Elizabethan Poor Law 1602
In 1602 an attempt to stop much of the begging and indeed robbery
by people on the streets saw the Elizabethan Poor Law introduced.
This at least went some way to providing some means of survival for the
poor and needy.
It decreed that each parish would be responsible for the welfare
of its own parishioners.
To be paid for by voluntary contributions
or from rates raised from landowners and tenants of property worth more
than £10.00 per annum.
“They were to be severely beaten until they realised the error of their ways”
The 1601 Elizabethan Poor Law divided the poor into two groups;
It relied
greatly on the parish itself to administrate, and on unpaid, non-professional
administrators.
Rural Parishes were small and their finances were
feeble so unusually heavy burdens such as a poor crop etc. could
be disastrous at parish level. Overseers, Justices of the Peace,
contractors and Vestrymen who operated the relief could be petty
bigots. But the Poor Law could be more humane, because those responsible
for the administration of relief at least knew the recipients personally.
