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Poor relief, labourers’ households and living standards in rural England c.1770–1834: a Bedfordshire case study

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  • SAMANTHA WILLIAMS

Abstract

This article estimates the contribution of poor relief to the household economies of the labouring poor in the two case‐study communities of Campton and Shefford, east Bedfordshire, and thereby throws further light on the standard of living of workers during industrialization in the south and east. Utilizing the technique of nominal record linkage between poor law sources and family reconstitution for the period c.1770—c.1834, the article charts the growth in social welfare and estimates the proportion of inhabitants benefiting from regular relief payments, the changing family circumstances of recipients, and the proportion of total income made up by poor relief.

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  • Samantha Williams, 2005. "Poor relief, labourers’ households and living standards in rural England c.1770–1834: a Bedfordshire case study," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 58(3), pages 485-519, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:58:y:2005:i:3:p:485-519
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2005.00311.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Horrell, Sara & Humphries, Jane, 1992. "Old Questions, New Data, and Alternative Perspectives: Families' Living Standards in the Industrial Revolution," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(4), pages 849-880, December.
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    4. Nicola Verdon, 2002. "The rural labour market in the early nineteenth century: women’s and children’s employment, family income, and the 1834 Poor Law Report[I acknowle]," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 55(2), pages 299-323, May.
    5. Humphries, Jane, 1990. "Enclosures, Common Rights, and Women: The Proletarianization of Families in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(1), pages 17-42, March.
    6. Boyer,George R., 1990. "An Economic History of the English Poor Law, 1750–1850," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521364799, September.
    7. Feinstein, Charles H., 1998. "Pessimism Perpetuated: Real Wages and the Standard of Living in Britain during and after the Industrial Revolution," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(3), pages 625-658, September.
    8. Peter King, 1991. "Customary rights and women's earnings: the importance of gleaning to the rural labouring poor, 1750-1850," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 44(3), pages 461-476, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Henry French, 2015. "An irrevocable shift: detailing the dynamics of rural poverty in southern England, 1762–1834: a case study," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(3), pages 769-805, August.
    2. Sara Horrell & Jane Humphries & Jacob Weisdorf, 2022. "Beyond the male breadwinner: Life‐cycle living standards of intact and disrupted English working families, 1260–1850," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(2), pages 530-560, May.
    3. Thijs Lambrecht & Anne Winter, 2018. "An old poor law on the Continent? Agrarian capitalism, poor taxes, and village conflict in eighteenth‐century coastal Flanders," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 71(4), pages 1173-1198, November.
    4. Horrell, Sara & Humphries, Jane & Weisdorf, Jacob, 2020. "Life-cycle living standards of intact and disrupted English working families, 1260-1850," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 106986, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Horrell, Sara & Humphries, Jane & Weisdorf, Jacob, 2020. "Life-cycle living standards of intact and disrupted English working families, 1260-1850," Economic History Working Papers 106986, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    6. Eric Melander & Martina Miotto, 2023. "Welfare Cuts and Crime: Evidence from the New Poor Law," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(651), pages 1248-1264.

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