CHAPTER X.
WORKHOUSE OR UNION.
E now notice the chief of those public institutions, and the buildings connected therewith, which have been established in the town, within more recent times, for its welfare, or its adornment; in order to bring its corporate efficiency into more complete accord with the advanced requirements of what may be called modern municipal life. Among these the foremost place, from its general importance, is naturally due to the Union, or Workhouse; and here it is necessary to make some preliminary remarks.
The workhouse, or union, for a large district is a comparatively recent creation. "The poor" we have had "always with" us, but they have not always been dealt with as they now are. By statute 23 Edward III. (1349), it was enacted that "none should give alms to a beggar who was able to work." By common law the really deserving poor were to be assisted "by parsons and parishioners, so that none should die for default of sustenance." By Act, 15 Richard II. (1392), impropriators (i.e. laymen holding church property) were bound to contribute a certain yearly sum to the poor of the parish, but no compulsory law was passed till 27 Henry VIII. (1536). The present poor law system dates from 43 Eliz. (1601); successive amendment acts being passed from 1836 to 1847, and again in 1861; and a further relief act in 1862.
At first parishes regulated their own methods and amounts of relief. For a long period, indeed, the labouring class were subject to strict legal rules, both as to service, and in their individual movements. It was quite an innovation when, in 23 Henry VI. (1445), a servant was permitted to change masters after giving due notice; and when moving, or, as it is locally called, "flitting," from one parish to another, for employment, he had to produce a certificate of settlement from his last abode. In such matters the overseers were paramount, until their powers were transferred to the newly constituted guardians of the poor, by Act of Parliament, in 1839.[1]
- ↑ Garnier's Annals of British Peasantry, 1895.
