JOSEPH BRAMLEY OF EAST STOKE, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE: A LATE VICTIM OF CRUSADE AGAINST OUTDOOR RELIEF

Abstract

Joseph Bramley, of East Stoke in Nottinghamshire, fell on hard times during the closing stages of the ‘crusade against outdoor relief’. The Crusade roughly spanned the last three decades of the 19th century. In those poor law unions where the Crusade was adopted, a new and unforgiving environment was established in which pauperism was to be managed rigorously, ruthlessly and heartlessly. Moreover, the Crusade seriously affected the lives of many people who did not live in Crusading unions. This new ideology inspired and influenced a wider geographic as can be seen through a reading of the statistical returns of the time. This article seeks to explore the workings of the late 19th century poor law through the death of Joseph Bramley. He died a pauper after living the vast majority of his fifty-two years outside of the poor law. He was a pauper for only five days.