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Abstract:
Based on the annually printed List of the Registered Poor (1868-1915),
Minutes of the Parochial Board (1864-1904), Statutory Death Records (1855-1901)
and CEBs (1851-91) for Kildonan information on 336 paupers are analysed.
Paupers are classed as aged, infirm, sick, insane, widow(er)ed with children,
orphans and others. An analysis of out-relief payments shows that they
rose from barely enough for survival in 1870 to basic subsistence level
by 1900. The attitude towards the able-bodied and use made of the Poorhouse
and Asylum are examined.
This project examines the Poor Law in a rural Highland parish using a
‘questioning sources’ strategy. Nominal Record linkage of
the LRP and MPB to the CEBs and Death records helps to show who the paupers
were, why they were so reduced and how they were treated. How did the
Poor Law actually operate compared with the intention of the 1845 Act
and the criticisms in the 1909 Poor Law Report?
Much of the published work on the Poor Law in Scotland is concerned with
the problems created by rapid industrialisation and urbanisation and the
boom/bust cycle of heavy manufacturing, or with the acutely congested
western Highlands and Islands. Kildonan is an east-Sutherland parish with
a commercial fishing port, a few large farms and a ‘long tail of
tenants with tiny holdings’. (Gray,1957,p226)
Charity was “the care and concern for others....a thank offering
for success....to the less fortunate”. Chalmers’ voluntary
ideals recalled pre-modern society. Nineteenth-century economic theory
held that charity defied the laws of the labour-market in assisting the
able-bodied. (Checkland,1980,p2-3). In practice Victorian welfare was
“parsimony injurious to the poor and discreditable to the rich”.
(Alison,1840,p66).
“The Gaelic
Highlander often refused to conform to the model of Smithian man. They
had their own ideology, which was that the possession of land, the tenure
of a croft, was the highest good a man could desire.” (Smout,1986,p67).
It is impossible to conclude from the evidence how much this applied to
Kildonan but the Poor Law was deeply rooted in the Smithian idea of ‘the
invisible hand of economic self-interest’ (of the employing classes!).
James Loch, MP and agent for the Duke of Sutherland, in an 1846 letter
on the developing potato famine stated “I do not think that some
measure of distress will not reach our people. I think it will and I think
it ought, it is the only thing that will induce them to work.” (Richards,1973,p263).
From an early Board of Supervision
report “Any systematic attempt to refuse all relief, except such
as may be received within the walls of a Poorhouse, would excite a baneful
spirit of discontent among the poor.....without effecting any saving to
the funds of the parish” (Levitt,1988,p9). Levitt goes on to illustrate
from evidence to the 1844 Commission that it was not unknown for some
parishes to give occasional relief to the unemployed.
Nicholls (an English exponent
of the Workhouse and efficiency of relief. (Drake,1994,p278) stated that
by 1853, 77% of parishes had moved to (Alisonian) assessment of ratepayers,
rather than the voluntary giving which, prior to the 1843 Disruption and
the 1845 Poor Law Act had been the practice in Scotland. (Nicholls,1967,p264).
By 1850 only two Highland parishes continued the voluntary principle.
(Hunter,1976,p75)
Quotations from the
Board of Supervision reports: (Nicholls,1967) (The italics are mine)
1849,p229. “As Poorhouses increase they will furnish.....a simple
test where there is reason to doubt the disability or destitution of the
applicants.”
1850,p231. “When relief was a charitable rather than a legal obligation,
Poorhouses were regarded as almshouses....admission was regarded as a
boon.... The more perfect knowledge by the poor of their rights.....have
caused a strong pressure on Parochial Boards. A Poorhouse will be wholly
useless unless it is conducted.....so as to render it more irksome than
labour.”.
1850,p233. “Admission to Poorhouse (1) Destitute persons.....who
cannot be cared for by means of outdoor relief except at a cost exceeding
that for which they can be maintained in the Poorhouse. (2) Persons whose
claims are doubtful,....concealing resources,....idle, immoral or dissipated.”
1851,p235. “Parochial Boards had discretionary powers to afford
temporary relief to casual poor including the able-bodied in absolute
want....it may be more advantageous to give aid to such able-bodied persons
than withhold it until disablement arises”. (Judgements of the House
of Lords in 1852, 1859 and 1866 effectively removed this discretion from
Parochial Boards (Levitt,1988,p11)).
The Act required
Parochial Boards to care for the sick and infirm, but also insisted on
rigid control of costs and tests of genuine destitution. The result was
an unsatisfactory compromise. (MacLachlan,1987,p26)
During the period of this
study, concurrent with parliamentary reform and the enfranchisement of
the working-classes, legislation was introduced dealing with education,
lunacy, public health, old-age pensions in 1908 and unemployment insurance
in 1911. In 1909 a report was published which was highly critical of Poor
Law practice. It concluded: the abolition of outdoor relief was wholly
impracticable; offering the ‘House’ in all cases had unacceptable
results; doles were manifestly inadequate for healthy subsistence and
assumed to supplement ‘other’ resources, whether or not they
existed; relief was unconditional with no check on actual maintenance
or improvement. (NCBPLC,1909,p77-81)
The authors of the Main report
aimed to modify and improve the Poor Law, whereas the Minority report
for Scotland (MRNCBPLC,1909,p44) proposed its replacement by specialist
agencies whose aim should be the prevention rather than relief of destitution.
Subject headings relevant to this project are summarised:
Able-bodied.(p2-13).
Treatment was inadequate and inept. National problems could not be solved
at the parochial level. There should be a national Employment and Training
Authority.
Children.(p13-19). Poorhouses were the wrong place for children. 30,000
children on outdoor relief were underfed and poorly clothed. The Education
Authority should be responsible for orphans and children of the Poor.
Sick.(p20-28). The provisions for medical care were not working. The system
provided the minimum necessary rather than the maximum practicable. The
service was uneconomical, impracticable and wasteful. The sick should
be wholly taken out of the Poor Law.
Mentally Defective.(p28-31). 20% of Paupers were mentally defective. All
defectives should be removed from the Poor Law into the care of the Lunacy
Authority.
Aged.(p31-34). The 1908 Old Age Pensions Act gave pensions to the necessitous
over-70s. Excluded Pensioners and some under-70s unable to earn their
maintenance should be removed from the Poor Law to the Pensions Committee.
Infirm but not Aged.(p31-36). Discrimination between the aged and younger
infirm was unfair. Poor Law treatment was inadequate out-relief or the
Poorhouse. They should be treated according to their needs outwith the
Poor Law.
The underlying philosophy
of the Poor Law, which implied the inferiority of the poor was criticised
(MRNCBPLC,1909,p55):
There was an implication that moral defects caused destitution.
The stigma of pauperism was designed to be a deterrent to requesting relief.
Stress was placed on the efficiency of treatment (cost to the ratepayer)
rather than long-term improvement in the condition of the pauper.
All classes of paupers were viewed equally as destitution cases and were
not eligible for relief before they became destitute.
Description and evaluation of Sources and methods:
The annual “List of Registered Poor chargeable to the Parish of
Kildonan”. (LRP)
These cover 1868-1915 with ten years missing. The MPBs were used to go
back to 1864 and fill in some of the missing years. All individuals with
a Kildonan settlement were linked on a spreadsheet into 336 cases, showing
duration and nature-of-relief. Despite some inconsistencies, the absence
of the GRP and the restarting (twice) of the roll-numbers, there was little
risk of confusion. The LRPs were circulated to ratepayers, often the neighbours
of paupers on the roll and included the annual statement of income and
expenditure summarised at Appendix-3.
The Minutes of the
Parochial Board for Kildonan. (MPB)
The “General Register of the Poor” for Kildonan in Highland
Archives only covers 1924-30 but some of the Minute books of the Parochial
Board survive. Fair copies cover 1863-Oct/1878 and Aug/1890-1904. A draft
covers 1877-Oct 1884, thus 1885 to part of 1890 is missing. Draft rolls
in November and May are included with new applications for relief or changes
(increased doles, shoes and blankets or house repairs). The MPBs refer
to communications received or actions by the Inspector, only occasionally
giving extra detail about paupers. An annual rate was levied on the owners
and occupiers of property. The parish was owned by the Duke of Sutherland
and his factor was a member of the Board until the Parish Council took
over in May/1895. James Campbell, the Inspector of the Poor (Parochial
Clerk, Collector, Schoolmaster, Sanitary Inspector and Registrar) was
appointed in 1866 after his predecessor had resigned following criticism
by the Board of Supervision’s visiting Inspector. Following an 1869
inspection Campbell was commended for the new printed return which forms
the basis of this project. Retiring in 1914, he probably did ‘know
everybody’s business’. (Fraser&Morris,1990,p272).
Statutory death records.
(SDR)
As far as possible the death of a pauper in the LRP was linked to the
SDR, adding age and cause of death to summary spreadsheets. For many pauper
deaths the Inspector was Informant as well as Registrar and the personal
information is often incomplete and cause of death uninformative.
CEBs for Kildonan
(52) 1851 to 1891.
Using extracts of the spreadsheets in alphabetical order with the people
whom I expect to find in each of the CEBs (1851-91) for annotation, I
identified all but eleven local paupers in one or more CEBs for their
reported ages, places of birth and occupations (before becoming ‘paupers’).
The CEBs are a frustrating source due to temporary absences, reporting
errors and the lack of any useful addresses in this parish. However, due
to their circumstances and need to maintain a ‘settlement’
potential paupers tended not to move. In the 1851 CEB 62% of the population
were locally born and 81% in Sutherland. Among paupers over the period
80% were born in the parish and 89% in the county (Appendix-10). Having
found discrepancies between ages on the LRP and SDR, there are more between
these and the ages reported for the same individuals on successive CEBs.
Only 58 had informative occupations, other than e.g. ‘domestic-servant’,
‘lotter’, ‘wife’, ‘daughter’ or blank.
Old Parish Record for Kildonan, 1791-1854. (OPR)
The OPR was checked for paupers born in the parish up to 1843 according
to the CEBs. Most were found, though it appears few people knew their
exact age and therefore some of the commoner names are open to dispute.
Almost all paupers had parents described as lotters, tenants or labourers,
which accounted for the bulk of the pre-clearance population. However
this source would have been more valuable if I had time to examine kinship
links in order to understand relationships between paupers and their neighbours
in the community.
Main Findings.
Eligibility.
Many claimants were refused on the grounds that they were able-bodied,
not destitute or “not a proper object of relief”. Some are
relieved but the inspector is instructed to recover advances from relatives.
Although amounts recovered are regularly reported, it is rarely possible
to link this to individual relief given. (See Drake,1994,p96-97 for the
responsibility under English law of children for their parents). The Board
became involved in legal disputes over settlement of paupers and, in 1875,
£89 (20% of the total paid to the regular poor) was spent on a case
claiming restitution from a reputed father. For ‘settlement’,
birth or three years residence was necessary, without receiving relief
or begging for assistance. (Day,1918,p127). Several claims by tramps are
rejected annually, though the financial returns show payments to casual
poor. Kildonan paupers in other parishes (2-4p.a.) are included but paupers
from elsewhere (5-6p.a.) are ignored in this project. The percentage of
the population on-the-roll rose a little above the Scottish average in
1870 and in most years until 1897. (Appendix-2).
Imbeciles and Lunatics.(sic)
There are 51 cases, 15% of the total (less than the national 20%). Six
were sent to the Inverness Asylum for short periods before the Board of
Lunacy payments began in 1876 and 36 thereafter, mostly after 1893 when
the payments increased. (Appendix-3) Lodging-house keepers were authorised
and paid by the Board to keep lunatics. Ten imbeciles were boarded-out
in earlier years and sent to the Asylum later, one for ‘chasing
conveyances on the highway’. Several widows-with-children spent
time in the Asylum. It is impossible to classify the rest, perhaps depressed
by impoverished circumstances?
Sick.
I defined “long-term-sick” as 38 (11%) who were on-the-roll
before the age of 60, remaining for more than two years and “final-illness”
as 12 (4%) younger cases dying within a year of joining the roll. Incapable
paupers were nursed by untrained women who probably stayed off the roll
themselves only by virtue of 1/- pw attendance paid for each. A Medical
Officer shared with Loth parish was partly paid by government grant, (Day,1918,p128)
though the Chairman of the Board complained repeatedly about the cost
of the MO’s house. SDRs for paupers often indicate ‘old-age’
or ‘debility’ as a cause of death, making analysis pointless.
Tuberculosis and phthisis were commonly reported as causes of premature
death, probably due to damp, inadequate housing (Hunter,1976,p112-3).
Medicines were provided to sick paupers but the Board was reluctant to
send paupers to Inverness Infirmary. Typhoid, typhus and other fevers
were regularly reported but serious expenditure on sanitation only begins
after the Public Health Act of 1897.
Aged.
I defined the elderly at 65+, although the 1908 Act referred to over-70s.
They account for much of the roll, 45% overall based on age-of-entry and
higher based on actual ages, until 1908. The median age-of-entry to regular
out-relief overall was 63, rising to 68 when I excluded widows-with-children
and orphans. The median age of the 156 who were or had been on-the-roll
and died aged 65+ (1864-1901) was 80. The median age of death of all 366
65+s in the parish (1855-1901) was 77. The oldest are most likely to need
aid, but this does not explain such longevity on nine years of 1lb meal/day!
(Appendix-8)
At Appendix-12, in 1871, 68% of females and 27% of males calculated to
be 65+ were on-the-roll and in 1891, 53% of females and 10% of males.
It is reasonable to assume that although some of those not on-the-roll
may have had savings or remittances to live on, most lived with younger
relatives. Out-migration of younger people as the population declined
by 25% between 1851 and 1901 reduced the available support for the elderly.
Widows and Orphans.
During 1864-1908, 35 widows-with-children (11%) receive out-relief; for
21 in the parish and 8 elsewhere relief ceased, presumably when the children
reached 14; Of only 4 widowers-with-children, two died leaving 6 orphans;
32 Married men (10 elderly, 5 elsewhere) featured of whom 20 died on-the-roll.
(Appendix-9). 12 orphans or illegitimate children (4%), two of them imbeciles,
were maintained, normally boarded-out in the community with one brought
up in the Poorhouse from birth till 14.
Able-bodied claimants.
It is difficult to determine whether the able-bodied were assisted. 11%
of cases (Appendix-10) are uncertain, some outwith the parish, others
received short-term or one-off payments for unstated reasons. Apart from
subsistence crofting agriculture, Kildonan depended on cyclical industries:
inland sheep-farming and coastal arable-farming in eastern Sutherland
were hit by agricultural depression after 1875 (Devine,1984,p243); the
herring fishery could turn unpredictably from glut to famine. Kildonan
residents who migrated for work might return to the parish during periods
of unemployment. Seven shoemakers appeared on-the-roll in the years after
the railway reached Helmsdale in 1870, perhaps assistance was given to
craftsmen whose trade had been ruined? A cooper was described in a CEB
as unemployed prior to joining the roll. Occasional charity could be paid
to the able-bodied but only the infirm could receive regular relief. (Nicholls,1967,p112).
The law was constantly broken when an able-bodied claimant had a sick
dependent or a sympathetic MO could register the unemployed person as
‘disabled’. (Day,1918,p127). One can speculate that if an
unemployed person became truly disabled by reason of their destitution
and, therefore, a “proper object of relief”, they would probably
remain unemployable. Truly an inept system, as described in MRNCBPLC.
Weekly Doles.
Some payments for rents or repairs were made and clothing, bedding and
fuel given out, but there is insufficient data to evaluate them. I concentrated
on an analysis of 2372 pauper-years of weekly outdoor-relief. (Appendix-6).
Between 26 and 64 were on regular outdoor-relief (1864-1910) averaging
49 and 9 years/pauper. Doles ranged from 6d to 5/-, averaging 2/6 with
a median 2/3 overall. Some families are included so median values are
more significant than the average. Over decennial periods the doles rose
steadily from 1/3 (1864-70), 1/6 (1871-80), 2/- (1881-90) and 2/9 (1891-1900).
The mid-1880s saw the rise of the Highland Land League. (Hunter,1976,p131-183).
The Kildonan branch of the Sutherland Association, a precursor of the
League, was active from 1878 (MacLeod,1917,p29) and forced the estate
to concede on several local issues. (MacCall,1995). Crofter representatives
(including the son of a pauper who died in 1885) were on the Board in
1890, (MPBs for 1885-1889 are missing) following the Third Reform Act(1885),
but the doles were rising before 1885, so could the Board have been responding
to local political pressure?
The rise is even more significant in the context of a prices index falling
from its peak of 151 in 1877 to 92 in 1896 and 100 in 1900. (Bowley,1900).
Adjusting to 1900 prices the median dole was 1/- in 1864, only reaching
1/3 in 1878, 2/- in 1887 and 3/- by 1897. At 1870 prices a diet of oatmeal,
potatoes and fish providing just 1900 calories per day would cost 2/-
pw and the actual median 1/3 buys just 7lb of oatmeal/week, (some doles
were paid in meal). In 1900, 3/- pw would buy a more balanced 2800 calories/day.
(Appendix-5). For comparison, at Appendix-4 it was calculated that on
a Sutherland labourer’s wage, spending 3/- on food per head (plus
sundries and rent) a couple would be in primary poverty with one child
in 1868-1884 and throughout with two. (Rowntree,1902 and Bowley,1900).
Appendix-7 graphically illustrates how difficult survival would have been
for paupers. If destitute, as demanded by the Poor Law, how could they
have ‘other resources’? Perhaps they received their customary
codach (portion) from among the crofters and labourers. Waste fish from
the harbour, nettles from the midden and shellfish from the shore may
have provided extra when they were mobile enough to get them. Doles paid
to long-term paupers sometimes rose in their final years.
Poorhouse.
The Sutherland Combination Poorhouse was too large, distant, expensive,
unsuited to the Highlands and little-used. It cost 8/4 per pauper/week
in 1879. (Day,1918,p111). The Scottish average in 1863 was 4/4. (Ferguson,1948,p218).
The Poorhouse ‘Test’ was recommended for all but the most
‘deserving’, yet in Scotland generally only 14% were sent
to the Poorhouse, probably because outdoor-relief was cheaper, compared
with 31% in England. (Fraser&Morris,1990,p275). The English New Poor
Law, designed for the rural South aimed to put as many paupers as possible
in the workhouse. (Drake,1994, p277-278). Only 7 (2%) were sent (1868-1895),
including a child for 14 years, yet the Poorhouse cost the parish £1176
in that time. (Appendix-3). A further five were sent in 1905-1915. Fourteen
on outdoor-relief between 1867 and 1869 were ‘offered Poorhouse’,
after pressure from the Board of Supervision, though only one was sent
and seven continued on regular relief subsequently. Three more were ‘tested’
in 1901, two came off-the-roll but one continued. Several people refused
even the offer of outdoor-relief demonstrating the ‘stigma’
effect and other deserving cases may well not have applied.
The ‘Barracks’ were a terrace of six pauper-houses in Helmsdale
which cost £210 in repairs and housed, during 1872-1905, 14 individuals
or families receiving regular relief totalling roughly £1060, or
£8 per pauper-year instead of £49 for the Poorhouse. Cottages
were taken over by the Board in exchange for relief and used as ‘Parochial
lodging-houses’. (Day,1918,p116).
Conclusions:
The concern of the Board was ‘efficiency’ of relief to the
deserving-poor and forcing the non-deserving-poor to labour. Doles rose
from utterly inadequate to bare subsistence-level by 1900. The aged, insane
and infirm were aided to the minimum level needed for survival, though
this does not appear to have affected their life-expectancy. The able-bodied
may have been assisted by subterfuge. The Poorhouse was expensive and
unsuitable. Relatively large sums were spent on legal costs and administration.
Though the MRNCBPLC criticisms were justified, it does not appear to have
been as bad in Kildonan as in the urban areas. Economic dogma and parochial
parsimony in the face of a rapidly changing economy bore hardest on the
poorest.
Personal Note
My great-grandfather, Joseph MacLeod, MBE, author of 'Highland Heroes
of the Land Reform Movement', a founder of the Sutherland Association
and a prominent Land-League speaker, was the son of a shoemaker in Helmsdale.
Alexander, his father received both occasional and regular out-relief
at various times after 1870 until the last of his six children reached
14. Unusually Alexander came off the roll aged 65. The family lived at
the Barracks where his mother nursed incapable paupers. Despite their
circumstances, Alexander lived until he was 87 and Ann, his wife, to 97.
References
Primary:
Census Enumeration Books for Kildonan parish, (52), 1851, - transcribed
on my computer
Census Enumeration Books for Kildonan parish, (52), 1861,1871,1881,1891
- microfilm (CEBs)
Old Parish Record for Loth (1803-1854) and Kildonan (1791-1854). - transcribed
on computer (OPR)
Published List of Registered Poor chargeable to the Parish of Kildonan
1868-1915 - (LRP)
Statutory Death records for parish of Kildonan 1855-1901 - (SDR)
Minutes of the Parochial Board for the Parish of Kildonan 1845-1924 -
(MPB)
Highland Council Archives: CS6/8/2, 1863-1870
CS6/8/3, 1871-1878
CS6/8/4, 1877-1884 Scroll (Draft book only)
CS6/8/5, 1890-1904
Official Reports:
The report of the National Committee to promote the break-up of the Poor
Law Commission, 1909 - (NCBPLC)
The Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission for Scotland, in the above
report of the National Committee to promote the break-up of the Poor Law
Commission, 1909, (MRNCBPLC)
Report by the Board of Trade into Earnings and Hours of Labour of Work
People in the UK, Vol V - Agriculture in 1907, HMSO, 1910
Report of an enquiry by the Board of Trade into Working Class rents and
retail prices in industrial towns in 1912, HMSO, 1913
DA301 Final Project
Report,
MacCall, A.T., Marrel East Sutherland during the Highland Land War of
the 1880s, Project report submitted for Open University Course DA301 (Studying
Family and Community History), 1995
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Alison, W.P., 1840, On the management of the poor in Scotland, Blackwood
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