Syllabus Edition
First teaching 2016
Last exams 2025
Elizabeth's Poor Laws, 1563-1576 (Edexcel GCSE History)
Revision Note
Written by: Zoe Wade
Reviewed by: Bridgette Barrett
Did Elizabeth's Poor Laws Reduce Poverty? - Timeline & Summary
Elizabeth's Poor Laws between 1563 and 1576 demonstrated a shift in how the government viewed poverty. The majority of medieval monarchs had a laissez-faire attitude. This meant that they did not believe in interfering in the lives of their subjects. Society and the government saw unemployment and poverty as the fault of the person. If they were physically able to work, it was their responsibility to find and keep a job. By 1563, the government's attitude began to change. Elizabeth's Poor Laws were the national policies that acknowledged and tackled the issue of unemployment. It paved the way for further support for the poor and a step towards the welfare system we have in Britain today.
Elizabeth's Poor Laws did not significantly impact the levels of poverty in the 16th century. Levels of poor relief differed across England depending upon people's attitudes to the poor. Many Elizabethans still feared vagrants and wanted harsh punishment of the 'Idle' Poor. England's continued conflict with Spain impacted England's cloth trade, which increased unemployment.
Why did Elizabeth Tackle the 'Issue' of the Poor?
Unemployment and poverty created significant issues for Elizabethan society
Causes and Consequences of Elizabethan Poverty and Unemployment
Examiner Tips and Tricks
In the exam covering Early Elizabethan England, it is important to explain why events happened. This requires you to link different together pieces of information from across the course. Levels of unemployment increased when the cloth trade performed badly. The cloth trade struggled from 1563-64, 1568-73 and 1586-88. The majority of Elizabeth's Poor Laws correspond with these dips in the cloth trade.
The Poor Laws
| The Statute of Artificers, 1563 | Vagabonds Act, 1572 | Poor Relief Act, 1576 |
Aims | To ensure all Elizabethans contributed to poor relief | To reduce the levels of vagrancy in towns and cities | To determine the genuine poor that needed help from those who did not want or accept government poor relief |
Positive features | It made local officials and society accountable for providing poor relief. People who refused to pay poor relief faced imprisonment. Justices of the Peace who did not collect poor relief were fined £20 | It created a national system to monitor and help the poor. Each area of England had to pay the same poor rate. Justices of the Peace kept a register of who was poor. Finding work for the unemployed was the responsibility of local officials | The Poor Relief Act gave practical support for the poor. Justices of the Peace provided the able-bodied poor with raw materials to create goods for sale |
Negative features | The rising prices of goods in England affected all areas of society. Some people could not afford to contribute towards poor relief | Punishments for vagrants increased. Physical punishments included drilling holes in vagabonds' ears. If arrested three times, vagrants faced the death penalty | The government punished the poor if they refused to use the government's materials. The poor rate paid for the building of special prisons called houses of correction. |
Worked Example
Describe one feature of Elizabeth's Poor Laws that changed poor relief in Elizabethan England
2 marks
Answers:
One feature of the Poor Laws that changed poor relief was creating a national poor relief system (1). The Vagabonds Act in 1572 established a national poor rate with the responsibility placed on local Justices of the Peace to register the poor (1).
Examiner Tips and Tricks
This question previously asked students to describe two features of a given event. This question was out of four marks. However, as of 2025, Edexcel will split this question into two subsections, asking you to describe a feature of two different events. Each subsection is worth two marks.
The Impact of Elizabeth's Poor Laws
Positive consequences | Negative consequences |
|---|---|
Many people's attitudes towards vagabonds slowly changed. Only 10% of vagrants received the punishment of whipping. Most parishes gave vagrants money if they promised to leave the town | Vagrants still scared people in society. In some towns, people distributed pamphlets warning of the dangers of vagabondage. This only increased fear |
Elizabethans acknowledged unemployment as a genuine problem. The Poor Relief Act provided the unemployed with a way to work out of poverty with independence and pride. This influenced the government's approach to poverty until the 1800s | The Poor Laws could not control external factors which caused poverty in England. Poverty remained high due to England's conflict with Spain. English merchants used the Netherlands as a base to sell cloth across Europe. Spain blocked England's access to this market, which resulted in economic difficulties for England |
Examiner Tips and Tricks
An exam question may ask you to explain to what extent the Poor Laws were successful. Overall, the Poor Laws had limited success on the issue of poverty. They did ensure that a growing number of Elizabethans recognised unemployment as a real social issue. Certain areas across England embraced and improved their levels of poor relief. From 1569, Ipswich established a school for poorer children and a hospital that treated the poor without charge.
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