Poverty Elizabeth Flashcards
(16 cards)
The Statutes of Artificers
10th April 1563
The government regulates the working day and wages to stop people from moving to town-to-town.
In Kent, the working day was 5am to 7pm, and 5-8 in summer
Sets wages – bad don’t increase 1568-1589 ]
Men under 30 who were not married were not allowed to leave their job.
Daily wage set to 2D – 2.5p now, if they miss shift forfeit of 1 p
Rural apprenticeships were set up (like being a thatcher) were set up.
Overall very ambitous – hard to enforce, some short term improvemnts, unemployment decreases –progress lost by war in 1585, costs over 1260000 a year, more taxes
Alms act
July 29, 1563.= distinguished between the impotent poor and needy persons
Vagabond act
August 1, 1572.
= can hole punched through ear or sent to house of corrections, and national poor rate
Poor relief act
March 31, 1576.
differentiates between different poor
2nd poor relief act
9th Febuary 1598=
jps msut help, pauper children to be apprenticed until ages of 21(F) and 24(MP
Poor Laws
19th December 1601
Poor tax for deserving , illegal to beg with no licence, sent to corrections
Overall very ambitious and fails- ½ are not even earning working wage, lack of infastrutre to ensure work, or provide protection
Towns actions
1569 – Ipswich have youth training schmes and lisxences
1570 – Norwich 80% live in poverty, tax 650 richest citizens, contributes to the 200 poor people
Peoples help
Henry tooly sets up alms houses in Ipswich
Leicester sets up hospitals in Warwick
Whit gift sets up alms houses
What deters help?
Thomas Harmon – Caveat for common cursitors (1557) wrote popular book about trickery of poor, 23 categories
William Harrison – pamphleteer warned of travelling with 10000 vagrants on the road
Wagest rise
: Between 1580 and 1640, the price of necessities increased by 215%, while wages rose by only 20%, eroding purchasing power.
London vagabonds
The Lord Mayor of London, John Spenser, estimated that there were approximately 12,000 vagabonds in the city
6% population
Homelesness/unemployemnt
1 in 4 men have no land
50% unemployed
Vagabonds 1597
By 1597, estimates indicated that the number of vagabonds in London had risen to 10,000, with an additional 2,000 in Norwich.
Inflaion europse
price rose 6 fold
Hospitals
553, the ‘Royal Group’ of five hospitals was established in London,
676 beds
Land enclosure by 1597
1/2 million acres across 25 counties
