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Chapter 2 - Poverty
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From Poverty by James Platt
Page 23
Creator has made some men thriftless, He has made
others
thrifty and benevolent. In England, up to the time of Henry
VIII, as also in all the continental countries, the poor subsisted
entirely on private benevolence, one of their chief resources
being the monasteries. But the charity exercised by these
institutions, however considerable in certain respects, had the
radical defect of encouraging, rather than repressing, mendacity;
and when the institutions themselves were swept away by the
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reforming measures of Henry VIII.,
thousands of these poor, dependent upon them, were thrown upon
the country at large for their subsistence. The poor were divided
into two classes the sick and infirm, who were unable to work;
and the idle and sturdy, who did not choose to work. Their numbers
increasing in and about the metropolis, Edward VI. founded three
royal hospitals - Christ's and St. Thomas's, for the relief of
the impotent; and Bridewell, for the punishment and employment
of the vigorous and idle. But these were far from sufficient to
meet the requirements of the kingdom at large. Other measures
were adopted; and after a number of fruitless experiments, 43
Elizabeth, cap. ii. (1601), provided for the appointment in every
parish of overseers of the poor, whose chief duties were - first,
to raise competent sums for the necessary relief of the poor -
impotent, old, blind, and others
who were poor and not able to work, and them only; and secondly,
to provide work for such as were able and could not otherwise
find employment. For this purpose, they had power to levy rates
upon the inhabitants of the parish. The overseers were appointed-three
or four for each parish - from amongst the householders, by the
justices, and they had to act in conjunction with the churchwardens.
This Act of Elizabeth, which is the basis of the Poor - law system
of England, came into operation very slowly. In 1662, a law was
passed modifying the statute of 1601, and from this period till
1834 the administration of relief was entrusted to the churchwardens
and inspectors. In 1782, Parliament passed a law known as Gilbert's
Act, authorizing the voluntary union of several adjacent parishes
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© Peter Smith 2008
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