The Dependent Poor? (Re)constructing The Lives of Individuals ‘On the Parish’ in Rural Dorset, 1800–1832
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12243447 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Samantha A Shave (University of Southampton, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 67-97 |
| Publication date | 2009-03-24 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Rural History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0956-7933 • E-ISSN: 1474-0656 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0956793308002598 |
| OpenAlex | W2097966893 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 69 |
Social commentators in the early decades of the nineteenth century considered the ‘poor classes’ to be a homogenous sub-group of society dependent on parish poor relief. Whilst in recent decades studies of the Old Poor Law have added much to our understandings of the complexity of poor relief practices, the concept of dependency has proved remarkably durable. This article challenges this central assumption by focusing upon the very individuals who constituted this supposedly homogenous dependent group. The relief histories of eight individuals from two cohorts who resided in the Dorset parish of Motcombe are (re)constructed and linked to demographic data to produce detailed biographies. On the basis of these biographies it is argued that even in north Dorset, where opportunities for employment and alternative forms of subsistence were few, ‘the poor’ experienced complex fluctuations of dependence on, and independence from, poor relief. It is also shown that traditional assumptions about the factors prompting relief, including the expansion of the family, did not have a uniform impact on all individuals. Such a methodology also makes it possible to explore how the parish managed to respond to the differing and similar needs of individuals. It is thus stressed that instead of following one policy for all, parish officials applied and tailored relief to suit each individual
Agriculture · Archaeology · Dependency (UML · Genealogy · Independence (probability theory · Political science · Poor relief · Poverty · Sociology · Subsistence agriculture · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Law
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Pre-industrial welfare between regional economies and local regimes
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Insights from the Historical Lived Experience of a Fragmented Economy of Welfare in Britain
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Malthus and the Poor Law
The Impact of Sturges Bourne's Poor Law Reforms in Rural England
An irrevocable shift
New perspectives on historical writing
Bread, knowledge and freedom.
Parish and Belonging
On the Parish?
Literacy and Popular Culture
An Economic History of the English Poor Law, 1750–1850
Annals of the Labouring Poor
English Population History from Family Reconstitution 1580–1837
Using Documents in Social Research
Commoners
The population history of England, 1541-1871
Poverty
The Origins of the British Welfare State
Revel, Riot, and Rebellion
Chronicling Poverty
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Automatic Family Reconstitution
In Contempt of all Authority
The Myth of the Old Poor Law and the Making of the New
The Poor Law Report Reexamined
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Microhistory and the Lost Peoples of Europe
Working-Class Isolation and Mobility in Rural Dorset, 1837-1936
Parish Economies of Welfare, 1650–1834
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Enclosures, Common Rights, and Women
Land, Kinship and Life-Cycle
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English Population History from Family Reconstitution
Bread, Knowledge and Freedom
The Demographic Impact of the Old Poor Law
Malthus, the Poor Law, and Population in Early Nineteenth-Century England
The Temporal and Spatial Incidence of Agricultural Depression in Dorset, 1868-1902
Education, Literacy and Society, 1830-70
The Cost of Poor Relief in South-East England, 1790-1834
Rural Discontent in Nineteenth Century Britain
The Cheese and the Worms
Microhistory
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,77 |
| Citation span | 2013 - 2020 (8) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |