Relief of the Poor Act 1696

Poor Act 1697
Act of Parliament
	Parliament of England
Long title	An Act for explaining an Act made the last Session of Parliament, entituled, "An Act for supplying some Defects in the Laws for the Relief of the Poor of this Kingdome."
Citation	9 Will. 3. c. 11; (Ruffhead: 9 & 10 Will. 3. c. 11)
Dates
Royal assent	2 April 1698
Repealed	15 July 1867
Other legislation
Amends	Relief of the Poor Act 1696
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1867
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

Relief of the Poor Act 1696
Act of Parliament
	Parliament of England
Long title	An Act for supplying some Defects in the Laws for the Relief of the Poor of this Kingdom.
Citation	8 & 9 Will. 3. c. 30
Dates
Royal assent	16 April 1697
Other legislation
Amended by	Poor Act 1697 ; Statute Law Revision Act 1867 ; Statute Law Revision Act 1888 ;
Repealed by	Poor Law Act 1927
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

Last updated November 15, 2024

The Relief of the Poor Act 1696 (8 & 9 Will. 3. c. 30), formally titled An Act for supplying some Defects in the Laws for the Relief of the Poor of this Kingdom, was a 1697 welfare statute, operating within the framework of the Poor Relief Act 1601. This act is perhaps best remembered for its expansion of the requirement that welfare recipients be marked to indicate their status, in this case by wearing a prominent badge.

Badging the poor

This Act required that all welfare recipients, including the wife and children of the head of a household receiving welfare, wear badges prominently on their right shoulders. These badges would contain the first letter of their parish name, followed by the letter "P".^[1] Thus, a recipient from Ampthill parish would wear a badge reading "AP".^[2] In her Curious Punishments of Bygone Days , Alice Morse Earle noted that this practice was also seen in Colonial America, though the badge format might be different. For instance, a badge for a New York pauper would read "N.Y.", while in Virginia, the badge might contain the parish name rather than an abbreviation,^[3] and in other cases might simply read "P.P." for "public pauper".^[4] A similar law also existed in Pennsylvania.^[5]

This badging practice was distinct from the earlier practice of issuing beggars' badges, which predated the Elizabethan Poor Act. One Act which authorized this was the Poor Act 1555 (2 & 3 Ph. & M. c. 5).^[6]

An earlier statute, the Poor Relief Act 1691 (3 Will. & Mar. c. 11), required the overseers of the poor to record the names of all those receiving welfare in their parishes. This statute was intended to limit abuse of funds by overseers.^[7] The 1697 Act added the badging requirement for the same reason.^[8] The penalty to paupers who did not wear badges was whipping and imprisonment, and overseers providing relief to such paupers were to be fined 20 shillings.^[7] One change to the badge requirement came with the Relief of the Poor Act 1782, which allowed "paupers of good character" to leave off the badge.^[9] Badging continued to be practiced until 1810, when it was repealed by Poor Act 1810 (50 Geo. 3. c. 52),^[7] though by the end of the 18th century it was noted as "almost universally neglected".^[10]

The badge continued to be thought of as a means of checking what is now called a welfare trap or poverty trap, wherein people prefer receiving benefits than working. One report ordered by the House of Commons of England suggested that temporarily restoring the badge would serve to dissuade such individuals from seeking out relief. The report further argued that "the Poor ought to know and feel that the eye of the public is upon them ready to check fraud and restrain importunity", and that the badge was one such means.^[11] Charles Jerram, an evangelical priest of the Church of England, did not go so far as to call for the revival of the badge, but did call for some means by which to distinguish "the profligate pauper from the unfortunate and virtuous sufferer".^[12]

Joseph Townsend, on the other hand, harshly criticized the badging practice as applying a badge of shame on the poor in exchange for relief. He further noted that many overseers disregarded the badge requirement, risking the fine. Townsend also argued that the badge had no real effect on those who it was truly seeking to dissuade from seeking out relief, for they would have no qualms about wearing the badge, while the more modest poor "would sooner die than wear it".^[13]

Year's service rule

Part of the system involved the determination of what parish to which a recipient belonged, and was thereby responsible to provide relief to that recipient. Under the earlier Poor Relief Act 1662 a parish could banish those poor unable to rent lodgings of at least £10 per year within forty days of their arrival in the parish. Those banished this way would be sent back to their parish of birth, or where they had resided in the prior three years.^[14]

The Relief of the Poor Act 1696 provided that a worker remaining "in the same service" for one year was given the right to settle in the parish, and thereafter would not be subject to expulsion when beginning to draw relief.^[15] The specifics required to gain settlement under this provision were explored in a number of cases. For instance, in R v Ulverstone, a woman servant was discharged from her contract to serve from Whitsuntide one year until the next year—a period of greater than 365 days that year—before its end, but after 365 days had elapsed. The Court held that despite being discharged before the end of the contract, she had served for one full year and was entitled to settle in the parish.^[16]

Another aspect of this rule is how "same service" is determined. It was possible for the circumstances, such as the contract of hiring, the master, or even the location to change to some degree without resetting the one year requirement. For example, in R v Overton, a servant was engaged from March until Michaelmas, and then hired for a full year. Said servant left in April—less than one year into the contract, but more than one year since he was first engaged. The court held that the two periods of service could be connected, and the servant was entitled settlement rights under the Poor Law.^[17]

Notes

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The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief in England and Wales that developed out of the codification of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws in 1587–1598. The system continued until the modern welfare state emerged in the late 1940s.

In Britain and Ireland, a workhouse was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses. The earliest known use of the term workhouse is from 1631, in an account by the mayor of Abingdon reporting that "we have erected wthn [sic] our borough a workhouse to set poorer people to work".

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The Poor Relief Act 1662 was an Act of the Cavalier Parliament of England. It was an Act for the Better Relief of the Poor of this Kingdom and is also known as the Settlement Act or the Settlement and Removal Act. The purpose of the Act was to establish the parish to which a person belonged, and hence clarify which parish was responsible for him should he become in need of Poor Relief. This was the first occasion when a document proving domicile became statutory: these were called "settlement certificates".

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References

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Earle, Alice Morse (1896). Curious Punishments of Bygone Days. Chicago: Herbert S. Stone & Co. hdl:2027/hvd.32044020031191.
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v t e Poor laws of the British Isles
Poor laws by territory	England and Wales Scotland Ireland Isle of Man	Nantwich workhouse
Old Poor Law	Vagabonds and Beggars Act 1494 Tudor poor laws Poor Relief Act 1597 Poor Relief Act 1601 Poor Relief Act 1662 Relief of the Poor Act 1696 Poor Relief Act 1722 Relief of the Poor Act 1782 House of correction Overseer of the poor Poor rate Poor relief Buttock mail
Relief systems	Outdoor relief Speenhamland Labour Rate Roundsman Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor
New Poor Law	Royal commission (1832) Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 Poor Law (Scotland) Act 1845 Less eligibility Workhouse Workhouse test Board of guardians Outdoor Labour Test Order Outdoor Relief Prohibitory Order Poor law unions Opposition Book of Murder Scottish poorhouse
Changes after 1834	Poor Law Commission Poor Law Board Local Government Board Andover workhouse scandal Huddersfield workhouse scandal Union Chargeability Act
Decline and abolition	Liberal welfare reforms Royal Commission (1905–09) Majority Report Minority Report Interwar poverty National Assistance Act 1948
Other	Christmas Day in the Workhouse Historiography of the Poor Laws Timeline of the English Poor Law system Poor Relief Act List of poor law unions in England List of poor law unions in Wales List of Irish poor law unions

Relief of the Poor Act 1696

Contents

Badging the poor

Year's service rule

See also

Notes

Related Research Articles

References

Further reading

Statutes

Texts and treatises