increased control over Poor Law officials. But by 1729
overseers may purchase or hire houses for the lodging,
keeping, and employing of the poor ; two or more parishes
may join in hiring such a house (here is the beginning of
the Union) ; and the overseers, where such house shall
be hired or purchased, may, by agreement, take in the
poor of any other parish or place. This seems to have
been the point from which the Workhouse came to be
amalgamated with the house for the impotent poor, in
such wise that our modern Workhouse really represents
three distinct institutions — the House of Correction, the
parish workshop, and the almshouse. In the Report of
St. Giles already quoted (p. 215), we see how, in 1781, the
almshouse view was indeed the predominant one.

{E) The Admifiistration of the Poor Law. — From the
very commencement of legal provision for the poor, it has
been found constantly necessary to re-enforce, and generally
to reconstruct to some extent, the machinery by which it
is to be administered. The duty is at first divided between
the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. The penal part of
the administration is left to the justices of the peace, and



220 ASPECTS OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM xiii

in Henry VIII. 's reign it is the justices who have power
to grant begging Hcenses. By the 27 H. VIII. (see p. 208)
all the head officers of every city, shire, towns, and parishes
are to most charitably receive their poor, all governors and
ministers are to relieve them, and the whole parish is made
responsible under penalty of a forfeit. All preachers also
are to exhort people to be liberal in giving to the common
box (private almsgiving of the nature of " common or open
doles " is prohibited except to travellers, who may give by
the roadside to the lame, blind, sick, aged, or impotent
people), and the churchwardens are to keep watch over the
collector that he does not " imbezil " the money. Books
are to be kept of the money collected, and how it is spent ;
and two or three times a week certain of the paupers,
appointed by the mayor, governor, or constable, are to
collect broken meat and refuse for distribution. In so far
as this work should interfere with the ordinary business of
collectors, churchwardens, etc., they are to receive from
the money collected such competent wages as the civil
authorities may appoint ; and they shall not remain in
office more than one year. The overplus of rich parishes
is to be distributed among poor parishes in the same
district. That the office of collector was not an enviable
one, we may learn from the fact that it was soon found
necessary to impose a fine upon those who refused to serve,
rising from los. to ^10.

This heavy fine was imposed by the 5 Eliz. in 1563,
when it had become evident that voluntary charity did not
respond adequately to the requirements made of it by the
State. By this Act is ordained that on the Sunday before
midsummer day notice shall be given to parishioners to
prepare themselves on the Sunday next following to come
to the church, and there to choose collectors for the poor.
Besides imposing a fine as penalty for refusal to serve,
provision is made for compelling a collector to render his
accounts to the dignitaries of the church in company with
a justice of the peace. Those who decline to give
are also dealt with, and if any one " of his froward willful
mind shall obstinately refuse to give weekly according to



XIII HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH POOR LAW 221

his ability," he is to be exhorted by the various dignitaries
of the church in ascending scale, and finally, if these prove
unavaiHng, the obstinate person is to be assessed by the
justice of the peace and the churchwardens according to
their good discretions. As the penalty for continued
refusal is committal to gaol, it is clear that we have here a
compulsory, and not a voluntary, maintenance of the poor.
The first registration of the poor took place, as we have
already seen, in 1572, and was to be carried out by the
civil ofiicers. The object was to ascertain the number of
poor within each "division," and that being done, to set
down (having regard to the number) the weekly amount
required for their relief within each division. They are
then to assess every inhabitant within the division with
the amount he is to contribute weekly, and register each
with the amount he is to pay. They are also to appoint
collectors and overseers, the latter to forfeit los. if they
refuse to serve. Collectors are to account half-yearly to
the justices. The whole system is thus become compulsory,
and is transferred to the hands of the civil authorities.
Provision is made, however, for appeal to the justices of
the bench at the next general session, should any one " find
himself grieved " by virtue of this Act (Burns, pp. 77 sqq.)

This method of adapting the rate to the needs of the
parish appears to have been neglected later on in favour
of a fixed, and often insufiicient rate, for among the
Orders and Directions issued in 1630 by Privy Council
we find one as follows : —

" That the weekely taxations for the reliefe of the
Poore, and other purposes mentioned in the 43rd Eliz.,
bee, in these times of scarcitie, raised to higher rates
in every parish, than in times tofore were used ; and
contributions had from other parishes to help the weaker
parishes, especially from those places where depopulations
have been, some good contribution to come, for helpe of
other parishes. And where any money, or stocke, hath
beene, or shall be given to the relief of the Poore in any
parish, such gift to be no occasion of lessening the rates of
the parish."



222 ASPECTS OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM xiii

With the introduction of employment for the poor came
the necessity for appointing "governors" to supervise the
work, and look after the stock (these again to be appointed
by the justices), and "wardens" to rule over the Houses of
Correction. In the same Act (i8 Eliz.) an attempt is
made to encourage private charity by providing that any
one who, within the next twenty years, should give any
lands, tenements, or hereditaments towards setting the
people to work, should do so without license of mortmain.

By the 39 Eliz. it is further enacted that the church-
wardens of every parish and four substantial householders
shall be nominated overseers of the poor by the justices.
They are to meet at least once a month in the church
after divine service, " there to consider of some good
course to be taken." If any parish is unable to support
its own poor, the justices may tax any other parishes to
contribute. The compelling power still rests with the
justices, who may commit to gaol any one refusing to con-
tribute, or any overseers who refuse to " account," or any
poor who refuse to work.

In this way was constituted the full machinery for
carrying out the Elizabethan Poor Law. How far it proved
sufficient for its purpose is doubtful. Pashley writes
(p. 220): "It appears probable that the proper carrying
out of the provisions of this statute (43 Eliz.) was
greatly neglected, and that, for twenty, thirty, or forty
years after its passing there were many parishes in which
no such poor-rates as it required to be laid were ever
made at all ; it is even said that many poor people
perished for want. . . . And it seems clear that before the
restoration of Charles II. the unpaid annual officers, under
whose care the poor were placed by the statute of Eliza-
beth, had not only failed to raise proper funds for relieving
the impotent, but still more had neglected to carry out
the parochial organisation of labour which the statute con-
templated. Able-bodied applicants for relief obtained
some allowance in money without being put to work at
all."

We find corroboratory evidence of the failure of officials



XIII HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH POOR LAW 223

(both high and low) to fulfil their functions properly in the
"Orders" issued by Privy Council in 1630. The first of
these provides for a monthly meeting of justices of the peace,
before whom shall assemble the high constables, petty con-
stables, churchwardens, and overseers, and inquiry be made
as to how each of these officers have done their duties. If any
infringement of the law is discovered, a fine is to be imposed,
of which part is to go to the informant. To ensure that
justices of the peace are themselves diligent and careful
the justices of assize in every circuit are to make careful
inquiries about them. It was the justices of assize who
were responsible for the whole system, who held it together,
and who, when it broke down — as it did during the Civil
War — were charged with the duty of reconstructing it.

Inderwick, writing about the justice of assize {The
Literregnnm., p. 173), says: "He was, as it were, a grand
guardian to the poor, and as such heard petitions from
poor people who complained of the non-administration of
parish relief, and at every assize town he heard and decided
disputed settlements of paupers." The judges, after the
Civil War, " found the country without coroners, justices,
constables, overseers, or churchwardens. . . . The poor-
rates had not been collected for years. . . . Men had
refused to be constables or churchwardens, so that the few
existing constables were old and useless. ... Of the
justices of the peace, not more than 10 per cent had been
sworn into office, so that those who acted were few in
number and mostly old." The justices of assize, there-
fore, had to completely reconstruct the machinery of the
Poor Law, and they appear to have done it with energy
and wisdom.

Sir Josiah Child, in his Discourse upon Trade, written in
the reign of Charles II. (see Burns, pp. 160 sqq.\ argues
that the failure of the Poor Laws is due to their own
defects, and not to bad administration. " But if it be
retorted upon me that, by my own confession, much of
this mischief happens by the ill execution of the laws, I
say, better execution of them than you have seen you must
not expect, and there never was a good law made that



224 ASPECTS OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM xiii

was not well executed, the fault of the law causing a failure
of execution." We may admit some force in this argu-
ment, provided that we can ensure honesty of purpose in
all administrators, but how far this is from being the case
may be illustrated from the 3 W., 1691. This Act declares
that " many inconveniences do daily arise in cities, towns
corporate, and parishes, where the inhabitants are very
numerous, by reason of the unlimited power of the church-
wardens and overseers, who do frequently, upon frivolous
pretences (but chiefly for their own private ends), give
relief to what persons and number they think fit " ; and
then goes on to ordain a register to be kept and renewed
annually of all persons receiving relief; none but those put
on the register to receive relief except by order of the
justices. (A further check was introduced afterwards in
the wearing of a pauper badge by all recipients.) It is
curious to note here how Poor Law history is forgotten
and repeats itself over and over again. Early in Elizabeth's
reign the necessity for a register had already been felt, and
provision made for keeping of one in every parish. A
hundred years later this is apparently quite forgotten,
though many of the old registers must still have been in
existence.

The prohibition of relief to non-registered persons except
by authority of the justices was quickly construed by the
justices into permission to give relief to non-registered per-
sons without knowledge of the parish officers; and in 1729
an Act was passed to oblige them to communicate with the
officials before ordering relief — a measure which does not
seem to have had much effect in checking them in the abuse
of their power. The worst evils arising from this occurred,
however, after 1760 ; and this is also the case with another
clause of the same Act (9 G.), which allowed overseers to
" contract with any person for the lodging, keeping, and
employing their poor." The changes in the Poor Law
which led ultimately to the degradation of the labouring
classes, revealed in the Report of the Poor Law Commis-
sion of 1834, were already initiated in 1760. In 1796 the
fatal step was taken of abolishing the Workhouse test, and



XIII HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH POOR LAW 225

of making poverty instead of destitution the qualification
for relief. From this time forward the able-bodied pauper
became the chief object of Poor Law relief, often to the
cruel neglect of the impotent, aged, and children. Poor
Law officials had no time nor thought for the proper
supervision of workhouses, when they were being con-
stantly besieged by troops of threatening men, urging their
claims to have their wages supplemented by the parish
allowance, and nearly always able to get a magistrate's
order to support them. The office of overseer became so
onerous, and even dangerous, that it became the practice
to elect a man for a few months only ; and in this way
even the advantage of experience was lost. Poor Law
expenditure quickly doubled and trebled itself, and the
country had nothing to show for it but the creation of a
demoralised people, who found it paid better to be idle,
thriftless paupers than sober, independent workmen. For
the former were sure of constant employment when they
chose to work, of a " minimum " wage, and of a fixed allow-
ance for every child ; while the latter were turned adrift
from their employment to make room for the pauper,
whose wages would be partly paid from the rates, and had
no remedy until all the savings of their industry were
exhausted, and they in turn declared themselves paupers.



XIV

SOME CONTROVERTED POINTS IN THE
ADMINISTRATION OF POOR RELIEF ^

By C. S. Loch

It may be of interest to readers of the Economic Join-nal, if
I discuss somewhat more fully than has yet been done the
views expressed by Professor Marshall on the subject of
the Poor Law and Poor Relief in the March and September
numbers of the Journal last year.^ I do not propose to
myself to examine them all exhaustively, but to pick out a
few statements and to set against them evidence which
appears to me to be entitled to consideration.

Statement I.

"The principle that public relief should be adjusted
simply to the indigence of the applicant has remained
without substantial change during sixty years in which our
views on most social problems have changed much. It
had its origin in the great dread that overspread the nation
as a result of the ruinous folly of the old Poor Law."

The principle that public relief should be administered

1 From the Economic Journal iox September and December 1893.

^ For a further statement of Professor Marshall's views on this subject
see his speech at the last meeting of the British Economic Association,
Economic Journal, No. 11, p. 389. Note hy Kdhor oi Economic fournal.



XIV CONTROVERTED POINTS IN POOR RELIEF 227

according to the destitution of the applicant and not on
the ground of poverty did not originate in the Poor Law
Amendment Act of 1834. It is to be found in the Act of
Queen Elizabeth, a departure from the terms of which was
one chief reason for "the ruinous folly," etc. That Act
provides for setting to work the children of those who shall
not be thought able to keep and maintain them — destitute
children ; for the setting to work of persons having no
means to maintain themselves — destitute persons ; and
for "the necessary relief" of the lame, impotent, old, blind,
and such other as are poor and not able to work — that
is, "relief" adjusted to indigence. The principle has
then been in force not for sixty, but for almost 300
years. If this contention be doubted I would venture
to quote the following extract of a cross-examination
made by Sir James Graham in 1837 : —

" Is it your opinion that either the old law, from Elizabeth
downwards, of relief, or the present law, was intended to make
character the test of relief?" "Yes, in a great measure, of
the kind of relief that was to be given."

" Where do you find any traces of that, that destitution
should not be the test, and that character and merit should be
the test of relief ? " " I think that it has always been the under-
standing, that, if a man of good character applied for relief,
you would relieve him, if you had the power, in a different way
from what you would relieve a man of bad character. The
man of bad character, who spends his money improperly, you
would relieve, but just enough to keep him from starvation ;
but the man of good character you would relieve in a different
way. That was the case under the old law."

" Would you hold that, under this discretion, less than the
necessaries of life should be given to a man of bad character.''"
" No ; but I think to a man of good character, rather more
than the necessaries of life should be given."

" Where do you find, from the earliest statutes of Elizabeth
down to the latest statute, that more than the necessaries of
life should be given to a destitute man of good character?"
" I cannot find it in any statute, I am aware, but that was the
practice."



228 ASPECTS OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM xiv

The witness was the Vice-Chairman of a Board of
Guardians and a practising solicitor.^

In the last sixty years, while the principle of Poor Law
administration has remained substantially the same, it has
been applied very differently as " our views on most social
problems have changed." This has shown itself especially
in the treatment of children, of the sick, and of the afflicted.
Since 1834 the Poor Law School system, and subsequently
the district and separate school system have been established.
Any one who glances at John Locke's pamphlet will note
the difference between the old "setting to work " of children
and the education introduced into our large Poor Law

1 "It is our painful duty to report" (so write the Commissioners of
1834) " that in the greater part of the districts which we have been able
to examine, the fund, which the 43rd of Elizabeth directed to be em-
ployed in setting to work children and persons capable of labour, but
using no daily trade, and in the necessary relief of the impotent, is applied
to purposes opposed to the latter, and still more to the spirit of that law,
and destructive to the morals of the most numerous class, and to the wel-
fare of all." Elsewhere they say, " The outdoor relief of which we have
recommended the abolition is in general partial relief, which, as we
have intimated, is at variance with the spirit of 43rd of Elizabeth, for the
framers of that Act could scarcely have intended that the overseers should
' take order for setting to work ' those who have work, and are engaged in
work ; nor could they by the words, ' all persons using no ordinary and
daily trade of life to get their living by,' have intended to describe persons
' who do use an ordinary and daily trade of life. ' " These passages repre-
sent the view of the Commissioners, that they were reverting to a truer
interpretation of the Act of Queen Elizabeth, and to a more consistent
application of it. Against this, however, might be alleged the argument that
the Act seems to mention five objects : (i) To set children to work ; (2)
to set persons having no means, etc., to work; (3) to raise money for
stock, etc., to set the poor on work; (4) to provide competent sums for
the necessary relief of the lame, impotent, old, etc. ; and (5) for apprentice-
ship. Evidently the third object was considered by the Commissioners
only as a complement to, and a means of providing for, the first and
second, not as representing a third and separate purpose — the setting to
work of "the poor," as distinguished from necessitous children, and those
who had no means or daily trade, since, without this general instruction
to raise funds, the overseers could not have incurred the cost of setting
these two classes to work. It is well, perhaps, to mention this, as other-
wise it might be thought that the Commissioners had overlooked what
to some readers would appear to be a third object — the setting to work
of the class "poor." And thus the contention that the doctrine of
destitution did not originate with the Act of Queen Elizabeth, but with
them, so far as "the poor" are concerned, might seem to have some
justification.



XIV CONTROVERTED POINTS IN POOR RELIEF 229

institutions on the Bell and Lancaster plans before the
" New Poor Law " was passed, and then the onward
progress from Dr. Kay's time to our own. The treatment
of the sick has greatly altered. The infirmary is frequently
a hospital (sometimes a very spacious and exceptionally
fine hospital) with trained nurses and modern appliances of
every kind : and the change in this direction is continuous.
The treatment of lunatics is very greatly improved : for
idiots and imbeciles much is done that formerly was not
attempted, and for the blind, deaf and dumb, and deformed
there is ample opportunity given to the Guardians to provide
in charitable homes and institutions under special super-
vision and instruction. Members of Friendly Societies also
(to mention another class) have certain privileges. Should
the member of such a society become a pauper his club
money is payable to his wife or dependent relation. It
can hardly be said, therefore, that public relief is " adjusted
simply to the indigence of the applicant." The principle
remains, and rightly remains, as I venture to think, but in
certain important directions legislation has greatly modified
its application. And there has been no stagnation in Poor
Law administration. Probably there has been as much
progress in it during the last twenty years as in any other
branch of public work. If evidence on this point is desired,
it can, in my opinion, be produced in overwhelming abund-
ance.

Statement II.

"The great men who prepared the 1834 Report set
themselves to consider, as they were bound to do, not
what was the most perfect scheme conceivable, but which
of those plans, which were not radically vicious or unjust,
was the most workable by the comparatively uneducated
officials on whom they had to depend. They found that
in a few parishes poor relief had been given only under
conditions and in ways that were distasteful alike to the
just and the unjust. They asserted, and doubtless they
were right, that in these parishes, people had become more
industrious and more frugal : that their wages had risen



230 ASPECTS OF THE SOCIAL TROBLEM xiv

and their discontent abated, and that their moral and social
condition had in every way improved. Accordingly, they
submitted as the general principle of legislation on this
subject in the present condition of the country, that those
modes of administering relief which had been tried wholly
or partially and had produced effects in some districts, be
introduced with modifications according to local circum-
stances and carried into complete execution in all."

The Commissioners' Report was pre-eminently a collection
of facts. Other committees of inquiry had " collected a
vast deal of valuable information as to opinions on the
subject, but, not so much as to the facts connected with it,
though," as Lord Althorp said, " the latter species of
information was by far the more important of the two, and
was indispensably necessary to guide the legislature to
anything like a safe and sound system of reformation."
Evidence " greatly deficient in facts while it was abundantly
contaminated with opinions and theories," did not suit
Lord Althorp's ways of thinking.

Without doubt the Commissioners did not search after
"the most perfect scheme conceivable"; nor did they use
material "abundantly contaminated with opinions and
theories." On the other hand, they did not rest satisfied
with plans "not radically vicious and unjust, etc." They
founded their case on evidence "from about a hundred
parishes, in which an improved system had been either
entirely or partially adopted." It had been tried in districts
"in every part of the country," "in some districts even
that had been extensively pauperised; and in every one of
them the experiment had succeeded as far as it had been
already tried."

Nor was the poor relief in these districts "given only
under conditions and in ways that were distasteful alike to
the just and the unjust." It was realised that the fatal
cause of pauperism was the principle laid down in 36 Geo.
III. "that the relief to paupers ought to be given them in
such a manner as to place them in a situation of comfort."