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Poverty among the elderly in late Victorian England1

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  • GEORGE R. BOYER
  • TIMOTHY P. SCHMIDLE

Abstract

Despite rapid increases in manual workers' wages, poverty rates among the elderly remained high in late Victorian England, although they varied significantly across Poor Law Unions. This paper begins by examining the ability of workers to provide for their old age. A data set is constructed, consisting of all English Poor Law Unions in 1891–2, and regression equations are estimated in order to explain variations across unions in pauperism rates. This is followed by the testing of several conjectures made by contemporaries, and repeated by historians, regarding the deterrent effect of workhouse relief, the effects of wages and of the industrial character of Poor Law Unions on pauperism rates, and regional differences in workers' reliance on the poor law. The paper then examines the implications of these results for the debate over national old age pensions in the decades before the adoption of the Old Age Pension Act.

Suggested Citation

  • George R. Boyer & Timothy P. Schmidle, 2009. "Poverty among the elderly in late Victorian England1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 62(2), pages 249-278, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:62:y:2009:i:2:p:249-278
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2008.00437.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Boyer, George R., 1988. "What Did Unions Do in Nineteenth-Century Britain?," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(2), pages 319-332, June.
    2. Ransom, Roger L. & Sutch, Richard, 1986. "The Labor of Older Americans: Retirement of Men On and Off the Job, 1870–1937," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(1), pages 1-30, March.
    3. MacKinnon, Mary, 1986. "Poor law policy, unemployment, and pauperism," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 299-336, July.
    4. MacKinnon, Mary, 1987. "English Poor Law Policy and the Crusade Against Outrelief," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(3), pages 603-625, September.
    5. Boyer, George R. & Hatton, Timothy J., 2002. "New Estimates Of British Unemployment, 1870–1913," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 62(3), pages 643-675, September.
    6. Paul Johnson, 1994. "The employment and retirement of older men in England and Wales, 1881–1981," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 47(1), pages 106-128, February.
    7. Peter Lindert, 2004. "Social Spending and Economic Growth," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(4), pages 6-16.
    8. Johnson, Paul, 1984. "Self-help versus state help: Old age pensions and personal savings in Great Britain, 1906-1937," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 329-350, October.
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    Cited by:

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