Poverty: Contribution of the Individual Flashcards
Why was individual charity important for funding poor relief?
Taxation only provided ~7% of the money spent on poor relief
How did trends in charity change and how did this benefit the poor?
Impact of the Reformation: Catholic doctrine focused on the act of giving itself and the role it played in securing the donor’s immortal soul, whereas Protestant teaching focused more on what was actually achieved with donations
This meant a new focus on understanding the actual issues of the day and addressing their underlying causes, which paved the way for a SECULAR conception of philanthropy as a way of addressing social problems such as poverty.
Before the Reformation 45% of London charity was devoted to religious purposes - by the end of the century the Church was only receiving 7% of all donations
Why did merchants make bequests towards the poor?
Conscience
Fear of social disorder
Why was the merchant class particularly helpful in providing poor relief?
They not only subscribed to the poor rate and bequeathed sums of money (anywhere from a few shillings to a few pounds), but they also left directions for the establishment of charitable trusts
This was particularly beneficial as it made provision not only for immediate needs but for the poor in the future too
Statistics for contribution of the merchant class
For almost the entire C16 they provided support for 6 in 10 people
Amount bequeathed towards relief of the poor:
1480-1540: £29,737
1541-1560: £23,796
Elizabeth’s reign: £68,479
Increase in donations doesn’t necessarily mean a proportional number more people were taken care of - take into account inflation
Pre-Reformation provided almost 93% of the funds for social reformation
Middle C16: 3/4
Elizabeth: just under 87%
What were the drawbacks of individual charity?
Most donations intended to keep a family from starvation and very little else. Expectation that employment would be found as soon as possible
Trusts unevenly distributed: In Somerset, 84% of charitable funds were concentrated in 9% of the parishes
Less well-off parishes were where suffering was most likely to occur yet they were where private charity was least successful
What aspects of social rehabilitation were the merchant class particularly interested in?
Welfare of prisoners (especially those imprisoned for debt)
Endowment of apprenticeships
Provision of stocks of materials for the poor in the workhouse
Care of the sick (esp. foundation of hospitals)
Provision of marriage portions for poor girls
To what extent did other classes apart from the merchant class impact poor relief?
4-5 in every 10 people were supported by classes other than merchants
Except for the merchant class, which other group in society took a significant interest in relief of the poor and social rehabilitation?
Tradesmen
In Elizabethan era, almost 10% of contributions to poor relief were made by tradesmen
They were one only class other than the merchants to make a sizeable contribution to social rehabilitation
How did the nobility and gentry contribute to poor relief?
Put together, their bequests totalled 1/4 of all poor relief funds
Had opportunities to undertake charity that were not available to merchants due to their possession of land and place in the social hierarchy
People of this class were expected to live a life of ceaseless charity, giving both in money and in kind
e.g. :
In 1489 over 13,000 poor people received a twopenny dole at the funeral of the fourth Earl of Northumberland
A century later 3-4000 poor were fed from the leftovers of a feast held by Edward, Earl of Rutland
What was the extent of charity undertaken by yeomen?
As a class were preoccupied with the needs of the poor: work as parish constables and overseers of the poor made them particularly aware of the problem of poverty in their own area
BUT were often only concerned with the poor in their immediate locality. They primarily made provision for only direct household relief and had little interest in social rehabilitation
Which class was the least concerned with relief of the poor and why is this surprising ?
The clergy
Surprising as they worked and lived closely with the poor and urged their own congregations to undertake acts of Charing
How much did the clergy contribute to poor relief?
Upper clergy (bishops + abbots): Little concern for the poor and bequeathed only 10% of their funds for this purpose, love majority of which was devoted to the foundation of almshouses. Amount allotted to household relief was smaller still - <4% of their bequests
Lower clergy were more generous but not by much, just over 1/4 of their bequests directed to poor relief. Only supported miniman numbers and during Elizabeth’s reign the lower clergy only provided ~1% of available capital.
To what extent was private charity more important than local rates?
In the Elizabethan period little more than £12,000 was obtained from local rates for poor relief, whilst private charity contributed £174,000
To what extent were local rates more significant than private charity?
In 1570-80 Norwich was spending >£500 a year on poor relief, all of which was derived from local rates
Ipswich was obtaining between £170 and £180 a year from the local poor rate
