During the last third of the eighteenth century, several changes took place in the administration of poor relief, the most important of which was the widespread provision of relief outside the workhouse to able–bodied laborers who were unemployed or underemployed. The changes in relief methods led to changes in the economic role of the Poor Law in rural parishes. A knowledge of the methods of relief that were adopted, the time when they were adopted, and the changes in the economic environment that brought about their adoption is essential for an evaluation of the economic role played by the Poor Law from 1795 to 1834, the so-called Speenhamland era.

This chapter provides the background necessary for an evaluation of the Old Poor Law. It is divided into three sections. Section 1 describes the methods used to relieve able-bodied laborers from 1780 to 1834. I conclude that the major function of poor relief was the provision of unemployment benefits to seasonally unemployed laborers. Section 2 focuses on the timing of the adoption of policies granting poor relief to able-bodied laborers. The year 1795 was not a watershed in the administration of poor relief; real relief expenditures began increasing rapidly at least 20 years before the famous meeting at Speenhamland, Berkshire. Section 3 discusses two important changes in the rural economic environment that occurred during the second half of the eighteenth century, and presents evidence that these environmental changes caused the sharp increase in real per capita poor relief expenditures. The conclusions concerning the methods of relief used, the timing of their adoption, and the reasons for their adoption are considerably different from those reached by the traditional literature.