Bevendean History Project
Elizabethan Poor Laws
The Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601 made provision for: -
• a compulsory poor rate to be levied on every parish
• the creation of Overseers of relief
• setting the poor to work
• the collection of a poor relief rate from property owners
The law required each parish to elect two Overseers of the Poor every
Easter; those who were elected were unpaid and often were unwilling
appointees who acted under the supervision of the JPs. However, the
means of poor relief did provide a way of controlling the lower orders
and reinforced a sense of social hierarchy.
The duties of the Overseers were to: -
Two types of relief were available
Outdoor relief: - the poor would be left in their own homes and would be given either a dole of money on which to live or be given relief in kind - clothes and food for example. This was the norm.
Indoor relief: -
Part of the 1601 Poor Law said that poor parents and children were responsible for each other, so elderly parents were expected to live with their children for example. However, everyone in need was looked after at the expense of the parish, which was the basic unit of poor law administration. From 1834 this responsibility passed to the new poor law unions.
In 1834 the Poor Law Act gave the Poor Law Commission the power to unite parishes in England and Wales into Poor Law Unions, each Union being administered by a local Board of Guardians according to the directions issued by the Commission. According to the Act, relief was only to be given to able-bodied paupers through the workhouse and central to the formation of a Union was the provision of a workhouse building.
Poor law unions were later used as a basis for the delivery of registration from 1837, and sanitation outside urban areas from 1875. Poor law unions were abolished by the Local Government Act 1929, which transferred responsibility for public assistance to county and county borough councils.
The duties of the Overseers were to: -
• work out how much money would be needed for the relief of the poor and set the poor rate
• collect the poor rate from property owners
• relieve the poor by dispensing either food or money
• supervise the parish poor-house
• collect the poor rate from property owners
• relieve the poor by dispensing either food or money
• supervise the parish poor-house
Two types of relief were available
Outdoor relief: - the poor would be left in their own homes and would be given either a dole of money on which to live or be given relief in kind - clothes and food for example. This was the norm.
Indoor relief: -
• the poor would be taken into the local alms-house
• the ill would be admitted to the hospital
• orphans were taken into the orphanage
• the idle poor would be taken into the poor-house or workhouse where they would be set to work
• the ill would be admitted to the hospital
• orphans were taken into the orphanage
• the idle poor would be taken into the poor-house or workhouse where they would be set to work
Part of the 1601 Poor Law said that poor parents and children were responsible for each other, so elderly parents were expected to live with their children for example. However, everyone in need was looked after at the expense of the parish, which was the basic unit of poor law administration. From 1834 this responsibility passed to the new poor law unions.
In 1834 the Poor Law Act gave the Poor Law Commission the power to unite parishes in England and Wales into Poor Law Unions, each Union being administered by a local Board of Guardians according to the directions issued by the Commission. According to the Act, relief was only to be given to able-bodied paupers through the workhouse and central to the formation of a Union was the provision of a workhouse building.
Poor law unions were later used as a basis for the delivery of registration from 1837, and sanitation outside urban areas from 1875. Poor law unions were abolished by the Local Government Act 1929, which transferred responsibility for public assistance to county and county borough councils.
