Poverty in an industrializing town: deserving hardship in Bolton, 1674-99

The question of what kinds of people were relieved by England's Old Poor Law is one of the most pressing in early modern social history. Most of our knowledge about the social characteristics of the relieved poor comes from studies of rural communities in the south and east of the country, wher...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social history (London) 2010-05, Vol.35 (2), p.125-147
Main Author: Healey, Jonathan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Bolton
Censuses
Children
Community
Economic Conditions
Economic crisis
Economic hardship
Elderly
England
European history
Family
Hardship
Industrialization
Low Income Groups
Parishes
Population estimates
Population growth
Poverty
Quality of life
Social history
Textile Industry
Towns
United Kingdom
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Summary:The question of what kinds of people were relieved by England's Old Poor Law is one of the most pressing in early modern social history. Most of our knowledge about the social characteristics of the relieved poor comes from studies of rural communities in the south and east of the country, where old age and the problems of being 'overcharged with children' have been emphasized as key causes of hardship. This article uses three exceptionally detailed censuses (1674, 1686, 1699) to reconstruct the social and economic characteristics of relieved poverty in the industrializing town of Bolton (Lancashire), examining the way in which local economic conditions helped determine the configuration of poverty. It finds that family breakdown and sickness were more common characteristics of the pauper community here than old age and large families. In addition, the importance of cotton-using textile industries to the town's economy rendered it especially vulnerable to periodic economic crises, one of which, that of 1674-5, is analysed in detail here.
ISSN:0307-1022
1470-1200
DOI:10.1080/03071021003721531