The 1601 Poor Laws by Mike Brennan

‘The poor are always with us’ but Mike’s fascinating talk considered the period after 1066, when William the Conqueror became King.  Before this time, the poor were treated as little more than slaves.

After winning the crown, William gave vast tracts of land to those nobles who had helped in his conquest.  They in turn gave large areas of often poor quality land for the development of monasteries eg Whalley whose lands extended South to Whalley Range in Manchester.

This was the solution the question ‘what to do with the poor?’ until Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in in the early 16^th century to plunder their great wealth.  These huge institutions gave food, shelter and medical treatment to the poor, receiving free labour in return.

The effects of the release of huge numbers of displaced people was addressed in 1601 when parishes were made responsible for providing basic care for them.  Each parish appointed a Church Warden, Surveyor, Overseer of the Poor and a Constable who were responsible for collecting a poor rate tax and using it to the benefit of the needy.

We touched on the wars of 1789 to 1815, the Peterloo massacre of 1819 (which several of us had learned so much about during recent visits to Manchester) following the imposition of the Corn Laws.

This takes us to introduction of the workhouses which will feature in Mikes next talk on March 3^rd.  Hope to see you there for another lively and interesting talk.