the problems of the poor during Elizabeth society

• Many families lived in small cottages that lacked basic amenities such as running water and indoor plumbing.
• Poverty remained widespread throughout England, particularly in rural areas where many people were employed as agricultural laborers or tenant farmers.
• The Poor Law was passed to deal with poverty, but it did not solve the problem.
• Population growth and rising prices

  • England population grew by 35%
  • With more people to feed and bad harvests went up
• Enclosure

  • Unemployment rose again
  • Common land was often enclosed and no longer free for everyone to use
  • This stopped subsistence farming where people grew crops to survive
• Changing attitudes to the poor

  • deserving or impotent poor who were deserving who couldn't work due to illness or age
  • Idle poor who would work but chose not to. This group were punished (1572 Vagabonds Act)
• 1601 Act for the relief of the Poor

  • A realisation that government had responsibility to help the poor
  • Set up a legal framework to tackle poverty
• No impact of the poor laws

  • Poverty continued to be a problem as pamphlet writers continually stirred up fears of vagabonds
  • Some local towns didn't follow the law and punish vagrants instead they gave them money to go away as it was quicker
• Good impact on poor laws

  • Acknowledged that some poor people were not lazy and needed help
  • places like Ipswich helped by opening schools and hospitals for the poor