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History of Welfare
History of Welfare
Plague in Kingston
As with any other community Kingston has always had to deal with the problem of poverty and disease. In the 16th and 17th Centuries probably between one third and one half of the population lived below the poverty line. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries (the traditional providers of charity), churches, lay charities and town and village councils had to take over the burden of provision. The 1601 Poor Law Act gave responsibility to parish offficials called Overseers of the Poor who had to raise money by levying a rate on inhabitants. The Corporation, guilds and charities also helped with the provision of aid. Please see documents below for more information:
List of poor people clothed from Henry Smith's charity in 1708 (document reference KB41/2/1) pdf.
Transcript of document reference KB41/2/1
Vagrants
There were wide disparities of wealth between parishes and amounts given to poor people could vary. So people often moved to different parishes where more help might be available. People seeking relief from a parish not their place of origin would be harried into the next one or passed back and forth between parishes. It was the ultimate responsibility of the parish of origin to look after their welfare. Please see documents below for more information:
Removal order, 1783 (document reference KG3/5/1). pdf
Transcript of document reference KG3/5/1
Pregnancy
Single pregnant women were particularly targeted as no parish wished to have responsibility for the baby. An Act of 1732 obliged mothers to reveal the name of their baby's father so that the overseers could obtain maintenance from the father. This document was called a bastardy bond. Please see our documents reference KG3/5/2 below.
Bastardy bond, 1758 (document reference KG3/5/2).pdf
Transcript of document reference KG3/5/2
Almshouses
As an example of a local charitable bequest, William Cleeve in his will of 1665, left money "for the erecting and building of a convenient house for "six poor men and six poor women of honest life and reputation". The almshouses were built in 1669, extended in 1889 and remodelled in 1994. They still perform a useful service in the borough. Please see our documents below for further information:
The Workhouse
By the late 17th century parish workhouses were established so that the poor could work for their benefits, rather than receiving home relief. Many people thought that the poor were responsible for their misfortune, that they were in need of moral reform, that they must be bound to work and have discipline imposed on them. The Quakers strongly believed this and were some of the first to experiment with workhouses.
In 1697 seven acres of Norbiton Common were enclosed to grow flax to "set the poor to work" and the old pest house(previously used for plague sufferers) was re-erected in the Horsefair as a workhouse. Please see our related documents from reference KF1/5/1
Agreement about Norbiton Common, 1697 (document reference KF1/5/1).pdf
Transcript of document reference KF1/5/1
By 1725 the workhouse had to expand to house the elderly and children so it moved to a building in Surbiton Lane (close to the site now occupied by Surrey County Hall). Families were often split up into groups of men, women, boys and girls and children under two. Uniforms had to be worn and life generally was regulated. Please see documents below:
Scheme for setting up a workhouse in 1725 (document reference KG3/4/1).pdf
Transcript of document reference KG3/4/1
Workhouse Master's agreement (document reference KG3/4/4).pdf
In 1759 Kingston's Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor entered into an agreement with a merchant tailor of London who becam Master of the workhouse. He undertook to provide food, fuel, clothes, medical care and other necessities to the inmates, to bury the dead and provide food for poor apprentices. His pay was £420 per year. The agreement document also contains an inventory of goods in the workhouse.
The workhouse moved to London Road in 1774 but the system worked less and less well as the population grew. In 1834 the Poor Law Amendment Act amalgamated parishes into Poor Law Unions so that economies of scale could improve provision. A new workhouse was built in Coombe Road in 1839. The new system reduced the poor rate to a more acceptable level. In practice, provision for the poor was still patchy and continued to be provided by many different agencies including the church, the Borough and, increasingly as the century went on, by Friendly Societies, Building Societies and Trade Unions. It was not until 1930 that relief became a central government responsibility.