'Indiscriminate liberality subverts the Morals and depraves the habits of the Poor': A Contribution to the Debate on the Poor Law, Parish Clothing Relief and Clothing Societies in Early Nineteenth-Century England

Abstract

Recently in Textile History, Peter Jones noted the great quantity of parish clothing provision in early nineteenth-century England, even beyond the new Poor Law of 1834. But evidence from Sussex and Kent shows that here parish clothing provision sharply declined well before 1834 specifically to reduce poor relief spending. Furthermore, the Commissioners charged with implementing the 1834 Act sought expressly to outlaw parish clothing relief. In the south, but rarely in the north, self-help clothing societies replaced parish provision. These aimed to regulate the poor's moral behaviour, but simultaneously to increase their independence, and to make more equal the gift relationship between rich and poor.