A Note on Monetary Values and Poor Law Administration

Monetary Values

Before 1971, the pound was divided into 20 shillings (abbreviated as s) and subdivided again into 12 pennies (d). There were thus 240 pennies to the pound. Occasionally, you might come across a reference to a guinea, which was worth 21s, although few paupers would have ever seen one.

It is almost impossible to give any idea of what this was worth in modern terms. A mid-Victorian labourer might hope to earn between 20s and 30s per week, but, of course, many had to support their families on much less, particularly in times of economic distress. By contrast the minimum wage rate for workers aged over 22 today is £6.31 an hour. When Mary Higgs and her friend spent a week visiting lodging houses and casual wards in the north of England in the early 1900s, they each took just 2s 6d to last a whole week. The amount of out-relief offered by many Poor Law unions in the 1890s was 2s or 2s 6d per person per week, barely enough to survive on. It was claimed – without much evidence – that a beggar or loafer in London and other big cities might make up to 5s a day by a mixture of begging and doing odd jobs, such as holding horses or taking messages.

Whitehall and the Workhouse

Over the hundred years of the New Poor Law, it was administered by a number of different government departments. Some writers have preferred to refer to them as just the ‘central Poor Law authority’, although no such body ever existed. However, I have used their full names, alternating with Whitehall and London as appropriate. The departments were:

Poor Law Commission (June 1834–July 1847)

Poor Law Board (July 1847–August 1871)

Local Government Board (August 1871–June 1919)

Ministry of Health (June 1919–1930)