factures ; the somewhat narrow but methodical "gild
system " was being superseded by private enterprise with all
its wider possibilities and greater uncertainties (see Eden,
p. 106). The numbers of the "unemployed" were in-
creased also by the tendency both of private individuals
and institutions to dispense with the train of followers
and dependents, which in old days was almost the only
outlet for ostentation and luxury; and finally the difficulties
caused by these changes were aggravated by a series of
bad harvests. The existing agencies for dealing with
poverty must have failed before demands of such magni-
tude, even if they had remained in their full vigour ; but
the decline of the gilds and the arbitrary dealing of the
Tudors with Church institutions left no resource but
private charity. How far the monasteries had solved the
problem of Poor relief is an interesting question which
cannot be discussed here ; one thing seems certain that,
at the time in question, they had proved thoroughly in-
adequate to this branch of their work, and are even said
to have degenerated from remedying to causing poverty.
It seems probable that the only injury inflicted by their
dissolution upon the poor consisted in adding to the
burden of the community those whom they had taught to
depend upon their funds. In other words, " The Abbeys
did but maintain the poor which they made " (Fuller).^
Private charity proved, as it must always prove when
uneducated and unorganised, utterly incompetent to deal
^ Mr. Ribton-Turner suggests (Vagrants and Vagrancy, p. 85) that the
50,000 inhabitants of the rehgious houses nuist themselves have joined llie
ranks of the vagrant to a large extent.
198 ASPECTS OF THE SOCIAL TROBLEM xiii
with the problem. Taught by the Church that almsgiving
is, in itself, a saving virtue irrespective of the merits of the
case or the recipient, and frequently moved rather by fear
of the " sturdy vagabond " and "valiant beggar " than by
benevolence, private charity was obviously only augmenting
the evil, and it became necessary for the State to intervene
and definitely take upon itself the task. In doing so, it
did not at first make any new departure ; it merely
amplified and put into force methods which were of long
standing. It must be accounted a virtue, though perhaps
a somewhat stern one, that the State, even when forced
to recognise the existence of an outcast class, has never
from the earliest times condoned it. The day when it first
does so will be an evil one for the community. The early
statutes of labourers were the result of an attempt — not
altogether a mistaken one — to force the labourer back to
the social status from which he had cast himself adrift ;
the Poor Law of the sixteenth century began in attempts to
apply the same principle under very different conditions.
That the first idea was to regulate the position of the
labouring class as a whole, and not to deal with a pauper
class standing wholly outside the industrial community,
seems likely from the way in which, in its earlier stages, the
Poor Law was mixed up with regulations of a very different
kind referring to the games and dress of the people (see
Burns, p. 19 sqq.) The statutes of labourers were intended
to compel the working classes to fulfil their function in the
State, and are the outcome of the old feudal system in
which a definite position is assigned to every class in the
community. The vagabond and idler is not to be allowed
to consider himself exempt from the duties of his class,
but is " to put himself to labour as a true man ought "
(Burns, p. 27); and this is the keynote of the earlier
legislation of the sixteenth century. The excessive rigour of
the law against crimes (72,000 "great and petty thieves
were put to death during Henry's reign ") was supplemented
by the severity of statutes against the mode of living which
gave rise to those crimes. The Act of 1536 ordains
penalties of whipping, mutilation, and death upon valiant
xni HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH POOR LAW 199
beggars and vagabonds found straying from their own
parishes; and the Act of 1547 assigns similar penalties
to every man or woman able to work and refusing to do
so. It was in a similar spirit that the attempt was made
to control private charity ; alms are to be refused to
vagrants in order to compel them to work (Burns, p. 22);
the Act of 1536 ordains that "no person shall make any
common dole, or shall give any ready money in alms other-
wise than to the common boxes and common gatherings."
These deterrent measures were necessarily accompanied
by others of a more constructive nature. " Relief-works "
were not yet within the sphere of practical politics, though
Ashley mentions that "the (jovernment had laid before
the Commons the draft of a bill providing that ' sturdy
beggars . . . should be set to work at the King's charge'";
but it was a standing instruction to local authorities to find
employment for their own poor, and this side of the
question was later on to receive much attention. But the
State could not fail to recognise the existence of a large
class of poor, "the impotent and poor in very deed," and
having done its best to check the miscellaneous relief which
this class used to share with the valiant beggars, it became
incumbent upon it to make authorised provision for its
needs. In this way the principle of discrimination was
introduced, and a field marked off within which private
charity could give free play to its benevolent instincts with-
out endangering the welfare of the community. From the
first, the principle of local responsibility was enforced, and
though this developed evil consequences in the settlement
laws there can be little doubt of its wisdom on the whole.
At first, the State attempted merely to direct, and not to
enforce, private charity. As a means of selecting the
recipients, recourse was had in 1530 to the old custom
(Ratzinger, Geschichte der Kirchlichen Armenpflege, p. 172)
of granting licenses to beg to those incapable of labour,
with the difference that the power of granting these licenses
formerly exercised by the bishops was now delegated to
the justices. But this licensed begging was contrary to
the whole spirit of the age, and although the system
20O ASPECTS OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM xiii
survived in some parts certainly until towards the end
of Elizabeth's reign, yet subsequent measures are mainly
in the direction of guaranteeing provision for the in-
capable.
2. Poor Laiv from 1558 to 1760.
Thus, when Elizabeth came to the throne, the course
to be taken by the Poor Law was already sketched out in
its main lines, and subsequent legislation only developed
it on those lines. Its most important features at that time
were its severity in dealing with the able-bodied poor, its
prohibition of miscellaneous charity, its charge upon local
authorities to provide both maintenance and housing for
their impotent poor, and its somewhat vague instructions
to them to provide work for the honest.
It will be convenient for purposes of arrangement to
trace the working of the Poor Law during the two hundred
years in question under different headings, according to
the class of persons with whom it attempted to deal, and
the manner of its administration. Those for whom it
provides in one way or another fall naturally into two
classes — the able-bodied and the impotent ; and these
again, as legislation develops, are distinguished, the able-
bodied into (i) the rogue or vagabond, and (2) the honest
poor, the impotent into (3) those who are past work, or
have no industrial future before them, and (4) those
who are capable of future work if properly trained — the
children.
Taking them in this order, we shall begin with
{A) The Sturdy Vagabond^ who plays so large a part in
industrial history in the first half of the sixteenth century.
In the earlier part of Elizabeth's reign we find mention
chiefly of three varieties — the vagabond, the sturdy beggar,
"commonly called rogue or Egyptian," and " masterless
men," having no settled means of livelihood. Between
1558 and 1 60 1 there is little mitigation of the severe
penalties against these, and the burden of proving that he
was not one of them lay with the labourer who should
venture to change either his place of abode or employ-
XIII HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH POOR LAW 201
ment. By the Act 5 Eliz. he is required to provide
himself with a certificate or testimonial under pain of
imprisonment, and if he fails to procure one within twenty-
one days of his imprisonment, he is to be whipped and
"used as a Vagabonde." On the loth of July 1569 a
"search" was ordered, primarily in Yorkshire, but also
in other " suspicious " parts throughout the realm, which
lasted from 9 p.m. to 4 p.m. the next day, and resulted in
the capture of 13,000 masterless men (Strype, quoted by
Ribton - Turner, Vagrants and Vagrancy^ p. 104). The
city of London in April of the same year had a similar
search, and consigned their captives according to their
condition — the vagabonds to Bridewell, the impotent to St.
Bartholomew's or St. Thomas's Hospital. The manner in
which the vagabonds were " used " when caught, we may
learn from the Act of 1572 (14 Eliz.) entitled "An Acte
for the Punishment of Vacabondes, and for Relief of the
Poore and Impotent," which ordains that they are to be
committed to gaol until the next session, and on convic-
tion are " to bee grevously whipped, and burnte through
the gristle of the right eare with a hot Iron of the compasse
of an Inch about." Repeated convictions are punishable
by death. A long list of the persons punishable under the
Act is given, including those who can give no account of
how they lawfully get a living. As a less direct, but
perhaps more certain means of diminishing the evil, the
same Act declares that " any person harbouring or giving
money, lodging, or other relief to any such rogue, vaga-
bond, or sturdy beggar, either marked or not," shall be
liable to a penalty of 20s.
The cruelty of these laws can perhaps hardly be judged
by our standards of to-day ; they were framed to meet a
new and exceptional evil, and it is difficult to say whether
anything less severe would have succeeded as well. Harri-
son says : " It is not yet full threescore years since this
trade began ; but how it has prospered since that time it
is easie to judge ; for they are now supposed, of one sex
and another, to amount to above 10,000 persons" (quoted
by Ribton-Turner, p. 119, who goes on to explain that the
202 ASPECTS OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM xiii
" trade " is that of professional mendicity carried on in a
corporate fashion by organised wandering bands). As a
merely temporary expedient against a sudden danger it is
possible that they were justifiable.
In 1575-76 discrimination between the vagabond and
" poore and needy persons being willing to worcke "
appears, and Houses of Correction are organised to facili-
tate the punishment of the former. According to Ashley,
these were put down in most parts of England before
1596,^ but not, he thinks, before they had to a great
extent accomplished their work, and checked the very real
danger which was threatening society. That this was so
seems likely from the fact that in 1592-93 the severity of
the Act of 1572 was somewhat relaxed, and whipping
substituted for the heavier penalties. Nevertheless, hardly
a year passes without some measure urging the summary
punishment of vagabonds until 1597, when all previous
Acts against rogues and vagabonds are repealed, a fresh
definition of the class is given, and every such vagabond
found begging is ordered to be whipped, and either passed
to his last residence or birthplace, or sent to the House
of Correction (not therefore legally put down). Here
also is introduced the punishment of banishment or the
galleys.
The famous Act 43 Eliz. is for the main part con-
structive, and aims at providing for Classes H., IH., IV.
rather than at repressing Class I. ; nevertheless, it leaves
in force the previous penalties, and ensures further dis-
crimination between those to be punished and those to
be helped.
The repressive policy is resumed under James I.,
who issued a proclamation against vagabonds, in which
the penalty of banishment is ordained, and the countries
specified to which incorrigible or dangerous rogues are
to be banished {Newfoundland, East and West Indies,
France, Germany, Spain, and the Low Countries). Mr.
Ribton - Turner suggests that a large increase of vaga-
1 They may have fallen temporarily out of use, but as we shall see, they
play an important part in future legislation.
XIII HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH POOR LAW 203
bondism called for this recurrence of legislation against it,
and quotes Stanleyes Remedye (written in this reign, though
not published until 1646), in which the number of idle
vagrants is estimated at 80,000. Stanley, himself a
reformed highwayman, protests against the superfluity of
whipping, at any rate until after a labour test has been
applied. For those who obdurately refuse work when put
before them he suggests an ingenious combination of
whipping and banishment — the two penalties then in
favour. They should, he says, be sold to the plantations
" to see whether God will turn their hearts and amend
their lives" (Eden, vol. i. p. 169). In 1603-1604 an Act
was passed ordaining the branding of dangerous or incor-
rigible rogues with a " great Roman R " ; the second
offence being punishable by death. It should be noted
that this, as well as other Acts of a similar nature, is to
continue in force only to the end of the next Parliament ;
it is regarded therefore as an experimental and temporary
measure.
Difficulties seem to have arisen in ensuring the execution
of the laws, and in 1609-1610 a new Act insists upon the
building of more Houses of Correction, and ordains that if
there is not before Michaelmas 161 1 a House of Correction
in any county, the justices of that county shall forfeit ^^
apiece. Those who are consigned to the Houses of Cor-
rection " are not to be chargeable to the countrie for any
allowance . . . but shall have such and so much allow-
ance as they shall deserve by their labour and work."
Actual attempts at transportation to the plantations were
also made about this time in connection with the Merchant
Companies \ but they do not appear to have effected much.
In 16 1 4 the Lord Mayor thought he had found the real
cure for the vagabonds in keeping them at work in Bride-
well, " not punishing any for begging, but setting them on
work, which was worse than death to them."
The constant enlisting and disbanding of troops during
this century was a prolific cause of vagabondism, and led
to constant legislation on the same lines. In 1628 and
1629 there was also an influx of Irish vagrants, and special
204 ASPECTS OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM xiii
measures had to be taken for forbidding their transport
into England, and shipping them back to Ireland. In 1630
it was found necessary to appoint a Royal Commission to
make inquiry into the working of all laws and statutes then
in force; orders were issued to the justices, and directions
given for the carrying out of the statutes. Amongst these
is the instruction that the Correction Houses in all counties
may be made adjoining to the common prison, and the
gaoler be made governor of them, so that he may have
facilities for putting prisoners to work.
For twenty-six years after this it seems to have been
left in the hands of local authorities to enforce the law, and
to judge from the numerous proclamations issued there
was considerable difficulty in doing it. No doubt the
civil wars and disturbances added greatly to the difficulty
of keeping order, while it was not until the comparative
tranquillity of the Interregnum that the Government found
leisure to repeat its legislation against vagabonds. Mr.
Ribton-Turner quotes (p. 161) an Act of 1656, defining
what persons fall under the penalties laid down in the
Act of 1597, and ordering the enforcement of those
penalties, with additional stipulation that vagabonds
are to be punished even though they shall not be taken
begging.
The "Act of Settlement" passed in 1662 seems to
have been aimed less at the vagabond than at the labourer
who tried to better his position by moving to more pros-
perous localities ; and of its effect upon this class
we shall speak later on. No doubt it also served as a
weapon in harrying the vagabond from place to place.
Special authority is given to the parish officials to apprehend
rogues, vagrants, etc., and set them to work in the corpora-
tions or workhouses ; while the justices of the peace may
make a selection of such as they think should be trans-
ported to the English plantations. A new departure is also
made in offering a reward for their capture, " Whereas for
want of encouragement to persons apprehending vagrants,
the Statutes are not duly executed ; it is enacted that the
justice before whom such vagrant shall be brought, may
xiii HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH POOR LAW 205
order a reward of 2s. to the person bringing him, to be
paid by the constable of such parish where the vagrant
passed through unapprehended" (Burns, p. 47).
Thirty years later the vagabond had developed the
highwayman, and the reward of 2s. was raised by an Act
of 1692 to a gratuity of ^40 for a highwayman, plus the
horse, furniture, arms, and money of the robber. Of the
ordinary vagrant the number certainly seems to have
diminished during the century, for whereas Stanley esti-
mated them at 80,000, Gregory King in 1688 computes
them at 30,000, earning an annual income of ;^io: los.
each.
In 1700 an Act was passed repealing former laws and
re-enacting them on much the same lines. The principle
of settlement is brought into play, and the vagabonds
are to be sent to the place of their last legal settlement,
or of their birth. " The manner of conveying such per-
son to be from county to county, and to be whipped in
every county through which he is conveyed "(Burns, p. 50).
Later on we find the reward for the apprehension of vaga-
bonds increased to los., and a penalty of los. to 40s. im-
posed on persons harbouring them. Finally, in 1 743-44,
the Act of 17 George II. again repeals and re-enacts the
previous laws. It begins with the usual statement with
which these Acts are prefaced : " Whereas the number of
rogues, vagabonds, beggars, and other idle and disorderly
persons daily increases," etc., and goes on to describe the
various persons and penalties in detail. It is noteworthy that
the provision made for destitute wives and children has by
this time created a new class of vagabond ; those who run
away, leaving their families to the charge of the parish,
and special clauses having reference to them are introduced
into these Acts (Burns, p. 52).
By this time, however, the idea was gaining ground that
the only way of dealing effectually with vagabonds was to
set them to work. We have already noted how one Lord
Mayor discovered that work was " worse than death to
them." Stanley, the highwayman, made a similar dis-
covery, and tells the story of one Mr. Harman, a "goodly
2o6 ASPECTS OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM xiii
and charitable gentleman," who ordered all the sturdy
beggars who should come into the neighbourhood to be
sent to him, and set them to gather stones in his grounds ;
"which thing, when all of the wandering Beggars and Rogues
understood, they durst not one of them come begging in
that parish, for feare they should be made to work." His
method was to provide meat and drink and a penny a day,
and " lustie stout servants to see to them." It is important
to notice these instances, in which the work is obviously a
penalty and a test, and not a making of employment, such
as was being developed in the new workhouses (see i8
Eliz.) The Houses of Correction were for vagabonds and
such of the able-bodied poor as spoiled or refused the
work given out to them (apparently in their own homes)
by the parish authorities. The original type of the Work-
house was the House of Correction, where the vagabond
shared his penalties and his work with the petty criminal
from the gaol next door. It was perhaps unfortunate that
these Houses of Correction lost their distinctive character,
or were superseded by the Workhouse to which descended
their bad reputation without their penal discipline. Of
the Workhouse as the outcome of the endeavour to find
employment for the honest poor we shall now treat in
dealing with Class II.
[B) The Able-bodied Honest Poor. — Legislation on behalf
of this class has always been more or less under protest.
Ashley (p. 366) even thinks that the numbers in it during
the two centuries in question can have been but small,
so slight was the attention paid to their wants ; and he
attributes this to the enormous development of domestic
industries which made employment easy to find. But it
does not seem clear that he was right on this point.
Agrarian changes and social disturbances were constantly
throwing numbers of labourers out of their employment,
who certainly were not all absorbed again (at any rate
during the sixteenth century), and who can hardly have all
degenerated into the idle vagabond, against w^hom the
penal laws were directed ; and though the State was at
first chary of interfering to "make work," we find between
XIII HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH POOR LAW 207
1558 and 1760 a surprisingly large number of private
schemes being aired, for the employment of the poor in
lucrative industries.^ No less than 137 publications con-
cerning the poor are enumerated by Eden as appearing
during this time, most of which contain some such scheme.
It is curious that Aschrott, on the other hand, regards it as
the characteristic feature of the Elizabethan Poor Law, that
in it more attention is given to the provision for the able-
bodied than to the care of the impotent {Das Englische
Armetiwesen, pp. 12, 13). The truth seems to lie between
the two extremes. In addition to the penalties attached to
vagrancy and begging, an Act had been passed in 1562
authorising any two justices of the peace (or the mayor and
two aldermen) to compel all persons between twelve and
sixty who were without means, to work either in the fields
or at some trade, the same Act empowering the justices to
fix the rate of wages (not repealed until 38 and 39 Vict.)
It was little more than a logical consequence of this that
in subsequent Acts the authorities were empowered to
provide the employment itself, by buying " stock " whereon
to set the people to work. In connection with this pro-
viding of stock it should be noticed that the difficulties
attendant upon capitalist production were already begin-
ning to make themselves felt (Cunningham, vol. i. p. 466).
Complaints are made that the wealthy clothiers are
engrossing the looms, encouraging unskilled labour, and
lowering wages, and statutes are passed to check these
evils. Any movement, therefore, of the State towards
providing stock and machinery must be regarded as tend-
ing either to revert to the smaller domestic industry, or to
rival the capitalists on their own ground; and it is fairly to
be supposed that the statesmen of the time must have
recognised this position.
Legislation on behalf of the able-bodied poor was, then,
mainly incidental to the twofold endeavour to check
idleness, and to make adequate provision for the impotent,
' Sir MaUhew Hale, Provision for the Poor, p. 3 (1683), speaks of
the poor who are able to work, and for whom work should be provided,
as being far greater in number than the impotent.
2o8 ASPECTS OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM xiil
So much is this the case that Burns, in his History of the
Poor Law, classifies his summary of the Acts under three
headings only: (i) those referring to servants (not
properly Poor Laws in our modern sense at all, but
statutes regulating wages and labour) ; (2) those relating
to vagrants ; (3) those relating to the impotent poor.
The first hint we can find of provision of work for the
able-bodied is in the 27 Henry VIII. , where provision is
ordered for the "comfort and relief of the said poor,
impotent, decrepit, indigent, and needy people, and for
setting mid keeping to tvork the able poor." By the i
Ed. VI., again, the " city, town, parish or village " is
ordered to provide some such work for their able-bodied
poor as they may be occupied in, or to appoint them to
such as will find them work for meat and drink. (The
pauper, therefore, is not to work for a wage, but for a bare