Also by Robert Humphreys SIN, ORGANIZED CHARITY AND THE POOR LAW IN VICTORIAN ENGLAND

NO FIXED ABODE

Also by Robert Humphreys SIN, ORGANIZED CHARITY AND THE POOR LAW IN VICTORIAN ENGLAND

No Fixed Abode A History of Responses to the Roofless and the Rootless in Britain Robert Humphreys Department of Economic History London School of Economics and Political Science

* ISBN 978-1-349-40905-1 ISBN 978-0-230-51086-9 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230510869 Robert Humphreys 1999 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1999 978-0-333-73846-7 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Totten ham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by PALGRAVE Houndmilts, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE is the new global academic imprint of St. Martin's Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). Outside North America In North America ISBN 978-0-312-22563-6 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 99-26120 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 09 08 07 06 OS 04 03 02

To Harry, Ellen and Sam

Contents List of Figures ix List of Tables x Acknowledgements xii Abbreviations xiii 1 Introduction 1 2 Early Vagrancy Legislation 16 3 Tudor Response to the Travelling Poor 31 4 The Travelling Poor in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 56 5 Victorian Attitudes 78 6 Vagrancy around the World Wars 113 7 Homelessness and the Welfare State 137 8 Conclusion 167 Notes 181 Bibliography 203 Index 211 vii

List of Figures 1.1 The street homeless and their place in society 13 2.1 Wage rates of building craftsmen, labourers and agricultural labourers, Southern England, 1280--1500 24 2.2 Price of composite unit of consumables and equivalent wage rate of building craftsmen, Southern England, 1260--1499 25 2.3 Price of composite unit of consumables and equivalent building craftsman wage rate, 1450-1500 26 3.1 Agricultural labourer's cost of living and wages, 1450--1599 35 3.2 Real-wage index of building craftsmen in England, 1499-1599 37 3.3 Price of composite unit of consumables in Southern England,1570--1600 42 5.1 Number of vagrants relieved by Poor Law authorities in England and Wales, 1848-80 84 6.1 Number of casuals relieved and unemployment, 1900--18 117 6.2 Homeless people and their mode of shelter, 1910-14 121 6.3 Casuals receiving Poor Law relief and number unemployed,1918-39 126 7.1 Average nightly number of casuals in reception centres, England and Wales, 1948-64 146 ix

List of Tables 4.1 Purchasing power of building craftsmen and agricultural labourers in seventeenth-century southern England 61 4.2 Estimated population and poor rate in England and Wales at various dates from 1688 to 1801 76 5.1 Population and poor rate in England and Wales at various dates from 1776 to 1834 79 5.2 Vagrants!wayfarers relieved by 'the parish' and by Brighton COS during 1878-9 and 1879-80 98 5.3 Number of vagrants and paupers relieved by the Poor Law compared with the population of England and Wales, 1870-80 102 5.4 Number of vagrants relieved on the night of 1 January by the Poor Law authorities in England and Wales, 1850-1900 106 6.1 Monthly number of tickets issued by the police to the Metropolitan homeless during 1912, 1913 and 1914; also where shelter was offered and the extent to which the offer was accepted 119 6.2 Homeless men and women in London and their mode of shelter, 1904-13 124 6.3 Number of casuals relieved in England and Wales on an average Friday in certain years 1910-30 inclusive. Figures are in thousands 128 6.4 Age distribution of men, women and children in certain casual wards on 10 February 1928 and 14 February 1930 129 7.1 Number of casual men, women and children in receipt of poor relief in England and Wales on the night of 1 January 1947 139 7.2 Number of reception centres functioning in England and Wales before 5 July 1948, on 5 July 1948 and on 31 December 1958 140 x

List of Tables xi 7.3 Average nightly number of casuals accommodated in reception centres month by month in England and Wales, 1948-56 143 7.4 Homeless persons in temporary accommodation supplied by local authorities during 1966-72 in Greater London and in the rest of England and Wales 149 7.5 Homeless households provided with accommodation by local authorities shown in intervals of three years, 1973-94 156 7.6 Homeless households found accommodation by local authorities. Reasons for homelessness shown as percentage of total number 159

Acknowledgements Encompassing all the good people I should thank for their support during the writing of this book is not possible. I must however acknowledge the constant belief and fellowship that is always given me so generously from friends and colleagues in the Economic History Department of the LSE. The ready availability of their scholarship has been essential. I must also recognise the loyal support of the many other friends and family who have continued to have faith in me. To Paul and Adrienne I must offer my thanks for finding the time in their already busy lives to read and comment so constructively on certain chapters. In particular I thank Tricia for her reading, correcting, and organising of the draft script. Also for her complete dependability whenever I needed encouragement. Of course, the opinions expressed and any remaining faults are entirely mine. Robert Humphreys xii

Abbreviations c. CEB CHAR COS CPAG DHSS DoE ORO DSS ed(s) edn EVA GAIT HMI HMSO IBRD ICs IMF JP JVC LCC LGB MoH NAB OPEC p(p) PLB PLC PP RCs RSI SHiL UAB UNRRA by Command Census Enumerators' Book Campaign for Homeless and Rootless Charity Organisation Society Child Poverty Action Group Department of Health and Social Security Department of the Environment Disablement Resettlement Officer Department of Social Security editor(s) edition End Vagrancy Act General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade Homeless Mentally III Initiative His (Her) Majesty's Stationery Office International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Instruction Centres International Monetary Fund Justice of the Peace Joint Vagrancy Committee London County Council Local Government Board Ministry of Health National Assistance Board Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Companies page(s) Poor Law Board Poor Law Commission Parliamentary Paper Reception Centres Rough Sleepers Initiative Single Homeless in London Unemployment Assistance Board United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration xiii