Vagrancy in the 16th and 17th Centuries

During the 16th and early 17th centuries the authorities began to view with fear and suspicion the growing number of people out of work, begging to support themselves. Those able to work, but not doing so, became known as sturdy beggars or vagabonds.  Some of these people wandered the country, searching for work or a way to support themselves. While some did undoubtedly turn to a life of crime, many of them would have been looking for work.

During the 16th Century the population rose dramatically and this, added to other economic pressures, meant that an increasing number of people were unable to support themselves.  As the standard of living dropped, the problem of vagrancy worsened and this was to have repercussions for the country as a whole.
There were several reasons for this increase in poverty, including.

• During the reign of Elizabeth I, the population rose from three to four million people. This increase was mainly due to a rise in fertility and a falling death rate and meant that the country's resources now had to be shared by a greater number of people.
• There was a problem of rising prices.
• A number of poor harvests put increasing pressure on a limited supply of food. The resulting rise in food prices led, in some cases, to starvation amongst those who could not afford to pay.
• The Government tried to curb inflation. The Statute of Artificers set upper wage limits for skilled workers such as butchers or carpenters but the unfortunate result was that, as prices rose, wages could not rise with them and the standard of living dropped for many workers.
• Towns grew in size as changes in agriculture led to people leaving the countryside. Changes to the way farming worked (a move to more sheep farming in some areas which required less workers) meant that there were less jobs available.
• Henry VIII dissolved (got rid of) the monasteries, who had previously helped support the poor and the needy.

Before this time, one of the most important sources of support had been private benefactors who would leave money in their will to establish, for example, an Almshouse to provide shelter for the local poor.  But as the situation worsened this was not enough.  Lord Burghley, one of the Queen's Ministers, was concerned that large numbers of homeless and unemployed people could present a serious threat to law and order. In 1563 the first of a series of Acts was introduced which sought to minimise the danger and make proper provision for the needy.

A very clear distinction was now drawn between the different types of poor and the treatment they received. There were the 'deserving poor', made up of the elderly and the very young, the infirm, and families who occasionally found themselves in financial difficulties due to a change in circumstance. They were considered deserving of social support.

The 'undeserving poor' were people who often turned to crime to make a living such as highwaymen or pickpockets, migrant workers who roamed the country looking for work, and individuals who begged for a living. Often armed, they were considered a danger to society and were treated as such.

A third category of poor was also recognised: the ‘deserving unemployed’ who were physically able to earn a living but unable to find work.

A series of laws were introduced by Parliament in 1563, 1572, 1576, 1597 and 1601.  Each Act carried a different emphasis and often reflected the current climate. The 1597 Act, for example, laid down stricter guidelines for vagabonds and beggars in response to the economic crisis of the 1590s.

The undeserving poor were given harsh treatment. The 1563 Act reaffirmed the policy of whipping able-bodied beggars.  Later Acts stated that vagabonds should be burned through the right ear and, if they persisted, could be imprisoned and even executed. The policies of ear-boring and execution remained in force until 1593.  The 1597 Act required each town to provide a prison for these groups, paid for by local taxes.  Beggars caught offending were punished and then returned to their native parish.

The introduction of a national poor law tax in 1572 was an important step forward in recognising that the poor were now society's responsibility. Citizens were called upon to support the needy, and anyone refusing to pay the tax was punished. Each town was required to provide work for the unemployed, supplying raw material such as wool for them to work on.  Towns provided workhouses, where those unable to work would be housed, fed but also worked hard and in many cases, treated extremely poorly.  The 1597 Act stated that an official be appointed for each parish specifically to supervise the needs of the poor.

With so many people flocking to the towns, London was by now the biggest city in Europe with between 130,000 and 150,000 inhabitants.  In addition to its own poor, the city acted as a magnet for beggars, thieves and tricksters from across the country.

Edward VI had supplied one of the royal palaces to serve as a house of correction for the poor, known as Bridewell. Here, rather than being punished, vagrants and criminals were given useful tasks to perform as part of their cure: houses of correction were also established in other cities to re-integrate these individuals back into society.

The Poor Laws passed during the reign of Elizabeth I played a critical role in the country's welfare. They signalled an important progression from private charity to welfare state, where the care and supervision of the poor was embodied in law and integral to the management of each town.  The laws helped the destitute by guaranteeing a minimum level of subsistence, but those who were scraping a living did not qualify for help and continued to struggle. And, as the years wore on and the population continued to increase, the provisions made to care for the poor became stretched to the limit.

Watch the video, 'The Beggars are Coming', (below) for more information:

Vagrancy in the 18th Century

During the eighteenth century vagrancy and vagabondage continued to be a powerful social threat deserving of serious punishment, and a category of offence that was distinct from the issue of settled poverty.   However, distinctions between vicious vagrancy and deserving poverty, became increasingly blurred.  Gradually, vagrants came to be punished less often, while the development of passes allowing the poor to travel unhindered (and to claim support from local constables and overseers along the way), ensured that little of the brutality evident in sixteenth-century vagrancy legislation can be found by 1690.

The Vagrant Removal Costs Act of 1700, shifted the expense of removing vagrants from the parish to the county (or the city in the case of the City of London).  This legislation encouraged parishes to redefine paupers as vagrants, as a means of transferring the costs of their support and removal to the county.

Following a centuries-old tradition of associating vagrants with a series of specific occupations and activities, the 1744 Vagrancy Act simply listed who could be prosecuted under the law, it included:

• Patent gatherers, gatherers of alms under pretense of loss by fire, or other casualty.
• Collectors for prisons, goals, or hospitals.
• Fencers and bear wards (those who travel with a bear or dancing bear).
• Common players of interludes.
• All persons concerned with performing interludes, tragedies, comedies, operas, plays, farces or other entertainments for the stage, not being authorised by law.
• Minstrels and jugglers.
• Persons pretending to be Gypsies, or wandering in the habit of Gypsies.
• Those pretending to have skill in physiognomy, palmistry, or fortune telling.
• Those using subtle crafts to deceive and impose, or playing or betting on unlawful games.
• All persons who run away and leave their wives and children.
• Petty chapmen and peddlers, not duly licensed.
• All persons wandering abroad and lodging in alehouses, barns, outhouses or in the open air, not giving a good account of themselves.
• All persons wandering abroad and begging, pretending to be soldiers, mariners, seafaring men, pretending to go to work in harvest.
• All persons wandering abroad and begging.

The 1713 and 1744 Acts divided vagrants into three broad classifications:

• Idle and Disorderly Persons
• Rogues and Vagabonds
• Incorrigible Rogues

A different punishment was specified for each.  For the Idle and Disorderly, essentially the settled but unruly poor, a period of hard labour for up to one month in a House of Correction was specified.  For Rogues and Vagabonds and all the bear wards and minstrels, strolling players and jugglers listed in the Act, a public whipping followed by incarceration in a house of correction was made law. These vagrants were also subject to a further examination at the next meeting of sessions, at which time they might be imprisoned and set to hard labour for a further six months.  At the completion of their sentence Rogues and Vagabonds were either removed to their place of settlement by a pass, or if male and above twelve years old, sent to the army or navy.

When presented at sessions, Rogues and Vagabonds could be re-classified as Incorrigible Rogues (mainly persistent and well-known offenders), and sentenced to between six months and two years further imprisonment and hard labour, and a further round of whippings.  And if, having been condemned as an Incorrigible Rogue, the prisoner escaped, they could be transported for seven years.

However, sometimes punishments were inconsistent.  Local beggars and prostitutes and the idle and disorderly, were frequently sentenced to longer periods of hard labour than were the unknown and travelling poor, rogues and vagabonds.  These travelling vagrants were frequently passed to their place of settlement without further punishment.  Whipping was restricted to a small number of cases.  From 1744 provision was also made to allow a vagrant's bundle to be searched, and for their money or goods to be confiscated in order to pay the costs of their removal.

Vagrancy in the 19th and 20th Centuries

The Vagrancy Act of 1824 made it an offence to sleep on the streets or to beg.  Simply, it became a crime in England and Wales to be homeless or to cadge subsistence money.  When the Act was passed, criticism of it centered on the fact that it created a catch-all offence.  To sleep on the streets or to beg subsistence became a crime, whatever reason an individual might have had for being in such a predicament.  That provision still applies today.

The Vagrancy Act 1824 continues in force in the both England and Wales today, although it has been much amended by subsequent legislation.

Until recently it was believed that the Vagrancy Act 1824 had largely withered away in England through lack of use. However, in recent years the number of homeless people sleeping out has risen, and the use of the Act has increased dramatically, especially in the Metropolitan Police District (mainly greater London).

In 1988, in England and Wales, some 573 people were prosecuted and convicted under the Act.  In May 1990, the National Association of Probation Officers carried out a survey of the prosecutions under the Act.  That survey revealed that 1,250 prosecutions had been dealt with in 14 central London magistrates courts in that year, which represented an enormous leap in the number of prosecutions under the Act, especially in London.