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52-623: The Labour Rate was a system of poor relief ( outdoor relief ), used in England from 1832 to 1834, where workers were paid at a given rate. If this was not met then the rest had to be made up by the parish's poor relief. It was authorised by the Agricultural Labourers Act 1832 , and adopted in about 1 in 5 parishes until it was replaced by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 . This article related to

104-495: A "U" shape around a communal courtyard. Some facilities included a chapel for religious worship. The Bakewell Almshouses in Derbyshire, England – dating from 1709 – were six separate homes, hence the six front doors visible today. Each home had one tiny room downstairs and one upstairs, with no bathroom, toilet or kitchen. The Manners family, Dukes of Rutland from 1703, maintained the building until 1920. They gave it and

156-511: A branch of the Syracuse State School. It was located on 104 acres of land within the town of Newark, New Jersey, and held around 853 patients. The nine dormitory buildings that housed the patients were able to hold anywhere from 45 to 130 people. There was also a small hospital within the almshouse that could hold up to 30 patients. There were not many employees, only about 110, to take care of the hundreds of young women admitted to

208-576: A cellar wall or made to wear a primitive straitjacket . Before the American Civil War, local officials regulated almshouses and did not ensure the people inside them were being cared for in the proper way or given the time they needed for help. It was not until the 1860s that more progressive states such as New York began to create boards that regulated, inspected, and reported on almshouses. The Newark almshouse opened in September 1878 as

260-450: A county basis, counties being organised into parishes which could set up workhouses between them. However, these workhouses were intended to help only the elderly, sick and orphaned, not the able-bodied poor . The sick, elderly and infirm were cared for in poorhouses whereas the able-bodied poor were provided with poor relief in their own homes. The Speenhamland system was a form of outdoor relief intended to mitigate rural poverty at

312-478: A new set of punishments to inflict upon the population of vagabonds. These included being "bored through the ear" for a first offense and hanging for "persistent beggars". Unlike the previous brutal punishments established by the Vagabonds Act 1547, these extreme measures were enforced with great frequency. However, despite its introduction of such violent actions to deter vagabonding, the Vagabonds Act 1572

364-467: A point roughly half that of average wages of a century before. "The boom-and-bust nature of European trade in woolen cloth, England's major manufacture and export" caused a larger fraction of the population of England to fall under poverty. With this increase in poverty, all charities operated by the Catholic Church were abolished due to the impact of protestant reformation . A law passed by

416-607: A reference to the limited enforcement of the punishments established by the Vagabonds Act 1547 by stating "the extremity of some [of the laws] have been occasion that they have not been put into use." Following the revision of the Vagabonds Act 1547 , Parliament passed the Poor Act 1551 . This focused on using the parishes as a source of funds to combat the increasing poverty epidemic. This statute appointed two "overseers" from each parish to collect money to be distributed to

468-435: A vagabond, men who had been discharged from the military, released servants, and servants whose masters had died were specifically exempted from the act's punishments. This legislation did not establish any means to support these individuals. A system to support individuals who were willing to work, but who were having difficulty in finding employment, was established by the Poor Act 1575 . As provided for in this, justices of

520-751: The Parliament of Great Britain and sponsored by Sir Edward Knatchbull in 1723 introduced a "workhouse test", which meant that a person who wanted to receive poor relief had to enter a workhouse and undertake a set amount of work. The test was intended to prevent irresponsible claims on a parish's poor rate . By the mid to late 18th century most of the British Isles was involved in the process of industrialization in terms of production of goods, manner of markets and concepts of economic class. In some cases, factory owners "employed" children without paying them, thus exacerbating poverty levels. Furthermore,

572-470: The Poor Act 1562 , in 1563, and once this act took effect parishioners could be brought by the bishop before the justices , and continued refusal could lead to imprisonment until contribution was made. However, even the Poor Act 1562 still suffered from shortcomings, because individuals could decide for themselves how much money to give in order to gain their freedom. A more structured system of donations

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624-546: The history of England is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to government in the United Kingdom or its constituent countries is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Poor relief In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty . Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear

676-527: The Poor . These institutions underwent various population, program, and name changes, but by 1900, the elderly made up 85 percent of the residents of these institutions. Almshouses generally have charitable status and aim to support the continued independence of their residents. There is an important delineation between almshouses and other forms of sheltered housing in that almshouse residents generally have no security of tenure, being solely dependent upon

728-545: The Poor Act 1575 was passed into law, yet more dramatic changes were made to the methods to fight vagabondage and to provide relief to the poor. The Act of 1578 transferred power from the justices of the peace to church officials in the area of collecting the new taxes for the relief of poverty established in the Vagabonds Act 1572. In addition, this Act of 1578 also extended the power of the church by stating that " vagrants were to be summarily whipped and returned to their place of settlement by parish constables ." By eliminating

780-559: The Poor Laws of this era encouraged children to work through an apprenticeship , but by the end of the 18th century the situation changed as masters became less willing to apprentice children, and factory owners then set about employing them to keep wages down. This meant that there were not many jobs for adult labourers. For those who could not find work there was the workhouse as a means of sustenance. The 1782 poor relief law proposed by Thomas Gilbert aimed to organise poor relief on

832-500: The Poor Laws that were implemented under the 1601 Acts. Almshouse Many almshouses are European Christian institutions though some are secular. Almshouses provide subsidised accommodation , often integrated with social care resources such as wardens. Almshouses were established from the 10th century in Britain, to provide a place of residence for poor, old, and distressed people. They were sometimes called bede-houses, and

884-675: The Report of the Royal Commission into the Operation of the Poor Laws 1832 called the Speenhamland System a "universal system of pauperism". The system allowed employers, including farmers and the nascent industrialists of the town, to pay below subsistence wages, because the parish would make up the difference and keep their workers alive. So the workers' low income was unchanged and the poor rate contributors subsidised

936-606: The act failed to recognise the impotent poor; those who could not provide for themselves. These included the sick, the elderly, and the disabled. This lack of a precise definition of a vagabond would hinder the effectiveness of the Vagabonds and Beggars Act 1494 for years to come. The problem of poverty in England was exacerbated during the early 16th century by a dramatic increase in the population. This rose "from little more than 2 million in 1485, ... [to] about 2.8 million by

988-485: The adjacent former town hall to the trustees who had been running the charity. The town hall was sold at a 1966 auction for £1,137. Financial problems caused the homes to become derelict and unfit for habitation by 2001. They were rescued and restored by the trustees in 2004–2006 at a cost of £325,000, which was raised through donations and grants. They are now three larger homes, combining modern facilities with many historical features. The most famous almshouse in literature

1040-610: The almshouse. Patients were committed to the Newark State School by superintendents of the poor as well as judges who declared them insane or feeble-minded in court. Many of the patients of the New York Custodial Asylum for Feeble-Minded Women were falsely considered to be mentally ill. Mary Lake was the daughter of a young woman who had been sentenced to 10 years in a state prison. Mary and her other siblings were split up and put into almshouses. She

1092-564: The assets of hundreds of rich religious institutions, including their great estates, were taken by the Crown. This had a devastating impact on poor relief. According to the historian Paul Slack , prior to the Dissolution "it has been estimated that monasteries alone provided 6,500 pounds a year in alms before 1537 [equivalent to £4,700,000 in 2023 ]; and that sum was not made good by private benefactions until after 1580." In addition to

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1144-576: The biggest problems with almshouses is that they were rarely self-sustaining. They were costly to run, and the capacity of the inmates to pay for their own keep by working at the farm, or working at the almshouse itself, was greatly overestimated. There were not enough staff, facilities were not kept up, and the poor kept coming. By the end of the 1800s, almshouses began to be replaced by asylums and institutions. Almshouses are often multiple small terraced houses or apartments providing accommodation for small numbers of residents. The units may be constructed in

1196-508: The closing of the monasteries, most hospitals (which in the 16th century were generally almshouses rather than medical institutions) were also closed, as they "had come to be seen as special types of religious houses". This left many of the elderly and sick without accommodation or care. In 1531, the Vagabonds and Beggars Act 1494 was revised, and a new act, the Vagabonds Act 1530 , was passed by Parliament which did make some provision for

1248-407: The cost of helping the poor. Alongside ever-changing attitudes towards poverty, many methods have been attempted to answer these questions. Since the early 16th century legislation on poverty enacted by the Parliament of England , poor relief has developed from being little more than a systematic means of punishment into a complex system of government-funded support and protection, especially following

1300-567: The creation in the 1940s of the welfare state . In the late 15th century, Parliament took action on the growing problem of poverty, focusing on punishing people for being " vagabonds " and for begging . In 1495, during the reign of King Henry VII , Parliament enacted the Vagabonds and Beggars Act 1494 . This provided for officers of the law to arrest and hold "all such vagabonds, idle and suspect persons living suspiciously and them so taken to set in stocks , there to remain three nights and to have none other sustenance but bread and water; and after

1352-428: The different classes of the poor. The sick, the elderly, and the disabled were to be issued with licences to beg. But those who were out of work and in search of employment were still not spared punishment. Throughout the 16th century, a fear of social unrest was the primary motive for much legislation that was passed by Parliament. This fear of social unrest carried into the reign of Edward VI . A new level of punishment

1404-610: The elderly and disabled, and children had to sleep in the same rooms as adults. The first almshouse in United States history was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1622. The original Boston Almshouse was burned down in 1682 and was rebuilt away from the heart of Boston nearly a decade later. In 1884, the statistical analysis of the Massachusetts almshouses showed four in the city of Boston and 225 almshouses throughout

1456-535: The elderly, and the mentally and physically handicapped , were seen to be deserving, whereas those who were physically able but were too lazy to work were considered as "idle" and were seen as of bad moral character, and thus undeserving of help. Most poor relief in the 17th century came from voluntary charity which mostly was in the form of food and clothing. Parishes distributed land and animals. Institutionalized charities offered loans to help craftsmen to alms houses and hospitals. The Poor Relief Act 1597 provided

1508-734: The end of Henry VII 's reign (1509)". The population was growing faster than the economy's ability to provide employment opportunities. The problem was made worse because during the English Reformation , Henry VIII severed the ecclesiastical governance of his kingdoms of England and Ireland and made himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England . This involved the Dissolution of the Monasteries in England and Wales:

1560-530: The end of the 18th century and during the early 19th century. The system was named after a 1795 meeting at the Pelican Inn in Speenhamland, Berkshire , where a number of local magistrates devised the system as a means to alleviate the distress caused by high grain prices. The increase in the price of grain most probably occurred as a result of a poor harvest in the years 1795–96, though at the time this

1612-568: The farmers. Following the onset of the Industrial Revolution , in 1834 the Parliament of the United Kingdom revised the Poor Relief Act 1601 after studying the conditions found in 1832. Over the next decade they began phasing out outdoor relief and pushing the paupers towards indoor relief . The differences between the two was that outdoor relief was a monetary contribution to the needy, whereas indoor relief meant

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1664-606: The first complete code of poor relief, established overseers of the poor and was later amended by the Poor Relief Act 1601 , which was one of the longest-lasting achievements of her reign, left unaltered until 1834. This law made each parish responsible for supporting the legitimately needy in their community. It taxed wealthier citizens of the country to provide basic shelter, food and clothing, though they were not obligated to provide for those outside of their community. Parishes responsible for their own community caused problems because some were more generous than others. This caused

1716-443: The flaws of the 1662 act, the Poor Relief Act 1691 came into effect such that it presented methods by which people could gain settlement in new locations. Such methods included "owning or renting property above a certain value or paying parish rates, but also by completing a legal apprenticeship or a one-year service while unmarried, or by serving a public office" for that identical length of time. The main points of this system were

1768-492: The following: During the 16th and 17th centuries, the population of England nearly doubled. Capitalism in the agricultural and manufacturing arenas started to emerge, and trade abroad significantly increased. Despite this flourishing of expansion, sufficient employment rates had yet to be attained by the late 1600s. The population increased at alarming rates, outpacing the increase in productivity, which resulted inevitably in inflation. Concurrently, wages decreased, declining to

1820-547: The form of establishing more workhouses as indoor relief. Some people argue that as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was in its prime as an empire , it could have given more aid in the form of money, food or rent subsidies. In other parts of the United Kingdom, amendments to and adoptions of poor laws came in and around the same time. In Scotland, for example, the Poor Law (Scotland) Act 1845 revised

1872-636: The goodwill of the administering trustees. Some 2,600 almshouses continue to be operated in the UK, providing 30,000 dwellings for 36,000 people. Almshouses were first founded in Holland in the Middle Ages. Usually founded by rich citizens or guilds , these almshouses "constituted a well-organized system of relief". A number of hofjes are still functioning as accommodation for elderly people. Most residents are women. In 1269 or 1270, an almshouse

1924-493: The individual was sent to one of the workhouses. Following the reformation of the Poor Laws in 1834, Ireland experienced a severe potato blight that lasted from 1845 to 1849 and killed an estimated 1.5 million people. The effects of the famine lasted until 1851. During this period the people of Ireland lost much land and many jobs, and appealed to the Westminster Parliament for aid. This aid generally came in

1976-622: The medieval almshouses in England were established with the aim of benefiting the soul of the founder or their family, and they usually incorporated a chapel. As a result, most were regarded as chantries and were dissolved during the Reformation under the Abolition of Chantries Acts of 1545 and 1547 . The legal basis for civil almshouses and workhouses in England was the Act for the Relief of

2028-403: The mentally ill, and the developmentally disabled from all almshouses and increase the number of institutions, hospitals, and asylums for them to reside in. As her movement gained momentum, she played a vital role in the establishment and expansion of over 30 hospitals for the treatment of the mentally ill. Her efforts removed specific groups from almshouses, leaving the elderly to remain. One of

2080-486: The need for the involvement of the Justices, law enforcement was streamlined. Starting as early as 1590, public authorities began to take a more selective approach to supporting the poor. Those who were considered to be legitimately needy, sometimes called the "deserving poor" or "worthy poor", were allowed assistance, while those who were idle were not. People incapable of providing for themselves, such as young orphans ,

2132-412: The peace were authorized to provide any town which needed it with a stock of flax , hemp , or other materials on which paupers could be employed and to erect a " house of correction " in every county for the punishment of those who refused work. This was the first time Parliament had attempted to provide labour to individuals as a means to combat the increasing numbers of "vagabonds". Two years after

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2184-483: The poor to migrate to other parishes that were not their own. In order to counteract this problem, the Poor Relief Act 1662 , also known as the Settlement Act, was implemented. This created many sojourners, people who resided in different settlements that were not their legal one. The Settlement Act allowed such people to be forcefully removed, and garnered a negative reaction from the population. In order to fix

2236-435: The poor who were considered to belong to the parish. These overseers were to 'gently ask' for donations for poor relief; refusal would ultimately result in a meeting with the local bishop , who would 'induce and persuade' the recalcitrant parishioners. However, at times even such a meeting with the bishop would often fail to achieve its object. Sensing that voluntary donation was ineffective, Parliament passed new legislation,

2288-715: The residents were bedesmen or bedeswomen. Bede is the Anglo-Saxon word for prayer, and the almsmen and women were obliged to pray for the founder of the charity. The first recorded almshouse was founded in York by King Athelstan ; the oldest still in existence is the Hospital of St. Cross in Winchester , dating to about 1132. In the Middle Ages , the majority of European hospitals functioned as almshouses. Many of

2340-416: The said three days and three nights, to be had out and set at large and to be commanded to avoid the town." As historian Mark Rathbone has discussed in his article "Vagabond!", this act of Parliament relied on a very loose definition of a vagabond and did not make any distinction between those who were simply unemployed and looking for employment and those who chose to live the life of a vagabond. In addition,

2392-621: The state. These almshouses housed nearly 7,000 people. Of these residents, 700 were believed to have a mental illness. Half of these almshouses did not house children. Upon entering the almshouses in Connecticut, patients were whipped ten times. There were similar institutions developed from 1725 to 1773 in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and New York. At the Pennsylvania Hospital, some "lunatics" were chained to

2444-536: Was committed to the almshouse in Newark as feeble-minded. It was not until years later that she was pronounced not mentally ill and was able to leave the almshouse. Throughout the 19th century almshouses were a last resort for those who were poor, disabled, and elderly. Residents experienced mistreatment, destitution, and inhumanity. As almshouses continued into the 19th century, activists such as Dorothea Dix fought for institutional reform. Dix sought to remove children,

2496-429: Was established by the Vagabonds Act 1572 . After determining the amount of funds needed to provide for the poor of each parish, justices of the peace were granted the authority to determine the amount of the donation from each parish's more wealthy property-owners. This act finally turned these donations into what was effectively a local tax. In addition to creating these new imposed taxes, the Vagabonds Act 1572 created

2548-663: Was established in Stavanger , the first known in Norway . The English tradition of almshouses was introduced to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by its founder, William Penn . The Maryland legislature created almshouses in Anne Arundel County, financed by property taxes on landowners throughout the state. Massachusetts also had a long tradition of almshouses. In the United States, aid tended to be limited to

2600-518: Was introduced in the Duke of Somerset's Vagabonds Act 1547 . "Two years' servitude and branding with a 'V' was the penalty for the first offense, and attempts to run away were to be punished by lifelong slavery and, there for a second time, execution." However, "there is no evidence that the Act was enforced." In 1550 these punishments were revised in a new act that was passed. The Vagabonds Act 1549 makes

2652-423: Was subject to great debate. Many blamed middlemen and hoarders as the ultimate architects of the shortage. The authorities at Speenhamland approved a means-tested sliding scale of wage supplements in order to mitigate the worst effects of rural poverty. Families were paid extra to top up wages to a set level according to a table. This level varied according to the number of children and the price of bread. In 1834,

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2704-460: Was the first time that Parliament had passed legislation which began to distinguish between different categories of vagabonds. " Peddlers , tinkers , workmen on strike , fortune tellers , and minstrels " were not spared these gruesome acts of deterrence. This law punished all able bodied men "without land or master" who would neither accept employment nor explain the source of their livelihood. In this newly established definition of what constituted

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