Elizabethan Poor Law

Question 1

Overview of Provisions of the Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601

Answer 1

A compulsory poor rate to be levied on everyparish

The creation of ‘Overseers’ of relief

The ‘setting the poor on work’

The collection of a poor relief rate from property owners

NB The law required each parish to elect two Overseers of the Poor every Easter:

Question 2

Types of Relief

Answer 2

Indoor and Outdoor Relief

Question 3

Outdoor Relief

Answer 3

The poor would be left in their own homes and would be given either a ‘dole’ of money on which to live or be given relief in kind - clothes and food for example.

Question 4

Indoor Relief

Answer 4

The poor would be taken into the local almshouse

the ill would be admitted to the hospital
orphans were taken into the orphanage

the idle poor would be taken into the poor-house or workhouse where they would be set to work

Question 5

The act of 1601 differentiated three classes of the poor. What are they?

Answer 5

The able-bodied poor
The impotent poor
The dependent children

Question 6

What were the characteristics of each?

Answer 6

**The able-bodied poor, who were to be provided with work, or with punishment is prison or the stocks if they refused to work;

**The impotent poor, who were to be kept in almshouses;

**The dependent children who were to be apprenticed unless parents or grandparents could support them