquire into the poor law, the result of which led to a major overhaul of the system. The evidence given to the commission by individuals and parishes was not always unbiased and resulted in a bleak, unfair, picture of the poor being indolent and lazy. The New Poor Law became law in 1834 and the most visible evidence of its existence was the large, often forbidding Victorian Workhouses that were a feature of its institution. Put simply, the law now said that only the elderly, sick and infirm were to be relieved in their homes. Everyone else had to go into the workhouse. Workhouses were not new. Since 1782 parishes had been allowed to join forces to provide a workhouse for their poor. Such an example could be found at Paull, where Paull, Keyingham, Ryhill and Thorngumbald parishes united to provide a workhouse for their collective poor. As in Paull, these were often existing village houses rather than purpose built buildings. The New Poor Law was built around the principle of “less-eligibility” which stated that the conditions inside the workhouse should be worse than those of the poorest labourer living independently. Conditions inside the workhouse were designed to be harsh to deter all but the truly destitute from applying for poor relief.
Assistant Commissioners were sent around the country to survey and assess each parish and to determine which ones should be joined together into Unions. John Revans, the Assistant Commissioner for the East Riding eventually arranged the Riding into eight Unions: Beverely, Bridlington, Driffield, Howden, Patrington, Pocklington, Sculcoates and Skirlaugh. The town of Hull was not initially included in this process, as the parishes of St Mary and Holy Trinity had previously joined forces as early as 1698 and had built a communal workhouse. The decisions were not always popular and there was some opposition to the forming of Unions. The Schoolmaster at South Cave referred to it as ‘oppression…when every Parish in England is prevented from conducting their own affairs.’ .[2]
Skirlaugh Union consisted of 42 parishes from Hempholme and Nunkeeling in the north, Garton and Humbleton in the south and Bilton and Wyton in the west. All parishes were represented by a Guardian of the Poor, who served on the Board of Guardians of the Union, which conducted its affairs. Each parish appointed an Overseer of the Poor to whom local applications for relief would initially have been made. The Board also appointed a Treasurer, usually a bank, a Clerk to the Union, usually a solicitor, and a Relieving Officer, who liaised with the overseers and presented cases to the Board of Guardians, and oversaw the distribution of relief.
Victorian Workhouses were designed to be impressive and oppressive buildings, often built on the outskirts of towns and villages, looming out of the landscape as a permanent symbol of the uncertainties of life for the ordinary labourer. They were visible reminders of the need to be industrious to avoid the necessity of entering their walls, where families were segregated and where life was unrelentingly harsh. When the Welfare State developed throughout the 20th century the last remnants of the Poor Law were removed from the Statute Books in 1948. By this time the workhouses had become places for the sick, old and infirm and were already being utilised as hospitals. Many of the older generation of the time still feared going into hospital because of the past association of building. It took a long while for the psyche of that generation to accept the new caring role of the places they had spent a lifetime fearing.
[1] The National Archives (TNA) MH1214333 Letter from John Revans to the Poor Law Commissioner 20 Aug 1836
[2] Crowther, J.E. & P. A (Eds) The Diary of Robert Sharp of South Cave Oxford 1997