Avalon’s idea of an oasis for disenfranchised prostitutes and illegitimate children would have been revolutionary and exuberantly accepted by the church and the Warwyk parish. Her charity would have lessened if not eliminated the financial responsibility of the parish under the Poor Laws.
The Poor Laws originated during the Tudor era. They were designed as a system for caring for those unable to care for themselves, particularly the elderly, sick, disabled, illegitimate and orphaned children, and unemployed—much like Annie, Jasmine, and Flora. When Devan speaks of the parish’s responsibility for these illegitimate children, he’s correct. The responsibility for their care fell on the individual parishes where the poor resided. By collecting funds from their residents, the parish paid for the support of the poor, but in most cases, the amount was never enough.
Throughout the Georgian and Regency periods, poverty was a concern. Not surprisingly, the majority of the victims were single women and children. It was not unusual for women who found themselves without employment and in the lower economic classes to turn to prostitution as a “stopgap” means of survival. Often they continued in the profession. Not only did they risk disease, abuse, unwanted pregnancies, but also poverty.
Many wealthy parishes were desperate to keep these “freeloaders” from giving birth while under their watch. Is it any wonder that extreme measures such as transportation by wheelbarrow as I described in the story and even public shaming were used as weapons to force pregnant women to leave so they wouldn’t give birth in certain parishes? If a father could be identified, the parish made every effort to force him to pay a form of maintenance. But there was no guarantee that the father would continue payments as the child grew. Sometimes, he just disappeared, never to be heard from again. Thus, the care of the mother and child once again fell on the parish where they resided.
In 1834, the Poor Law Amendment Act took effect. The middle and upper classes had tired of taking care of the poor. Believing individuals were responsible for their own poverty, Parliament came up with a solution whereby the number of workhouses increased. The poor could pay their way by working. They were forced to work and live in harsh, inhumane conditions.
Richard Oastler, a proponent of the anti–Poor Law resistance, called these workhouses “prisons for the poor.” It wasn’t until after World War II that the Poor Laws were abolished completely in the United Kingdom.