An irrevocable shift: detailing the dynamics of rural poverty in southernEngland, 1762–1834: a case study

In: The economic history review, Band 68, Heft 3, S. 769-805

Abstract

Nearly every conceivable aspect of the old poor law in England appears to have been studied. Yet some fundamental questions about parish‐level provisioning remain hard to answer. These include the amount that people received from the parish, from all sources, each week; how the balance between types of payments shifted over the period, and (correspondingly) within the individual life‐course; the range of services or supplements that such individuals received, from the parish, over the course of their lives; and how this spectrum of relief adjusted to the massive macro‐level changes that we know occurred in the poor relief system between the 1760s and 1834. This study attempts to answer these questions in new depth, by employing a dataset that encompasses all payments to named individuals within theEssex parish ofTerling between 1762 and 1834, totalling 143,801 payments to 1,508 recipients. Analysis of this dataset provides new insights into the size, scope, changes, and significance of poor relief in labouring families' lives in southernEngland in this period.