This study examines the operation of the administrative machinery set up under the Poor Law Amendment Act, from 1834 to 1850, and considers its consequences for the able-bodied labourers. The Report of the Hoy-al Commission appointed in 1832 was misleading about the scale of the able-bodied pauper problem prior to 1834 and inaccurate in analysing its causes. Instead of attributing the existence of able-bodied pauperism to low wages deriving from adverse economic circumstances, the reformers chose to argue that the poor relief system was itself responsible for creating the able-bodied problem. This led them to advocate remedial measures - the abolition of outdoor relief to the able-bodied and its replacement by the deterrent workhouse - which were wholly inappropriate. The reformers believed that the success of their proposed remedies depended upon an administrative structure which could enforce the 'correct policies' on relief uniformly throughout the country. The administration would be free from the deficiencies associated with the old order, under which responsibility for implementing the poor law had rested entirely with the local authorities, whose misguided actions had created an allegedly serious problem of able-bodied pauperism. In practice, however, the new system failed to achieve its objectives, partly because the proposed remedies were impracticable and partly because of deficiencies in the restructured administration, which did not function as its creators had anticipate do Thus the Central Commission's staff of Assistant Commissioners was woefully unequal to the task of ensuring effective supervision and direction due to the lack of manpower and funds o The Boards of Guardians, who were responsible for implementing policy at local level, were generally inclined, rather than implement dutifully policies laid down at Somerset House, to act in accord with the interests of their locality, thereby coming into conflict with the Central Commission. 'fue implementation of the Commissioners r orders prohibiting out-relief to the able-bodied were frequently opposed as being more expensive and less humane than continuing with out-relief, especially so in districts with serious labour surpluses. Even where Boards of Guardians where prepared to apply the workhouse test their decision did not necessarily mean that the agricultural labourer was deprived of out-relief. Over a large part of rural :England relief policy effectively remained the preserve of the parish, rather than of the Poor Law Union. Parishes were responsible for the costs of their Ovln poor and, therefore, often took steps to look after the settled able-bodied either by raising a private rate, or more significantly, by using the highway rate to grant relief payments which ,",would formerly have come from the poor rate. The effects of the New Poor Law upon the rural labourer between 1834 and 1850 v/ere probably much less severe than was implied by the existence of the Poor Law Commission committed to enforcing a body of regulations prohibiting out-relief to the able-bodied over the greater part of England and Wales.

No description available.

The thesis represents the first thorough study of forms of charity and medical and poor relief in an Italian city in the post-Renaissance period. It complements the studies of other Italian cities carried out for an earlier period and contributes to comparison between European patterns of charity. The study reverses the usual demand-centred approach, which sees transformations in charitable provision mainly as a response to changing demographic and economic conditions, by focusing instead on the role played by changes in the nature of "supply", i.e. in the social composition of governors and benefactors and in the indirect and symbolic meanings which charity embodied for its dispensers. The main argument of this study is that the nature of control over charity had a significant impact on the form initiatives towards the poor took: dynamics of conflict, prestige and patronage among the elites contributed to forge charitable attitudes and definitions of poverty to a much larger extent than it has been recognised. Wills and other biographical material, figurative representations of charity and analysis of the architectural form of institutions have been used, besides the more obvious sources, to trace shifts in the symbolic implications of charity. This study also contributes to a reassessment of the periodisation and the features usually regarded as typical of the 'Italian model' of charity and poor relief. It argues, in particular, that the importance of institutional forms of care and assistance has been exaggerated and the role played by outdoor relief for the poor and sick underestimated. Moreover, it emphasises the crucial function of the municipal government as agency of relief well into the early modern period.

No description available.

This thesis seeks to contribute to two areas of historical enquiry: the history of women and the history of poverty, by investigating the strategies used by women to cope with poverty. It attempts this in a systematic way by applying a taxonomy of strategies to the case study area of West Oxfordshire from the mid-to-late nineteenth century. As such, it broadens our understanding of the lives of women living in a rural area as well as examining poverty from the perspective of the responses to it. Three main strategies were considered; employment, household management and community strategies. General results of the analysis suggest that the strategic approach is a valuable method of examining the way poor rural women coped with poverty, highlighting the interconnections between their roles of reproduction, production and consumption. Specific results suggest that first, a radical rethink of the role and importance of the home as a female power base is required. Second, although strategies are difficult to quantify, certain strategies appear to have been more popular than others; household management emerged as the pivotal strategy to make ends meet. Careful spending and saving and the ability to utilise a variety of resouces such as animal husbandry and gardens and allotments was necessary in the fight against poverty. Employment, although of value, could not always be relied upon to provide a steady, regular income. Community strategies were of some value. They were provided informally by kin and the neighbourhood and formally by charities and poor relief. Third, certain factors were influential concerning the nature of strategies; namely duration of need, age and marital status, geographical location, seasonality and conditions for eligibility. The organic nature of the taxonomy means that it can be expanded to include additional strategies and used to study other groups of women such as the middle-class, different historical periods and geographical locations.

No description available.

This dissertation examines the development of poor relief and child welfare policy in Jamaica during the interwar years. It establishes the paradigms for accessing relief and how this influenced broader discussions of poverty, class and citizenship in society. As such it shows how these concerns about poverty, in the public sphere, influenced state policy as it related to tackling juvenile delinquency and destitution in society. Currently, the historiography of the 1930s emphasizes the role of labor unrest as a propelling force to political change in the Caribbean. My thesis, while accepting this premise, uses the poor relief administration to elaborate upon the response of colonial administrators to pauperism in Jamaica. Financial difficulties restricted the amount of assistance provided to the aged and infirm, single mothers, orphans and juvenile delinquents. Inevitability, access to assistance became tinged with tensions of race, class and gender in the island. I conclude, therefore, that colonial administrators used the poor relief administration to intervene in the dialectic of poverty, class, citizenship and gender especially in the rehabilitation of destitute, displaced and delinquent children.

No description available.

The poor relief has been, since the early Middle Ages, the church´s responsibility.  The poor would be treated in a good Christian way. Some regulations were introduced during the 1600-1700s that had some effects on the care of the poor. In 1847 a new Poor Law Regulation was introduced. It was in a time when Sweden struggled with an increasing poverty. This law included the first changes in 200 years. Even though the regulations during 1700 century gave every parish the right to decide on the methods of how to provide the necessary care , it still was the responsibility of the parish. As a consequence, there were many local variations of how the poor relief was practiced in the country. This essay examines how Lycksele parish designed their poor relief and what local and external factors affected it in the years of 1823-1873.  This period of time was marked by crop failures, parish breakout, social changes and new laws to adapt to those circumstances. The result of the investigation present that local factors had a bigger impact on the poor relief than the external factors. The most important factor was the crop failure periods that occurred three times and forced the parish to develop new methods to help the people in need. / Fattigvården var sedan tidig medeltid varit kyrkans angelägenhet, med kristlig barmhärtighet skulle de fattiga vårdas. Fattigvården var varje sockens eget ansvar. Det tillkom några förordningar under 1600-1700-talet som delvis reglerade fattigvården. 1847 tillämpades en ny fattigvårdsförordning, den första på över 200 år. I en tid som var präglad av ökad fattigdom i Sverige. 1800-talets förordningar gav socken mycket frihet, fortfarande skulle fattigvården vara sockens angelägenhet. Varje socken skulle lämna nödvändig vård och det sätt som passade socken bäst. Därför fanns det många lokala variationer, hur fattigvården skulle praktiseras i landet.   Denna uppsats har undersökt hur Lycksele socken utformade sin fattigvård och vilka faktorer som påverkade utformningen. 1823-1873 är den tidperiod som har undersökts, lokalt innehöll perioden tre missväxtperioder och sockenutbrytning. Nationellt var tiden präglad av samhällsförändring och nya lagar som skulle anpassa till det nya samhället. Uppsatsen fokuserar på vilka lokala faktorer tillsammans de yttre faktorer som påverkade vilka försörjningssätt som kunde ges av sockens fattigvård. Dessutom undersöks vilka faktorer som hade störst betydelse för fattigvårdens utformning. Resultatet blev att de lokala faktorerna hade störst påverkan på utformningen. Störst effekt hade missväxtperioderna som inträffade tre gånger vilket framtvingade nya åtgärder efter varje missväxt. Under tidsperioden skulle missväxt, ökad fattigdom och nya förordningar hanteras utav socken för att kunde lämna nödvändig hjälp till socknens fattiga.

Dans la seconde moitié du XVIIIe siècle, la France connut le mouvement philanthropique qui ouvrit la voie à la première expérience précoce de la bienfaisance nationale pendant la Révolution française. Cette mutation idéologique et institutionnelle bouleversa la solidarité traditionnelle locale au sein de laquelle les élites assistaient les pauvres pour obtenir le salut de leur âme et remplir le devoir social attaché à leur rang. Les études sur le lien solidaire se focalisent sur la mentalité et la pratique charitable des élites pour comprendre comment la charité privée fut utilisée pour gouverner la société de l’Ancien Régime et quels furent les changements que la Révolution apporta à sa fonction. L’action charitable privée des élites locales est ainsi examinée à travers leur engagement dans la gestion et le financement des établissements de charité, l’activité collective au sein des associations privées et la pratique individuelle devant la mort pour une période relativement longue allant de 1750 à 1830, dans le but d’envisager la spécificité du motif et des formes de leurs bonnes actions de l’époque. L’espace de notre observation est localisé sur les différentes communautés de Bordeaux, cœur administratif de la Guyenne, métropole religieuse et ville portuaire cosmopolite en plein essor où la splendeur des nobles et négociants riches faisait un contraste avec la pauvreté du peuple accentuée par l’immigration des ruraux. Ces études à l’échelle locale nous permettent de décrire l’évolution du rôle que les élites jouaient dans les rapports sociaux à travers les vicissitudes historiques. / In the second half of the eighteenth century, France experienced the philanthropic movement that paved the way for the first early experience of national charity during the French Revolution. This ideological and institutional change upset the traditional local solidarity in which the elites assisted the poor in order to obtain the salvation of their souls and fulfill the social duty linked to their rank. Studies on the link of solidarity focus on the mentality and charitable practice of elites to understand how private charity was used to govern society under the Ancien Régime and what were the changes that the Revolution brought to its function. Charitable and private action of local elites is examined through their involvement in the management and financing of charitable institutions, collective activity within private associations and individual practice before death for a relatively long period from 1750 1830 in order to consider the specific reasons and forms of good deeds at that time. The space of our observation focuses on the different communities of Bordeaux, administrative heart of Guyenne, religious metropolis and booming cosmopolitan port city where the splendor of the nobles and wealthy merchants contrasted with the poverty of the people emphasized by the rural immigration. These studies at local scale enable us to describe the evolution of the role that elites played in social relations through historical vicissitudes.