The poor

• The situation

  The ‘Labouring Poor’ – ½ population. Illiterate. Did not own land. 80% of

  income on food and drink. North-West the poorest. Seen as a Poverty Crisis.
• Causes of povery: Bad Harvest


  • Hit by bad harvests in 1594 and 98 which led to food shortages and people dying of starvation.
  • More land owners started to enclose their land with hedges for sheep and cattle farming. This meant less land was used for arable crops.
  • This left people jobless and homeless.
• Causes of poverty: Debasement


  • Meant mixing more common metals with precious metals so more coins could be made which meant more money.
  • The side effect was inflation and raising prices.
• Causes of poverty: Dissolution of the monastries


  • Many monks and nuns became unemployed.
  • Ill people who could not work had nowhere to go
  • Old people with no family had nowhere to go
• Causes of povery: Rising population


  • Grew from 2.8 million to 4 million
  • Limited places to live gave landlords more power who unfairly increased rent
  • Many people went to cities to look for work, but there were not enough jobs for everyone
• Tudor crimes and punishments (beggars)


  • Stealing food = stocks
  • Begging repeatedly = branding with a V for vagrant
  • Pretending to be made = sent to the Bedlum 'Madhouse'
  • Tricking people to believe you're ill for money = whipping in public
• Thomas Harman

  Wrote a book identifying types of beggar and their tricks,

  anglers (long stick to steal clothes), ‘ruffler’ (army clothing, robbed at

  swordpoint), ‘doxy’ (large back sack with stolen goods), ‘counterfeit cranks’

  and ‘abraham men’ pretending to mad. Exaggerated the problem.
• Puritans' attitude


  Hated vagabonds and did plenty of attacks on them.
• Early government policies


  • Reluctant to admit a problem
  • Recoinage to raise the value of the currency
  • State of Artificers wage limit on skilled workers and an attempt to slow down enclosure
• Elizabeth poor law lasted from 1601-1834
• Poor law cited (for the deserving poor):


  • Well off people now had to pay a poor rate to help the poor in Parish.
  • Parishes could build poor houses for the poor to get help. Basic work was provided in the poor house to pay for the system called 'indoor relief'.
  • Parishes could provide help for people in their own homes, called 'outdoor relief'.
  • Children of paupers were sent to craftsmen to learn a trade.
• Poor law cited (for the undeserving, idle poor)


  • They were seen as lazy and were made to work. If they refused, they were sent to the House of Corrrection or hanged.
  • Vagrants were whipped until bloody, then sent back to parish where they were born.