Out relief, wages and household income in mid-nineteenth century Lancashire

Abstract

It is well known that, despite local and regional variation, outdoor relief under the New Poor Law rarely provided paupers with subsistence income. However, this conclusion has generally been reached through analysis of poor relief doles in isolation, which marks an oversight as relief was rarely the only form of income available to a pauper. This research in progress article discusses how, through the use of a unique source, it is possible to examine outdoor poor relief within what historians have termed the ‘makeshift economy’, with a particular focus on the relationship between wages and welfare in the mid-nineteenth century.