22500826657
Med K 24099
<r ■ )■ ify
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2016
https://archive.org/details/b28063661
VA ' ’
y ^
4
POVERTY
*
HoipHj!
\Hlnor Hcuia
I CCHTLCMIMS n f CRICKET CROUKOlAfoOTBRlL
Tang Hill
\» UthtH
SCARCROFI
,i Canon Hill
Eulferd Cringe
HOB,- MOOR
WALMGATE STRAY
LOW MOOR
Plan
Trim Term/nji
1 1 = Tho poorest districts of tho city, comprising jtho
slum areas. Soruo of tho main streets in theso districts are, howover, of a better class.
I 1= Districts inhabited by the working classes, but comprising a few houses where servants arc kept.
| =The main business streets, consisting of shops and
offices. Between these principal streot* arc many old and narrow lanes and courts.
I I = Districts inliabitcd by the sorrant-keeping class.
Nolt — The circle la drawn to represent a nullue of a quarter of a mile from the centre of the old town.
1 Middlethorpe
MIOOLITHORPE COMKOK
POVERTY
A STUDY OF TOWN LIFE
BY
B. SEEBOHM ROWNTREE
ILontion
MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited
NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1901
All rights reserved
|
welcome mum i LIBRARY |
|
|
Coll. |
welMOmec |
|
CaJI No. |
|
|
\/U*t |
|
INTRODUCTION
My object in undertaking the investigation detailed in this volume was, if possible, to throw some light upon the conditions which govern the life of the wage-earning classes in provincial towns, and especi- ally upon the problem of poverty.
At the outset I had to decide whether to collect information on the “ extensive ” method or on the “ intensive.” In other words, the choice lay between gathering together and analysing such statistics regarding towns in the United Kingdom as were to be found in Government Returns, Reports of Medical Officers of Health, the records of the various branches of the Charity Organisation Society, etc., etc., or studying in detail the conditions of a single typical town.
A very little inquiry sufficed to show that any picture of the condition of the working classes of provincial England based on the former method would be very incomplete and of doubtful service. On the other hand, the great value of Mr. Charles
VI
POVERTY
Booth’s invaluable work on The Life and Labour of the People of London led me to hope that a similar investigation made for a provincial town might be of use, as it was impossible to judge how far the general conclusions arrived at by Mr. Booth in respect of the metropolis would be found applicable to smaller urban populations.
Having satisfied myself that the conditions of life obtaining in my native city of York were not exceptional, and that they might be taken as fairly representative of the conditions existing in many, if not most, of our provincial towns,1 I decided to undertake a detailed investigation into the social and economic conditions of the wage-earning classes in that city.
Amongst other questions upon which I desired to obtain information were the folio win 2; : — What was the true measure of the poverty in the city, both in extent and depth ? How much of it was due to insufficiency of income and how much to improvidence ? How many families were sunk in a poverty so acute that its members suffered from a chronic insufficiency of food and clothing ? If physical deterioration combined with a high death- rate ensued, was it possible to estimate such results with approximate accuracy ?
1 A large amount of evidence upon this point will be found throughout the volume.
INTRODUCTION
Vll
It soon became evident that if these and groups of allied questions were to be answered with any fulness and accuracy, nothing short of a house-to- house inquiry extending to the whole of the working- class population of the city would suffice. I decided therefore to undertake this, and to try to obtain information regarding the housing, occupation, and earnings of every wage - earning family in York, together with the number and age of the children in each family. These particulars, obtained in the autumn of 1899, extended to 11,560 families living in 388 streets and comprising a population of 46,754, and the present volume is the outcome of these inquiries. The comparative smallness of the popula- tion in York enabled the inquiry to be carried out with an amount of detail that was impossible in London.
I am much indebted to Mr. Charles Booth and his associates for valuable suggestions given from time to time during the progress of this investigation. In a letter received from Mr. Booth, which is printed on p. 300, he shows the relation which exists between the York figures and those which he had obtained for London. It is unnecessary to point out the signifi- cance and importance of the facts which Mr. Booth thus brings out.
As a primary object of my inquiry has been to
ascertain not only the proportion of the population
a 2
Vlll
POVERTY
living in poverty, but the nature of that poverty, I have divided the population so living into two classes : —
(a) Families whose total earnings are insufficient
to obtain the minimum necessaries for the maintenance of merely physical efficiency. Poverty falling under this head I have described as “ primary ” poverty.
(b) Families whose total earnings would be
sufficient for the maintenance of merely physical efficiency were it not that some portion of it is absorbed by other expendi- ture, either useful or wasteful. Poverty falling under this head is described as “ secondary ” poverty.
In order to ascertain the proportion of the former, it was necessary, in addition to knowing the earnings of each family, to arrive at the minimum sum neces- sary to maintain families of various sizes in a state of physical efficiency. This involved a preliminary inquiry into the quantity and kinds of food which in the light of the most recent and complete investi- gations were requisite for that purpose. It involved also a knowledge of the rents paid, and a detailed and careful estimate of the necessary expenditure upon all items other than food and rent. In Chapters IV. and V. details are given regarding the numbers in “primary” and “secondary” poverty, together
INTRODUCTION
IX
with an analysis of the immediate causes to which their poverty is due.
The second part of my inquiry referred to the social conditions under which the wage -earning classes are living. Among other matters the question of housing and the relation of poverty to the health standard are dealt with.
Chapter VIII. deals with workmen’s budgets, and especially the diet of the working classes. The latter is a question so intimately associated with the prob- lem of poverty that I felt it was important to study it in some detail. I therefore obtained exact in- formation regarding the quantity, character, and cost of the food consumed by eighteen families belonging to all sections of the working classes, from the poorest upwards. I also obtained information regarding six families belonging to the servant-keeping class. The information covered periods varying from one week to two years ; the majority of the budgets were kept for at least three weeks, and the greatest care was exercised to ensure accuracy.
In order to enable the reader to form an inde- pendent judgment as to how far the conditions in York may be taken as fairly representative of those which obtain in other provincial towns, particulars throwing light upon this question are given in the Supplementary Chapter.
In conclusion, I desire to thank those, and they
X
POVEBTY
are many, who have helped me both in the collection of information and by suggestions and criticisms. Especially must I express my thanks to my Secretary, Miss Harlock, who has given me the most untiring assistance throughout the inquiry, and to Mr. Charles Booth, who has advised me as to methods of investigation and has read through most of my proofs, and whose unrivalled experience in connection with his inquiry in London has rendered his help and criticism especially valuable.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Introduction ......... v
CHAPTER I
General Characteristics of the City of York
Area — Number of houses, population, etc. — Early history — Erection of city walls — Growth of ancient city, and character of its early life — The period of transition and the genesis of the slum — The modern city — History of population from the Roman period — Industrial development — Immigration of railway employees, and of Irish — Industries and wages in York ...... .... Pages 1-12
CHAPTER II
Social and Economic Condition of the Wage-Earning
Class in York
Scope and method of inquiry — Character of information obtained — Specimen pages from investigators’ note-books — Assessment of wages : (a) skilled workers, (6) unskilled workers — Classification of families — Definition of ‘ ‘ moderate family ” — Estimation of total family earnings — Relation of income to standard of comfort — Classification of population of York according to total family income ..... Pages 13-31
CHAPTER III
The Standard of Life
Class “A”: Particulars of class — Character of life in, as shown by in- vestigators’ note-books — Section 1 (wage -earning families): Estimated
xi
Xll
POVERTY
average weekly family earnings and expenditure of ; poverty and physical inefficiency of— Section 2 (non-wage-earning families) : Estimated average weekly incomes and expenditure of ; poverty and physical inefficiency of — Distribution of Class “A ” — Conditions as to housing, food, clothing, etc. — Poverty of whole class — Its causes — The “unfit.”
Class “B”: Particulars of class — Character of life in, as shown by in- vestigators’ note-books — Average weekly earnings — Extent of poverty — Particulars of domestic economy — Distribution of class — Inadequate and insanitary housing — Prevalence of pawning — The value of the children’s earnings — Wage-earning v. education.
Class “C”: Particulars of — Comparison with other classes — Character of life in, as shown by investigators’ note-books — Estimated average family earnings — Distribution of class.
Class “D” : Particulars of — Character of life in, as shown by investigators’ note-books — Composition of class — Average weekly family earnings — Principal occupations — Distribution and housing of class — Extent and cause of poverty — General conditions of life in Class “D” — Inefficient education — Comparative absence of intellectual interests — Effect upon recreations, etc. — General conditions of life among the women in Class “D” — Importance of class in the industrial life of the country — Con- clusion— Summary of classes ...... Pages 32-85
CHAPTER IV
The Poverty Line
Proportion of population living in poverty — “Primary ’’and “Secondary” poverty defined — Calculation of minimum necessary expenditure for maintenance of merely physical health, i.e. minimum necessary expendi- ture for food, rent, clothing, etc.
Food : («) The function of food in the body. ( b ) Quantity of food required — Estimates of physiologists compared and discussed — Recent investiga- tions in Scotland — Standard adopted in present inquiry, (c) Kind of food required — Examination of workhouse diets — Dietary standard adopted in present inquiry — Selected dietaries. ( d ) Cost of food — Average cash prices of food-stuffs in York — Final estimate of necessary minimum expenditure for food.
Rent : Difficulty of forming estimate of necessary minimum expenditure — Actual sums paid in York.
Household Sundries : What this term includes — Method of obtaining information as to minimum necessary weekly expenditure — Average
CONTENTS
xm
expenditure for (a) clothing ; ( b ) fuel ; (c) all other sundries — Summary of necessary expenditure under all of the foregoing heads — Result com- pared with family earnings in York — Estimate of total nupnber of families living in “primary” poverty — Estimate of number living slightly above the “ primary ” poverty line — Possible sources of additional family income — Extent of “secondary ” poverty in York . . . Pages 86-118
CHAPTER Y
The Immediate Causes op Poverty in York
A. “Primary” Poverty : Classification of causes— Proportion of “ primary”
poverty due to each cause — Analysis of each section separately — Number of families in each group — Aggregate weekly earnings — Details of occupations — Total weekly rent — Statement showing income and estimated necessary expenditure — The wages of unskilled labour ; inadequacy of, to maintain mere physical efficiency — Deprivations in- volved in standard of “mere physical efficiency ” — Alternating periods of want and comparative plenty in the life of a labourer — Relation of early marriages to the problem of poverty.
B. “Secondary” Poverty : Difficulty of fixing dividing line between
“primary” and “secondary” poverty — Causes of “secondary” poverty enumerated and discussed — Causes themselves often effects of adverse conditions — Ultimate questions involved . . . Pages 119-145
CHAPTER VI
Housing
General housing conditions in York — Classification and description of houses — Some typical slums — Number and description of registered common lodging-houses and back-to-back houses — Detailed statistics of housing in York — Comparison with London and other cities.
Rent : Cost of land and building considered — Average rents in York — Pro- portion of income spent on rent — Number of working-class persons who own their houses.
Overcrowding : (1) Average number of persons per acre — Comparison with certain English and American towns — Density of population in certain working-class districts in York — Comparison with certain overcrowded districts in London. (2) Average number of persons per room — Defini- tion of overcrowding adopted — Number of persons and percentage of
XIV
POVEKTY
population overcrowded — Comparison with other towns — Examination of the amount of air space required for health — Overcrowding in relation to this standard — How far the effects of such overcrowding are counter- acted by ventilation — Relation of whole question to poverty and to morality — Causes of overcrowding — Conclusion and suggested remedies Pages 146-181
CHAPTER VII
The Relation of Poverty to the Standard of Health
General health conditions of the city — Meteorological conditions — Drainage and sanitation — Sanitary conditions in York — Water supply — Courts and yards — Meat supply — Milk supply.
Vital Statistics : Birth and death rates in York — Comparison with other towns — Comparison with earlier years — Classification of deaths in 1898 according to diseases — Vital statistics of typical sections of the York population — The relation of poverty to health shown by comparison of vital statistics of (1) poorest section ; (2) middle section ; (3) most prosperous section of working-class population — Examination of (a) general death-rate and (&) infant mortality in each group — Conclusion showing the relation which exists between poverty and standard of health as illustrated by ( a ) examination of physical condition of school children, and ( b ) statistics showing results of medical examination of army recruits — The relation of physical efficiency to industrial success .......... Pages 182-221
CHAPTER VIII
Family Budgets : A Study in the Expenditure and Diet
of Working Classes
Object of inquiry — Scope of inquiry — Method of inquiry — Number of budgets dealt with — Method of estimating results of inquiry.
Class I. : Working-class families (total weekly earnings under 26s.) — Typical budgets — Diet of Class I. in every case inadequate — Statement showing the results of inquiry — Cost of diets — Total Calories and fuel energy and grams of protein purchased for one shilling — Comparison of relative cost with diet in York Workhouse — Proportions of animal and vegetable food — Summary of general expenditure in Class I.
Class II. : Working-class families (total weekly earnings over 26s.) — Typical
CONTENTS
xv
budget— Adequacy of diet— Statement showing the results of inquiry— Cost of diet, less economical than Class I.
Class III. : Servant-keeping class — Typical budget — Adequacy of diet — Cost of diet — Comparison with other countries — Comparison with prison and workhouse diets — Summary and conclusion — Description of families, statement of income and expenditure, purchases during week, and menu of meals, for 20 budgets ...... Pages 222-294
CHAPTER IX
Summary and Conclusion
Method and Scope of Inquiry : Character of information obtained — Facts as to poverty reviewed — Comparison of York results with Mr. Charles Booth’s figures for London — Object of Mr. Booth’s inquiry — Kind of information obtained by him — His results comparable with those for York — Mr. Booth’s information obtained during period of average trade prosperity, that for York during period of unusual prosperity — Striking agreement in results of the two inquiries — Letter from Mr. Booth — Poverty in London not exceptional — Results of poverty — Effects upon physical stamina.
Housing: Rent, etc., reviewed.
Relation of Poverty to Health : Low standard of health among very poor — Physique of school children tested — Inferences drawn.
Workmen’s Budgets : Evidence of inadequate nutrition among poorer sections of the labouring classes — Author’s conclusions . Pages 295-305
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER
(а) Public-houses and Clubs : Number and proportion of, to population in
York — Comparison with other towns — Use of, for social purposes — Music licenses — Numbers present in singing-rooms — Goose clubs — Organised book-making — Habit of girls to frequent — York a beer-drinking city — Amount, character, and extent of trade — Proportion of men, women, and children entering public-houses. Clubs, numbers of — Typical balance sheet. Grocers’ licenses.
(б) Education : Number of free elementary schools — Percentage of attend-
ance in schools — Inspector’s report re buildings of the voluntary schools — Curriculum of board and voluntary schools — Age of leaving school — Subjects taught in Standard VII. — Labour certificates — Cost of education in board and voluntary schools compared — Continuation classes.
XVI
POVERTY
(c) Church Census : All churches and chapels included in census — Numbers
at morning and evening services — Attendance at Bible classes.
( d ) Trade Unions : Number of members — Numbers compared with that of United Kingdom — Description of the work of the Trades Council.
(e) Co-operation : Number of members of Co-operative Society — History of
Co-operation in York — Work of Educational Committee — Effect of Co- operative Society on small tradesmen.
(/) Friendly Societies and Life Insurance : (a) Friendly Societies : Two classes : (1) Registered Societies ; (2) Non-registered Societies. (1) Total number of members and list of Registered Friendly Societies — Scale of payments — Headquarters in public-houses. (2) Unregistered Societies, membership of. (b) Life Insurance: Extent of, in York — Total weekly sum paid for life insurance — Sum for which young children may be insured.
( g ) Poor, Relief : Number of persons receiving poor relief — Classification of inmates of workhouse — Cost of maintenance in York and other work- houses — Workhouse diet — Vagrant ward — Out relief . Pages 306-376
APPENDICES
PAGE
A. Table showing the Mortality of Clergymen in York
DURING THE BLACK DEATH . . . . . 377
B. Average Family Earnings including Total Earnings
of Lodgers and the Wages of Domestic Servants 379
C. Estimates of Necessary Minimum Clothing and
Household Sundries . . . . . . 381
D. Table showing the Age at Marriage of the Skilled
Workers and Labourers who were married in York 1898-99 ........ 387
E. Meat Supply in York and Copenhagen compared . 388
F. Milk Supply in York and Copenhagen compared . 390
G. Analyses used in Dietary Studies, showing Percent-
ages of Protein, Fat, and Carbohydrates contained IN THE VARIOUS FOOD-STUFFS . . . . . 392
H. Detailed Budget Calculations .... 394-419
I. Table of Trade Unions ...... 420-427
INDEX
429
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
1. Plan of the City of York .... Facing Title
2. Diagram showing the Proportion of the Total
Population in each Class . . . . . 31
3. Diagram showing the Proportion of the Total
Population living in Poverty . . . . 117
4. Diagram showing Proportion of “ Primary ” Poverty
due to various Causes 121
5. Diagram showing the alternating Periods of
|
Want and Comparative a Labourer . |
Plenty in the Life of |
137 |
||
|
6. |
House Plan |
No. 1 . |
- |
147 |
|
7. |
House Plan |
No. 2 . |
• |
149 |
|
8. |
House Plan |
No. 3 . |
• |
150 |
|
9. |
Photograph |
OF A TYPICAL |
York Slum |
154 |
|
10. |
Do. |
do. |
do. ... |
157 |
|
11. |
Do. |
do. |
do. |
190 |
|
12. |
Do. |
do. |
do. |
191 |
13. Diagram illustrating the Mortality amongst various Sections of the Population of York .
208
14. Diagram of Curves showing the average
Heights of Elementary School Children . . 212
15. Diagram of Curves showing the average Weights
of Elementary School Children. . . . 213
XVII
XV111
POVERTY
PAGE
16. Diagram showing the Amount of Energy Value
and Protein in Dietaries
17. Diagram showing the Amount of Energy Value
and Protein in Dietaries of (a) York Labourers, (6) American Labourers, (c) Prisons and Workhouses
18. Drink Map of York ......
255
258
308
CHAPTER I
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CITY OF YORK
The city of York covers an area of 3692 acres. On April 1, 1899, it contained about 15,000 houses, with an estimated population of 75,812/ and for municipal purposes is divided into six wards.
Originally the city was contained within the walls, but a glance at the map will show that the area they enclose is only about one-tenth of the area within the present municipal boundary, though as much as one-third of the population reside within the walls. Canon Raine has given us an interesting picture of life in York, in the days before the city had extended beyond the walls.2
“I do not think,” he says, “that the walls by which the old palisades on the mounds were replaced were taken in hand before the thirteenth century ; indeed there is direct evidence that the greater part of them
1 This figure is the estimate of the Medical Officer of Health, corrected by him in accordance with the result of the 1901 census.
2 York, by James Raine, M.A., D.C.L. “Historic Towns” Series, pp. 204-206. 2nd edition, 1893.
B
2
POVERTY
CHAP.
were constructed during the reigns of the first three Edwards. They still remain, in spite of many changes, a fair and most picturesque representation of the mediseval fortifications of the city. But the deep trench by which they were guarded has in many places been entirely obliterated.
“ Within these walls there grew into existence, century after century, a great and beautiful city. The larger portion of the population gathered around the Minster, which was the favourite side, not only for association’s sake but for safety. The area, how- ever, was a very limited one for general use. The Minster, St. Leonard’s Hospital, and other religious buildings, all lay within enclosures of their own, a series of stone pens which prevented the extension of the city. Hence the destruction of all the old Roman buildings, as they occupied ground which was required for building purposes, to say nothing of the evil reputation which clung to heathen structures ; hence the narrow streets, barely wide enough to permit the passage of a single cart. Room and protection were wanted, and health and comfort were sacrificed to secure them. Many of the streets are called gates, or ways, a name which has come down from the old English people. Stone houses were of the utmost rarity. The domestic buildings were flimsy structures of wood, of post and pan work, many of which may still be seen in Fosssate and the Shambles. The name of Pavement, given to one particular part of the city, points to a
i CHABACTEBISTICS OF CITY OF YOKE 3
time when it alone possessed a flooring of cobbles.1 Go beneath the surface in the York streets, and you will find that the most solid part is a vast accumula- tion of bones. These were thrown out of the houses close at hand, and served the purpose of metal, as we call it, for the roads. In front of every house was the dunghill appurtenant to it, which was cleared away twice or thrice a year by official order, or when some great person visited the city. Before many a house was a clog, or stump of wood, on which its owner often sat and gossiped with his neighbours, catching at every fragment of news, but not always daring to repeat it. Parochial matters, the doings in the council and the trade guild, buying and selling, would be their chief topics of conversation. Their dialect was so strongly marked that the southerner shrank, in assumed superiority, from what he could not understand. Twice at least in each week they would eat salt fish, and their common beverage was beer or ale. As might be expected, they suffered from skin diseases, and, generally speaking, were short-lived, dying by house -rows almost when any epidemic broke out. They traded under the most
1 In his Antiquarian Walks through York (pp. 246-247) Robert Davies gives a different derivation of the name “Pavement.” He says “the word Pavement has been applied to the Hebrew judgment-seat. There is reference to it in the New Testament, where the evangelist, describing the Saviour’s condemnation, says £ in the place called the Pavement,’ hence I think the name was applied to this part of the city because of it being used for the purpose of dispensing justice and punishment.” In support of this view Davies points out that the Pavement in York “was the spot where punish- ment was inflicted upon all law-breaking citizens.” Amongst others, Roger Layton and Earl Percy were beheaded here.
4
POVERTY
CHAP.
rigid rules. For the greater part of their goods they could only charge after the rate of assize laid down by the authorities of the city, and they were rigorously looked to by the masters and searchers of their own trade. Thus they lived, with very few amusements, and shut out from the greater part of the world, proud of their city and their parish churches, which they vied with each other in decorating. We can learn much of their character from the city registers, and from their own wills and inventories. They have passed away with the narrow streets and most of the houses they lived in.”
The river Ouse flows through the citv, and serves as a water-way, carrying much produce to and from Hull, a distance of about sixty miles. The whole of York lies low, and the almost complete absence of decided gradients renders the efficient drainage of the
O O
city difficult. Many of the houses adjacent to the river are liable to be flooded.
The oldest and central portion of the city, which is almost entirely within the walls, contains the main business streets, which are lined with shops and offices. Between these principal streets is a ramifi- cation of old and narrow lanes and courts — some picturesque in their narrowness, others sordidly ugly.
The population in this part of the city is now declining. Old dwelling-houses are constantly being- pulled down, either because they are condemned, or because the site is wanted for business purposes. Throughout this area there are few open spaces; such
i CHARACTERISTICS OF CITY OF YORK 5
churchyards as exist are small, and have not been opened out and provided with seats, as often in London.
Hungate, one of the main slum districts in York, is situated in this portion of the city. Though not large in extent, it is still large enough to exhibit the chief characteristics of slum life — the reckless ex- penditure of money as soon as obtained, with the aggravated want at other times ; the rowdy Saturday night, the Monday morning pilgrimage to the pawn- shop, and especially that love for the district, and disinclination to move to better surroundings, which, combined with an indifference to the higher aims of life, are the despair of so many social workers.1
Like many other slum districts, Hungate was once peopled by a very different class. This is indicated by the considerable gardens attached to some of the houses. Occasionally these are well kept, but for the most part they are barren wastes. Such an organisation as the gardening branch of the Kyrle Society in Birmingham might do useful work in this neighbourhood. The other and less populous slum districts lie principally within the city walls.
Almost all the inhabitants of York live in separate houses. The few tenement houses which exist are to be found in the central portion of the city.
Immediately outside the walls is a zone chiefly peopled by the working classes and smaller tradesmen.
1 This description applies of course to the general characteristics of the district. The writer is not unmindful of the thrifty and self-respecting households scattered through its midst.
6
POVERTY
CHAP.
The houses of the wealthier citizens are mostly beyond this zone, but already working-class districts have sprung up in their midst. Some of these have, unfortunately, fallen into the hands of jerry builders, who have erected the poorest and cheapest houses which the Corporation bye-laws allow. There are large areas relieved by no single building of archi- tectural merit, unless it be the tied public-house of some wealthy brewery company.
On May 20, 1850, the Public Health Act of 1848 was applied to York. The provisions of the Act dealing with house construction, drainage, and other matters affecting health, although leaving much to be desired, marked an important advance in the housing of the people. The wider streets constructed after 1850 can be readily recognised.
Population. — Some brief remarks on the estimated population of York in the past may be of interest. “ All evidences point,” says Canon Raine,1 “ to the fact that York was a wealthy and crowded city in Roman times, and it is probable that there was no considerable change, as far as numbers are concerned, for a long time. We have to pass on now to the tenth century for the next piece of statistical informa- tion. The anonymous biographer of Archbishop Oswald tells us that in the tenth century York contained as many as 30,000 adults, and that it was thronged with merchants, especially Danes. This, if correct, means a population larger than at the
1 Op. cit. pp. 201-202
i CHARACTERISTICS OF CITY OF YORK 7
present day, and the statement must be received with some doubt. We now turn to the Domesday Survey, drawn up probably in 1086, from which we learn that in the happier days of Eadward (the Confessor) York contained at least 1600 houses, which gives us a probable population of 8000.1 But the vengeance wreaked on the city by William and others tells a sad tale ; there were then only 509 inhabited houses, 400 uninhabited, and as many as 500 in ruins, omitting 100 of those which had belonged to the archbishop. There could not, therefore, be more than 2000 persons then living in the city. But there were 145 houses inhabited by the French, that is, most probably, by the Norman garrison which was here to overawe the place. Leap over a long space of time until the reign of Edward III., in the middle of the fourteenth century, and then the population was estimated at 10, 800, 2 that of Lincoln being 5100, Norwich 6000, and Winchester only 2000, London exceeding them all with its large number of 35,000. There was
1 It seems likely that Canon Raine’s figure of 8000 is an under-estimate of the population, for 1418 of the 1600 houses mentioned above were mansiones hospitatce, and these probably contained more than five persons each. Even “minute mansions” are stated in the Domesday Survey to be 50 feet wide. There is also a doubt whether the Domesday Survey included the huts and cottages inhabited by the poorer population.
2 This estimate of the population is no doubt based upon the figures connected with the Poll Tax of 51 Edward III. 1377, when the 7248 persons in York above 14 years of age were taxed 4d. each.
It must, however, be borne in mind that this census was taken shortly after the plague visitations of 1349 (Black Death) and 1360. How terrible was the mortality caused in York by the former of these plagues may be gathered from the return, taken from the old parish records, given in detail in Appendix A, which shows that of the 52 clergy in the city no less than 33 died in 1348-49.
8
POYEETY
CHAP.
everything in that century to foster the growth of York — the occasional presence, for instance, of the king and court, the frequent visits and stay of large bodies of troops, and great commercial prosperity. I do not think that the number of 10,800 was ever exceeded in mediaeval times. The Wars of the Roses were ruinous in their effects, and the constant com- plaint of the citizens in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was the serious and continued decay of the place, in inhabitants as well as in position and wealth. A slow revival set in when the Civil Wars were over, and by the census of 1801 the population of York stood at 16, 145. ” 1
Since that date the population, which had risen so slowly during the preceding centuries, has, as will be seen from the annexed table, increased more than fourfold : —
|
Year. |
Population. |
Increase on previous Census. |
Percentage of Increase on previous Census. |
|
1801 |
16,846 |
||
|
1811 |
19,099 |
2,253 |
13-37 |
|
1821 |
21,711 |
2,612 |
13-67 |
|
1831 |
26,260 |
4,549 |
20-95 |
|
1841 |
28,842 |
2,582 |
9-83 |
|
1851 |
36,303 |
7,461 |
25-08 |
|
1861 |
40,433 |
4,130 |
11-37 |
|
1871 |
43,796 |
3,363 |
8-31 |
|
1881 |
49,530 2 |
5,734 |
13-09 |
|
1891 |
67,004 |
17,474 |
35-27 |
|
1899 Estimated |
75,812 |
— |
— |
|
1901 |
77,793 s |
10,789 |
16-10 |
1 It will be noted that this figure does not agree with that given in the table. 16,145 w7as the figure given in the Parliamentary Report on the 1801 census, but this was afterwards corrected to 16,846.
2 The city was extended by the York Improvement and Extension Act,
i CHARACTERISTICS OF CITY OF YORK 9
The introduction of the railway about the middle of the century, and the various branches of work which have sprung up in connection with it, have attracted many workmen to the city from other parts of England. Prior to the construction of the North Eastern Railway, “ York was essentially a local capital, in the centre of a large and prosperous agricultural district, full of resident gentry, and relying for its connection with the outer world upon posting and coaches.”4
About 1840 large numbers of Irish began to come over to England, attracted by the prospect of steady work and good pay. The bulk of these settled in the industrial districts — notably in London, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. Engels, writing in 1844, 5 estimated that more than a million had already immigrated, and not far from 50,000 were still coming every year. Some of these Irish found their way to York in 1846-47. Their coming to the city is thus referred to in the Memoirs of the late James Hack Tuke : 6 “ During the potato famine many of the wretched Irish, to escape death in their
1884. The population in 1881 of the area as subsequently extended was 61,789 ; whilst at the four preceding censuses it is estimated to have been —
1841 31,911
1851 40,675
1861 45,869
1871 51,039
3 The city was further extended in 1893, the number of persons then added to its population being estimated at 922.
4 York , by James Raine, M.A., D.C.L., p. 202.
5 Condition of the Working Class in England in IS 44, by Frederick Engels, p. 90.
0 By Sir Edward Fry, p. 72.
10
POVERTY
CHAP.
own land, came and spread themselves over various parts of England. Many flocked as far as York. Tuke’s father, as a guardian of the poor, obtained a vote of the Board for the erection of a temporary wooden building as a hospital for those who were suffering from fever ; for no one would let a house for the purpose. When the temporary erection was prepared, there was still a difficulty as to where to place it, a difficulty solved by Samuel Tuke’s offering for the purpose a portion of a field near his own house, his tenant, who sold milk, concluding that ‘the coos would not take fever.’ Here many a poor sufferer died, and here, notwithstanding the terror of the infection, they were frequently visited by Samuel Tuke.”
These poor Irish people, whose early experiences of the city were so unpropitious, were probably attracted to York by the prospect of obtaining work in connection with the cultivation of chicory, for which the district was then noted. This industry has now practically disappeared, and the number of Irish in the city has begun to decline, but is still con- siderable. Of those who remain, many find work as general labourers, while some of the women pick up a more or less precarious livelihood by working in the fields outside the city, often tramping out for miles in the early morning to their work. On summer evenings it is a common sight to see the women in the Irish quarter sitting on the kerbstone outside their cottages, smoking clay pipes.
i CHARACTERISTICS OF CITY OF YORK 11
Apart from the immigration of the railway men and the Irish, the population is for the most part indigenous to the city and surrounding country district. A few Jewish tailors have settled in York, but the number is exceedingly small. Most of those who come leave again as soon as the busy season which attracted them is over.
There is no predominating industry carried on under conditions that are peculiar to York. The North Eastern Railway Company find employment in York for about 5500 men and lads, but whether they work as joiners, fitters, bricklayers, painters, labourers, or what not, their wages are regulated by the wages which obtain for each particular trade or occupation in the district, and the fact that they are employed by a railway company does not therefore imply the introduction of any special industrial con- ditions into the city.
There are also between two and three thousand persons employed in cocoa and confectionery works. In these the wages are neither unusually high nor unusually low. In addition to the above there are a number of smaller industries, such as flour-milling, brewing, etc. With one or two exceptions there is no very highly paid industry in York such as exists in some towns, and this fact might tend to lower the average income of working-class families were it not that, on the other hand, there is a large demand for young persons. Practically every capable boy and girl can find employment in the factories.
12
POVERTY
CHAP. 1
Upon the whole, I think it may be said that, viewed from the industrial standpoint, the conditions in York are fairly representative of the average conditions which obtain in other provincial towns.
Such, then, are the general characteristics of the city with which we have to deal. The following chapters are devoted to the consideration of an inquiry I have conducted as to the social and economic condition of the wage-earning classes in York.
CHAPTER II
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITION OF THE WAGE- EARNING CLASS IN YORK
Haying decided to make an inquiry into the economic and social condition of the wage-earning class in York, the first task was to decide upon the exact scope which the inquiry should cover, and the second, to ascertain the best method of conduct- ing the investigation.
Scope of Investigation
The field of investigation being comparatively small, I decided to endeavour to obtain information regarding the housing, occupation, and earnings of every wage-earning family in York. Broadly speak- ing, this has been accomplished.1 The information regarding housing and occupation was obtained by direct inquiry. The method of obtaining informa- tion regarding earnings is described on page 26.
1 The few exceptions consist of such persons as grooms, gardeners, or caretakers, living on their employers’ premises, but their total number is insignificant.
13
14
POVERTY
CHAP.
The investigation did not extend to the servant- keeping class, and necessarily did not include domestic servants living away from their homes.1 * Indeed the keeping or not keeping of domestic servants has in this inquiry been taken as marking the division between the working classes and those of a higher social scale.
Method of Conducting Inquiry
Some of my information was supplied by volun- tary workers, “ district visitors,7’ clergymen, and others. Many of the facts thus obtained have been valuable, especially as the details given were often of such a character as could only be supplied by those who were intimately acquainted with the families reported upon. I soon found, however, that the inquiry could not cover the whole of the city if it were dependent on voluntary workers only. The bulk of the information has therefore been obtained through an investigator who went systematically from house to house. His work involved the paying of many thousands of visits, and required no small amount of discernment and tact. He found that the people, with few exceptions, were willing to supply the information sought. In some cases there was a disposition to give incorrect information, but ex- perience soon enabled him to distinguish between
1 An estimate of the number of domestic servants in York is given
at p. 26.
II
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 15
truth and falsehood, and in doubtful cases the facts stated were checked by neighbours and others.
The investigation was begun in January 1899, but comparatively little headway was made until March, and the work was practically finished by the following September. The bulk of the inquiry was therefore completed within about seven months. In such a period the results of an inquiry must neces- sarily be affected by removals, but these inaccuracies tend to balance each other, and do not materially affect final results. I have had opportunities of submitting the facts and figures thus obtained to clergymen, “ district visitors,” and others having special local knowledge, who have, in almost every instance, corroborated the reports furnished. Some errors must necessarily exist in a detailed inquiry of this kind, but I am satisfied that the information obtained is substantially correct.
Character of the Information Obtained
A few sample pages from the note-books of the investigators will most clearly show the kind of information with which I have been supplied. To prevent identification the names of the streets and the numbers of the houses have been omitted, and further, the order in which the houses come in the streets has been altered.
16
POVERTY
CHAP
a;
c/3
o
w
c
£
Particulars re Housing.
|
SO |
to |
oo |
'd |
|||||||
|
A CO C'J |
03 CD rt |
c/5 |
a ~ rri |
77 2 p< |
g "S |
O |
c3 O |
|||
|
d, |
-d |
5 |
o o |
C/3 J-. |
zn £ <v a: |
C/3 C/3 03 O |
PQ |
*7 |
||
|
CD <D |
<—* o3 |
c |
P5 |
C/2 -4_> a c3 |
o 4-> |
'"S |
||||
|
— ✓ C/3 |
a |
<4-. o |
o |
O <D W £ |
W c |
& |
O o |
Occupation of Head of |
||
|
c/3 r3 5 |
6 fc |
o |
•d ° O o |
. CD ° O 6 525 |
^ o o o & |
a |
s C/3 P o tfl |
to ^ <*5 g c W |
Family. |
|
|
B |
2/3 |
5 |
2 |
15 |
15 |
3 |
Old |
Unable to work |
||
|
B |
3/3 |
7 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
33 |
Labourer, Railway |
||
|
B |
3/3 |
7 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
Waterman |
|||
|
A |
3/3 |
9 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
Shoemaker, Piecework . |
|||
|
A |
3/3 |
7 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
Labourer |
|||
|
B |
3/3 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
Widower, Shopkeeper . |
|||
|
D |
6/- |
12 |
6 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
47 |
Painter .... |
||
|
D |
3/3 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
50 |
Widow, Washerwoman . |
||
|
D |
3/3 |
6 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
•• |
Widower, Joiner . |
||
|
D |
3/3 |
7 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
. . |
Hawker .... |
||
|
D |
7/- |
10 |
S |
1 |
1 |
1 |
55 |
Widow, Lodging-house . |
||
|
D |
2/3 |
o |
2 |
15 |
15 |
3 |
24 |
Labourer |
||
|
D |
2/3 |
2 |
2 |
15 |
15 |
3 |
48 |
Widow, French Polisher |
||
|
C |
2/3 |
3 |
2 |
15 |
15 |
3 |
23 |
Labourer |
||
|
D |
2/3 |
2 |
2 |
15 |
15 |
3 |
40 |
Labourer |
||
|
D |
2/3 |
2 |
o |
15 |
15 |
3 |
37 |
Widower, Painter . |
||
|
C |
2/3 |
3 |
2 |
15 |
15 |
3 |
50 |
Widow, goes out to work |
||
|
D |
2/3 |
2 |
2 |
15 |
15 |
3 |
Hawker. |
|||
|
D |
Own |
6 |
8 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
. . |
Baker, public bakehouse |
||
|
pro- |
||||||||||
|
A |
perty 2/3 |
2 |
2 |
15 |
15 |
3 |
Widow .... |
|||
|
D |
2/3 |
3 |
2 |
15 |
15 |
2 |
48 |
Widow, chars . |
||
|
C |
2/3 |
3 |
2 |
15 |
15 |
3 |
25 |
Labourer |
||
|
c |
2/3 |
5 |
2 |
15 |
15 |
3 |
Painter .... |
|||
|
A |
2/3 |
1 |
2 |
15 |
15 |
3 |
Widow .... |
|||
|
D |
2/3 |
7 |
2 |
15 |
15 |
3 |
40 |
Bricklayer |
No. i
Supplementary
®
SO
<
24
17
35
38
2S
Male.
Labourer
Labourer .
(Brother) Labourer
Labourer, Railway
II
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 17
STREET.
Earners.
<D
to
Sex.
Female.
Lodgers.
22
Works at Laundry
M.
M.
M.
Labourer pays 2/6 ,, [per week
i) >>
22
17
2S
30
26
Confectionery Works . .
n 11
Assists with house work .
11 11
Wife, Confectionery Works French Polisher
28
25
Day work . 11 11
Remarks.
Irish Roman Catholics, very poor. Both in indifferent health. Sons do not bring much in. House fairly clean.
Four boys, one girl. House dirty and untidy.
Four boys, one girl. House cleaner than some.
Four boys, three girls (young). Very poor, little work. House dirty, very little furniture.
Three boys, two girls (young). Very poor, wife not very strong. House] dirty and untidy.
Very respectable.
Seven children.
Young son wants situation, just out of prison. House fairly clean.
Four boys, one girl. Seems respect- able. Girl at home since mother’s death.
Daughters married, respectable. House dirty and untidy.
Generally six lodgers per night, at 4d. per head. House fairly kept.
Just married. House clean.
Always been out when called upon.
One child, husband much steadier than used to be. Respectable, house clean.
Tidy.
One little girl, looks after house when father out.
Very poor, untidy woman, very little furniture. House untidy, but not so dirty as some.
Respectable, three boys, one girl.
27
Chars
M.
Hawker
. Disreputable old woman, ill ; ought to be in Workhouse. Hawks when able. Lodger pays 2s. 6d. or 3s. for lodging only. House very dirty, probably used as a house of ill-fame. Gets parish relief.
Mother very poorly, daughter’s husband out of work.
One child, respectable, wife and house dirty and untidy. Very little furni- ture.
Three girls.
Has very little to live upon, as all three sons have married and left her. Parish relief.
Respectable, looks well-to-do compared with many. House clean and tidy.
c
No. of House. Class (see p. 28).
18
POVERTY
CHAP.
Particulars re Housing.
B
D
C
A
A
C
c
c
c
c
B
C
D
B
B
A
B
C
D
|
Rent. |
No. of Inmates. |
No. of Rooms. |
No. of Houses sharing one Yard. ' |
No. of Houses sharing one Water-tap. |
No. of Houses sharing one Closet. |
Back to Back. |
Houses with no Yard. |
No. |
i STREET— |
||
|
Age of Householder. |
Occupation of Head of Family. |
Age. |
Supplementary Male. |
||||||||
|
Va |
can |
t |
|||||||||
|
2/6 |
3 |
2 |
21 |
21 |
3 |
. . |
50 |
Widow, chars |
|||
|
Va |
can |
t |
|||||||||
|
2/6 |
2 |
2 |
21 |
21 |
3 |
65 |
Labourer, Widower |
||||
|
Va |
can |
t |
' |
||||||||
|
2/6 |
3 |
2 |
21 |
21 |
3 |
Labourer |
|||||
|
2/6 |
5 |
2 |
21 |
21 |
3 |
Labourer (out of work) . |
|||||
|
Va |
can |
t |
|||||||||
|
2/6 |
3 |
2 |
21 |
21 |
3 |
70 |
Widow .... |
||||
|
2/6 |
2 |
2 |
21 |
21 |
3 |
40 |
Farm Labourer |
||||
|
2/6 |
4 |
2 |
21 |
21 |
3 |
56 |
Widow, works in fields . |
||||
|
3/- |
6 |
2 |
21 |
21 |
3 |
38 |
Shoemaker |
||||
|
3/3 |
7 |
3 |
21 |
21 |
3 |
37 |
Drainer .... |
||||
|
3/- |
4 |
2 |
21 |
21 |
3 |
50 |
Widow, chars |
22 |
Out of work . |
||
|
19 |
Labourer in fields. |
||||||||||
|
3/3 |
4 |
3 |
21 |
21 |
3 |
• • |
Labourer |
• • |
* * |
||
|
2/6 |
5 |
2 |
21 |
21 |
3 |
35 |
Farm Labourer |
||||
|
3/3 |
7 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
55 |
Carter .... |
30 |
Labourer, Corpora- |
||
|
tion |
|||||||||||
|
25 |
Labourer, Gas Works |
||||||||||
|
3/3 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
50 |
Bricklayer’s Labourer. |
||||
|
2/3 |
7 |
2 |
15 |
15 |
3 |
Labourer |
• * |
* * |
|||
|
2/6 |
1 |
2 |
21 |
21 |
3 |
45 |
Widow, chars. |
||||
|
2/6 |
7 |
2 |
21 |
21 |
3 |
. . |
35 |
Painter .... |
|||
|
2/6 |
2 |
2 |
21 |
21 |
3 |
35 |
Bricklayer’s Labourer . |
• * |
• • |
||
|
2/6 |
3 |
2 |
21 |
21 |
3 |
50 |
Bricklayer’s Labourer . |
II
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 19
Continued.
|
Earners. |
Sex. |
Lodgers. |
Remarks. Note — |
||
|
Age. |
Female. |
F. = Girl \ The numbers indicate M. = BoyJ the ages. |
|||
|
18 |
Laundress .... |
F. 11. Untidy. |
|||
|
•• |
Father has lost an eye. House not very dirty. |
||||
|
.. |
One boy. Irish Roman Catholics. |
||||
|
Three children. Irish Roman Catholics. |
|||||
|
•• |
Daughter (a widow) goeslout to wash and char Wife works in fields. |
• • |
Grandchild 14. House clean. |
||
|
3S 16 |
Works in fields . Confectionery Works. |
• • |
M. 9, at Roman Catholic School. Untidy. |
||
|
14 |
At home .... |
. . |
. . |
F. 12, 10, M. 3. Tidy. Five children under 10. Dirty home. |
The grating |
|
• • |
• • |
•• |
over the drain in this yard is |
||
|
•• |
• • |
•• |
•• |
M. 13. Tidy. |
very small — water has stood |
|
F. 6, M. 4. Tidy. |
for days in yard and in houses up to the stairs, especially right side of yard. |
||||
|
•• |
Wife works in fields . |
■ • |
• • |
M. S, 6, 3. Untidy, dren neglected. |
House and chil- |
|
27 19 |
Goes out washing and char- ing. Goes out washing and char- ing. |
Four boys, one girl (young). Respect- able. |
|||
|
33 |
Wife goes out to work some- times. |
Five children (three by first wife). Husband not quite steady, wife deli- cate-looking. Respectable ; one boy sent to a truant school. House fairly clean. |
|||
|
Five children under 11. Tidy. |
|||||
|
• • |
* * |
* • |
F. 10, consumptive ; M. 4, cripple ; M. 2, F. 3 months. Untidy ; children dirty. |
||
|
21 |
Confectionery Works . |
Tidy. Note.— The above property is in bad condition throughout, in fact in some cases it is dangerous to life and limb to enter the doors. |
20
POVERTY
CHAP.
Particulars re Housing.
|
© CO 0 |
Class (see p. 28). |
Rent. |
No. of Inmates. |
No. of Rooms. |
No. of Houses sharing one Yard. |
No. of Houses sharing one Water-tap. |
No. of Houses sharing one Closet. |
Back to Back. |
Houses with no Yard. |
No. 2 |
|||
|
O a o o iZi |
Age of Householder. |
Occupation of Head of Family. |
Supplementary |
||||||||||
|
Age. |
Male. |
||||||||||||
|
B |
4/9 |
6 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
40 |
Labourer, Ironworks |
|||||
|
D |
4/9 |
4 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
. . |
. . |
54 |
Moulder’s Labourer |
23 |
(Son) Moulder’s |
|
|
Labourer |
|||||||||||||
|
D |
4/- |
1 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
# # |
, . |
SO |
Widow — has means. |
|||
|
B |
4/6 |
7 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
50 |
.... |
16 |
Mattress Maker |
|||
|
A |
Own- |
4 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
75 |
Too old, 56 years with |
|||||
|
er |
one Employer (Pen- |
||||||||||||
|
sion) |
|||||||||||||
|
C |
2/10 |
6 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
4 |
. . |
29 |
Painter .... |
# . |
|||
|
C |
2/7 |
4 |
2 |
6 |
4 |
# . |
30 |
Waterman |
|||||
|
B |
2/10 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
4 |
38 |
Field Labourer |
. m |
||||
|
C |
2/7 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
4 |
. . |
. . |
32 |
Bricklayer’s Labourer . |
. # |
# B |
|
|
c |
2/10 |
7 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
4 |
-■ |
35 |
Painter .... |
• • |
• • |
||
|
c |
4/9 |
2 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
21 |
Picture-frame Maker |
|||||
|
B |
3/6 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
. . |
30 |
Bricklayer’s Labourer . |
. # |
|||
|
D |
3/6 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
. # |
40 |
Mason .... |
, . |
. # |
||
|
D |
4/9 |
8 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
# m |
50 |
23 |
Labourer . |
|||
|
17 |
Apprentice Brick- |
||||||||||||
|
layer. |
|||||||||||||
|
15 |
Confectioner. |
||||||||||||
|
D |
4/9 |
5 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
•• |
65 |
Widow .... |
25 |
Groom |
||
|
D |
3/- |
3 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
35 |
Painter .... |
14 |
Labourer (Iron- |
|||
|
monger’s) |
|||||||||||||
|
D |
3/3 |
8 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
. |
36 |
Carter and Hawker (own |
. m |
|||
|
cart) |
|||||||||||||
|
D |
6/3 |
5 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
46 |
Painter .... |
, , |
Painter |
|||
|
B |
4/- |
4 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
32 |
Bricklayer’s Labourer . |
|||||
|
A |
4/- |
2 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
60 |
Too old .... |
. . |
||||
|
C |
4/- |
7 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
50 |
Confectioner . |
20 |
Cleaner, Railway . |
|||
|
14 |
Flour Mills. |
||||||||||||
|
C |
2/7 |
7 |
2 |
•• |
6 |
4 |
• • |
40 |
Coach Painter |
•• |
•• |
||
|
B |
3/3 |
7 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
- • |
3S |
Labourer, Gasworks |
• • |
• • |
||
|
C |
3/3 |
6 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
35 |
Plumber .... |
|||||
|
D |
3/3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
50 |
Widow, washing . |
25 |
(Son) Striker . |
II
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 21
STREET.
Earners.
|
Age. |
Female. |
|
20 |
Dressmaker .... |
|
Wife takes nurse children . |
|
|
20 |
Laundry .... |
|
•• |
Wife, Laundry . |
|
18 |
Keeps house |
|
• • |
Sex.
M.
28
M.
31
Lodgers.
Porter ,
Joiner ,
Note —
F. = Girl \ M. = Boy /
Remarks.
The numbers indicate the ages.
F. 12, 9, 11, M. 6. Comfortable. Mother 82j lives with them. Tidy.
Lodger is son with wife and F. 4, M. 3. Tidy.
Two nurse children. M. 9, F. 1£.
F. 8, M. 5, 3, F. 3 months. Tidy.
F. 5, M. 4. Tidy.
F. 11, M. 4, F. 1|. Untidy.
Untidy.
F. 14, 10, 8, M. 4, 2. Dirty and over- crowded.
Tidy and respectable.
M. 3, 2. Tidy.
F. 3£. Tidy.
F. 28 ; ill. M. 13, 11, school. Tidy.
Respectable.
Tidy.
Six children under 13. Fair home, but overcrowded.
M. 14, F. 10, school. Respectable.
M. 2, F. 3. Tidy.
Both get parish relief.
M. 12, 9, 7, school. Respectable.
F. 11, 9, 7, 5, M. 3. Untidy ; very little furniture.
F. 11, M. 10, 9, 6, F. 4. Tidy but over- crowded.
M. 10, F. 7, 2J, M. in arms. Tidy.
Respectable.
22
POVERTY
CHAP.
|
Particulars re Housing. |
2 o • |
|||||||||||||
|
No. of House. |
j Class (see p. 28). |
Rent. |
No. of Inmates. |
No. of Rooms. |
No. of Houses sliaring- one Yard. |
No. of Houses sharing one Water- tan. |
No. of Houses sharing one Closet. |
Back to Back. |
Houses with no Yard. |
|||||
|
Age of Householder. |
Occupation of Head of Family. |
Age. |
Supplementary Male. |
|||||||||||
|
C |
4/3 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
28 |
Painter . |
||||||
|
D |
3/- |
1 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
50 |
Groom, Bachelor. |
||||||
|
C |
3/- |
3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
26 |
Carter |
1 •* |
|||||
|
A |
3/- |
3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
65 |
Very little work |
as |
. . |
||||
|
Labourer |
||||||||||||||
|
D |
4/3 |
►t 7 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
50 |
Lamplighter . |
• |
•• |
||||
|
D |
4/3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
60 |
Confectioner . |
||||||
|
B |
4/3 |
7 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
35 |
Labourer, Gasworks |
. . |
|||||
|
D |
4/3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
•• |
35 |
,, Cocoa Works |
|||||
|
A |
4/3 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
56 |
Widow, washing |
23 |
Clerk, Railway, pays |
||||
|
10/- |
||||||||||||||
|
20 |
Painter, pays 9/-. |
|||||||||||||
|
D |
4/3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
3S |
Bricklayer |
. . |
. # |
||||
|
D |
4/3 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
65 |
Currier . |
||||||
|
D |
4/3 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
50 |
Paperhanger . |
||||||
|
C |
3/- |
2 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
26 |
Labourer, Cocoa Works . |
. . |
|||||
|
C |
3/- |
3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
36 |
Confectioner . |
. . |
|||||
|
c |
3/- |
4 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
. m |
31 |
Bricklayer’s Labourer |
. . |
, , |
|||
|
A |
4/3 |
11 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
40 |
Widow . |
• |
• * |
• • |
|||
|
D |
3/- |
2 |
3 |
8 |
4 |
2 |
60 |
Joiner |
||||||
|
C |
4/3 |
9 |
4 |
8 |
4 |
2 |
• • |
38 |
Painter . |
•• |
||||
|
C |
3/- |
5 |
3 |
8 |
4 |
2 |
34 |
Labourer, Railway |
.. |
|||||
|
C |
3/- |
1 |
3 |
8 |
4 |
2 |
. |
47 |
Widow, goes out nursing. |
|||||
|
B |
2/6 |
6 |
2 |
8 |
4 |
2 |
• • |
37 |
Labourer, Gasworks |
•• |
• • |
|||
|
A |
4/3 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
34 |
Widow, chars |
||||||
|
D |
£16 |
5 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
39 |
Publican . |
. . |
|||||
|
B |
4/3 |
5 |
4 |
8 |
4 |
« 2 |
28 |
Labourer, Plant |
, . |
|||||
|
D |
2/6 |
6 |
2 |
8 |
4 |
2 |
60 |
Joiner |
36 |
Painter |
||||
|
32 |
||||||||||||||
|
C |
3/- |
2 |
3 |
8 |
4 |
2 |
42 |
Widow, chars |
•• |
|||||
|
c |
2/6 |
4 |
2 |
8 |
4 |
2 |
28 |
Painter’s Labourer |
||||||
|
D |
4/3 |
5 |
4 |
8 |
4 |
2 |
40 |
Coach builder . |
, , |
|||||
|
B |
2/6 |
3 |
2 |
8 |
4 |
2 |
42 |
Laundress |
• |
•• |
||||
|
0 |
3/- |
2 |
3 |
8 |
4 |
2 |
25 |
Labourer, Plant |
. I |
|||||
|
D |
2/6 |
5 |
2 |
8 |
4 |
2 |
55 |
,, Gasworks |
is |
Box Mills . |
||||
|
D |
4/3 |
6 |
4 |
8 |
4 |
2 |
69 |
Widow . |
36 |
Labourer, Gasworks |
||||
|
1 |
33 |
,, Gardens . |
||||||||||||
|
D |
4/3 |
5 |
4 |
8 |
4 |
2 |
55 |
>1 • |
27 |
Painter . |
||||
|
C |
3/- |
3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
40 |
Labourer, Railway |
||||||
|
C |
2/6 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
. . |
, . |
27 |
>) )) • |
. . |
. . |
||
|
C |
4/3 |
6 |
4 |
8 |
4 |
2 |
34 |
Plasterer |
. . |
|||||
|
C |
3/- |
3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
37 |
Gardener |
16 |
Confectioner’s Boy . |
||||
|
D |
3/- |
11 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
40 |
Cabdriver— ill health |
||||||
|
D |
4/3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
27 |
Labourer, Plant |
II
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 23
STREET.
|
Earners. |
Remarks. |
|||
|
Sex. |
Lodgers. |
Note — |
||
|
F. = Girl \ The numbers indicate |
||||
|
Age |
Female. |
M. =BoyJ the ages. |
||
|
. . |
. . |
, . |
M. 3, 1. Tidy. |
|
|
•• |
Child in arms. Tidy. Young grandchild. Tidy. Parish relief. |
|||
|
M. |
Aged Uncle |
Three children under 10. Dirty. |
||
|
M. |
Labourer, Gas- [ works. |
|||
|
37 |
Chars. |
|||
|
Wife, Cocoa Works |
ii |
Sister, Cocoa |
Five children under 10. Dirty. Tidy. |
|
|
Works |
||||
|
14 |
Very ill .... |
■ • |
•• |
Tidy. Parish relief. |
|
15 |
Cocoa Works |
Respectable. |
||
|
. . |
M. |
Labourer, Rail- |
Respectable. |
|
|
M. |
Confectioner [way |
Respectable. Tidy. One child in arms. |
||
|
F. 7, M. 3. Tidy. Nine young children. Had parish relief |
||||
|
stopped for illegitimate child. Chil- dren dirty and unruly. Query— How they live ? |
||||
|
. . |
. . |
. . |
, , |
Wife paralysed. Respectable. |
|
, . |
. , |
Seven children under 14 at home. Clean |
||
|
and tidy. |
||||
|
•• |
• • |
F. 10, M. 7, 2i |
||
|
Four children under 10. Untidy house |
||||
|
and children. |
||||
|
•• |
Wife small shop . |
• • |
•• |
F. 4, 2. Clean and tidy. Parish relief. M. 7, F. 5, M. 3. |
|
•• |
* * |
M. 4, 2, 7 months. Grandchildren. F. 4, 2. House dirty and unhealthy. |
||
|
. # |
M. |
Labourer, Gas- |
||
|
works, pays 12s. |
F. 3, 1. Fair home. |
|||
|
Wife chars .... |
■■ |
M. 5, F. 3, 1. Clean and tidy. F. 6, school. Husband deserted wife. |
||
|
Fair home. |
||||
|
14 |
Laundry .... |
• • |
Tidy. Daughter’s baby. House dirty, over- |
|
|
crowded. |
||||
|
21 |
Laundry .... |
. . |
M. 7, 4 (grandchildren). Tidy. |
|
|
28 |
Cocoa Works. |
|||
|
19 |
Cocoa Works |
Tidy. |
||
|
22 |
Laundry. |
|||
|
25 |
>> |
|||
|
. . |
. . |
F. 10. Tidy. |
||
|
Wife takes in washing |
• • |
Tidy. Four children under 8. Tidy. Two children under 10. Untidy ; man |
||
|
drinks. |
||||
|
• • |
•• |
* * |
Eight under 13. House tidy, but over- F. 2. Tidy. [crowded. |
24
POVERTY
CHAP.
|
Particulars re Housing. |
No. 4 |
||||||||||||
|
No. of House. |
Class (see p. 28). |
Rent. |
No. of Inmates. |
No. of Rooms. |
No. of Houses sharing one Yard. |
No. of Houses sharing one Water-tap. |
No. of Houses sharing one Closet. |
Back to Back. |
Houses with no Yard. |
||||
|
Age of Householder. |
Occupation of Head of Family. |
Age. |
Supplementary Male. |
||||||||||
|
D |
4/3 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
■ • |
• • |
48 |
Widow, washing . |
14 |
Errand Boy |
|
|
D |
3/- |
2 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
30 |
Labourer |
|||||
|
D |
3/- |
2 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
50 |
Labourer. |
|||||
|
D |
T. |
2 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
50 |
Retired, had large busi- |
|||||
|
Own |
ness. |
||||||||||||
|
C |
4/3 |
4 |
5 |
7 |
7 |
2 |
32 |
Clerk .... |
•• |
•• |
|||
|
D |
4/3 |
3 |
5 |
7 |
7 |
2 |
50 |
Labourer, Corporation . |
26 |
Bricklayer’s Lab’rer |
|||
|
C |
3/- |
7 |
4 |
7 |
7 |
2 |
47 |
Furniture Remover |
. , |
. . |
|||
|
A |
2/6 |
6 |
2 |
8 |
8 |
5 |
38 |
Bricklayer’s Labourer . |
19 |
Bricklayer |
|||
|
17 |
Cocoa Works . |
||||||||||||
|
B |
2/6 |
3 |
2 |
8 |
8 |
5 |
36 |
Widow .... |
23 |
Bricklayer’s Lab’rer |
|||
|
C |
2/6 |
7 |
2 |
8 |
8 |
5 |
37 |
Painter .... |
•- |
||||
|
C |
2/6 |
4 |
2 |
8 |
8 |
3 |
30 |
Painter .... |
# . |
||||
|
C |
6/- |
3 |
6 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
50 |
Widow, small shop |
•• |
•• |
|||
|
A |
2/3 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
66 |
Widow, chars |
.. |
.. |
|||
|
D |
5/- |
8 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
51 |
Coach Painter, small |
21 |
’Coach Painter . |
|||
|
shop |
20 |
Mattress Maker |
|||||||||||
|
A |
1/- |
2 |
1 |
6 |
3 |
70 |
Too infirm |
. • |
. • |
||||
|
C |
3/2 |
4 |
3 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
26 |
Fireman .... |
• . |
. • |
|||
|
B |
3/2 |
2 |
3 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
70 |
Too infirm (Superannu- |
• . |
• . |
|||
|
ation Pay) . |
|||||||||||||
|
D |
2/3 |
3 |
2 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
55 |
Cabdriver |
. . |
. . |
|||
|
C |
2/3 |
5 |
2 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
38 |
Bricklayer’s Labourer . |
. . |
. . |
|||
|
A |
2/3 |
6 |
2 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
52 |
Labourer (no settled |
. • |
. • |
|||
|
work) |
|||||||||||||
|
A |
2/3 |
1 |
2 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
30 |
Widow, goes out charing. |
|||||
|
D |
3/2 |
3 |
3 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
60 |
Widow .... |
35 |
Engine Driver . |
|||
|
28 |
Fireman. |
||||||||||||
|
A |
3/2 |
3 |
3 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
45 |
Widow .... |
• . |
• • |
|||
|
D |
3/2 |
1 |
3 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
45 |
Bootmaker |
• . |
• . |
|||
|
A |
6 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
54 |
Labourer, out of work . |
•• |
• • |
||||
|
D |
5/- |
4 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
. . |
53 |
Labourer, small shop . |
21 |
Warehouseman |
||
|
C |
2/- |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
60 |
Brushmaker . |
. # |
||||
|
A |
2/6 |
2 |
2 |
7 |
7 |
2 |
•• |
45 |
Widow, washing |
•• |
|||
|
D |
2/6 |
3 |
2 |
7 |
7 |
2 |
30 |
Tailor .... |
, , |
, , |
|||
|
C |
2/6 |
4 |
2 |
7 |
7 |
2 |
23 |
General Labourer . |
. • |
||||
|
C |
2/6 |
3 |
2 |
7 |
7 |
2 |
30 |
Confectioner . |
•• |
• • |
|||
|
A |
2/6 i |
1 |
2 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
60 |
Widow .... |
|||||
|
C |
2/6 |
4 |
2 |
8 |
8 |
5 |
37 |
Labourer, Flour Mills . |
15 |
Cocoa Works . |
|||
|
B |
2/6 |
3 |
2 |
8 |
8 |
5 |
60 |
Widow .... |
• • |
||||
|
B |
2/6 |
3 |
2 |
8 |
8 |
5 |
75 |
Corporation Labourer . |
16 |
(Grandson) Bottler . |
|||
|
c |
3/9 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
25 |
Painter .... |
. . |
• . |
|||
|
B |
3/6 |
5 |
3 |
6 |
3 |
36 |
Bricklayer’s Labourer . |
. . |
. . |
||||
|
A |
1/6 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
3 |
. . |
68 |
Waiter (only occasion- |
. . |
• • |
|||
|
ally) |
|||||||||||||
|
B |
i/- |
2 |
1 |
6 |
3 |
• * |
44 |
Sweep .... |
• * |
II
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 25
STREET.
|
Earners. |
Sex. |
Lodgers. |
Remarks. Note — |
|
|
Age. |
Female. |
F. = Girl \ The numbers indicate M. = Boy J the ages. |
||
|
23 |
Day Domestic |
Very clean and respectable. |
||
|
21 21 |
)> >> >} >» >j >> ... |
•• |
Tidy. |
|
|
22 30 |
Wife, washing Laundry .... Wife goes out charing. Laundry .... |
• • |
M. 8, S, school. Tidy. Sink near door, bad. Tidy. M. 13, 7, 4, F. 6, 9 months. Tidy. F. 12, at home. Tidy. Overcrowded, neighbours complain. Respectable and tidy. |
|
|
• • |
• • |
• ' |
• * |
Five children under nine. Untidy, over- crowded. F. 3, M. 3. Tidy. |
|
22 |
Cocoa Works |
M. |
Clerk . |
Respectable. |
|
18 |
Very tidy. |
|||
|
Attends shop |
. , |
M. 12, 9, 7. Respectable. |
||
|
i<5 |
Cocoa Works. |
Both get parish relief. Wife aged 79. |
||
|
M 2, 4 months. Fair. Tidy. |
||||
|
M. |
Labourer . |
|||
|
Wife chars .... |
M. 13, imbecile. Tidy. |
|||
|
m m |
F. 10, M. 7, F. 3. Tidy. |
|||
|
•• |
F. 7, M. 9, 4, F. 2. Tidy. |
|||
|
• • |
. . |
. . |
. . |
Tidy and respectable. |
|
15 |
Day work .... |
F. 10. Tidy. |
||
|
Lives alone. |
||||
|
. m |
Assists in house . |
M. 14, F. 8, school ; M. 1^. Very poor, |
||
|
15 |
Wife attends shop Wife chars .... |
M. 38 |
Labourer. |
but tidy. Untidy woman, addicted to drink. Clean and respectable. Parish relief. |
|
. . |
M. |
Engine Cleaner . |
||
|
16 |
M. 11, school. Respectable. |
|||
|
. . |
. . |
F. 2, M. 1. Clean. |
||
|
25 |
(Sister) Laundry . |
# # |
m m |
Respectable. Parish relief. |
|
50 |
(Mother) keeps house. |
Comfortable and tidy. Parish relief. |
||
|
14 |
Cocoa Works |
. |
Tidy. |
|
|
25 |
Wife, Laundry. Works in fields . |
M. |
Corporation |
Tidy. |
|
65 |
Labourer |
Tidy. |
||
|
. |
F. 41, 2^, M. 4 months. Tidy. |
|||
|
F. 12, 9, 1. Untidy. |
||||
|
4i |
Wife chars |
Clean, but very poor. Man getting too |
||
|
Wife chops and sells wood |
•• |
• • |
old for work. Unsteady ; house untidy. |
26
POVERTY
CHAP.
These specimen pages will serve to show the kind of information received. Particulars were obtained regarding 11,560 families, living in 388 streets, com- prising a population of 46,754, or almost exactly two- thirds of the entire population.1
The occupation of each of the workers was ascertained, and sometimes also direct information regarding; the wagjes earned. Where this information was not available the wage was estimated. In the case of skilled workers, the earnings wrere assumed to be the average wage which obtains in the district for the particular trade.
The case of unskilled workers presented more difficulty, but intimate acquaintance with the wages paid in one large factory with which I am connected, and which employs much unskilled labour, has been of invaluable assistance to me. Added to this, other large employers of labour in the city have given me
1 The number of domestic servants in York in 1891 was 3904. At the time of writing, the detailed report of the 1901 Census is not to hand, but if we assume that the number of servants has increased since 1891 in the same proportion as the population generally, their numbers in 1899 would be about 4296. If, therefore, we estimate the number of domestic servants to be 4296, and add this number to the population referred to above, we obtain 67 per cent of the population as the proportion belonging to the class who do not employ domestic servants. If, however, we include the 2923 persons in public institutions (see p. 31), the great bulk of whom are drawn from the working classes, the percentage of the population who do not keep domestic servants is raised to 71. It should, however, be noted, that as York is the county town and a military depot, the proportion of persons in public institutions is higher than in some towns.
In 1882 a Special Committee of the British Association estimated the proportion of the labouring classes at 70 per cent of the population. A similar proportion, based, however, on different figures, is given by Mulhall, Dictionary of Statistics, p. 320 ; and by Professor Leone Levi, Report of the British Association (1883), p. 361 ; and Wages and Earnings of the Working Classes (1885), p. 2.
II
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 27
information respecting the wages they are paying, so that the wTages of unskilled labour have, it is believed, been estimated with a large degree of accuracy.
In all cases, in assessing wages, allowance has been made for short time, including public holidays, not paid for, also for overtime, and cost of tools ; this allowance being based on information supplied by Trade Union secretaries, by masters, and by the workers themselves. No uniform allowance has been made for loss of wage through illness, but in the estimates of short time some allowance under this head has been made.1 Working upon these lines, the earnings of every wage-earner have either been ascertained or carefully estimated.
Methods of Classifying Families
Any classification of families according to income must be an arbitrary one. I have, in this chapter, adopted a method of classifying the population which is similar in some respects to that adopted by Mr. Charles Booth in his Life and Labour of the People in London , but in other respects the differences of method employed are so important as to make a comparison of the two classifications misleading.2 But in Chapter IV., in which an estimate is made of
1 A rougli indication of the average weekly loss through ill-health is afforded by the fact that in some well-managed sick clubs a weekly payment of 2d. carries with it a sick allowance of 7s. per week for six weeks, and 3s. 6d. for another six weeks.
2 It should, however, be noted that while the classification of the population differs, comparison is possible between the total amount of poverty in London and in York. See letter on this subject from Mr. Charles Booth, p. 300.
28
POVERTY
CHAP.
the proportion of the population living above and below the Poverty Line, the comparatively small population to be dealt with in the city of York has enabled a more searching analysis to be made.
The population is divided into seven classes as follows : —
Class.
“A.” Total Family Income under 18s. for a moderate family.
“ B.” Total Family Income 18s. and under 21s. for a moderate family.
“ C.” Total Family Income 21s. and under 30s. for a moderate family.
“D.” Total Family Income over 30s. for a moderate family.
“ E.” 1 Domestic Servants.
“ F.” 2 Servant-keeping Class.
“ G.” Persons in Public Institutions.
By a “ moderate ” family is here intended a family consisting of father, mother, and from two to four children.3 In classifying, allowance has been made for families which were smaller or larger than such “ moderate ” family. Thus, if a family had an income
1 The number of these is based upon the 1891 Census returns. I have assumed that their number has increased since then in the same proportion as the total population of the city (see footnote, p. 26).
2 The number of these is arrived at by subtracting the wage -earning population, the domestic servants, and the persons in public institutions from the total population of the city. In this class I include a few families who from various causes do not keep servants, but who live in the same style as many of those who do.
3 According to the 1891 Census, the average number of persons per family in England and Wales was about five persons (4‘73). The “moderate ” family here taken as a basis for classification allows for a margin of one person above or below this average figure.
II
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 29
of 22s., and consisted of two parents and four children, they would be placed in Class “ C,” but if there were five or more children they would be placed in Class “B.” Again, if a family had an income of 27s., and consisted of two parents and two children, they would be placed in Class “ C,” but if there were only one child they would go into Class “D.”
The estimates of total family incomes have been worked out upon the following basis : —
The “ family income ” includes —
Total wages of father.
Total wages of mother.
Total wages of any children who are earning not more than 7s. each.
Estimated payment for board and lodging given to their parents by older children.1
Payments by lodgers (if any) for board and lodging, the lodgers being counted as members of the family.2
In estimating the family income, the aim has been to show the total sum which, upon the above-named basis, can find its way into the family purse. It is from a knowledge of this figure that we are able to ascertain the standard of comfort attainable by the working classes. It is not implied that the standard represented by a given income is always attained by families who are in receipt of such income. That, of course, is far from being the case. Ignorant
1 See footnote, p. 86.
2 With regard to lodgers, in a number of cases the actual amount paid for lodgings has been ascertained, but the sums paid vary only slightly according to the accommodation provided, so that fairly accurate estimates are easy to arrive at by a knowledge of the latter.
30
POVERTY
CHAP.
extravagance, gambling, or expenditure upon drink, frequently causes the actual standard of comfort in which a family is living to be much lower than that attainable were the family income wisely employed.
From an economic standpoint, however, it is of first importance to ascertain the standard of comfort attainable; hence the assumption that the whole of the earnings of father and mother go into the house- keeping purse. It would, however, give a false impression were we to assume that the whole wages of the older children go into the family purse. In York it is the general custom for older children to pay to their parents such portion of their wages as they would have had to pay for board and lodgings if not living at home. The sums vary according to the age and sex of the child, and also according to the neighbourhood. Thus a girl or lad will pay from 5s. to 9s. weekly, while a man will pay from 9s. to 14s. Anything which they earn above these figures they usually keep for themselves. It is out of this surplus that young persons are able to save money for furnish- ing their own houses when they marry.
In the case of young children earning under, say, 7s. weekly, it is customary for the child to hand over the whole of its earnings to the parents, receiving back a few coppers for pocket-money. Here, there- fore, the whole earnings have been reckoned as going into the family purse.
It is obviously, therefore, better to classify, not by the wrages of the head of the household, but by
II
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 31
family income, since the sums contributed by supple- mentary earners frequently amount to more than the earnings of the head, and thus materially affect the standard of living of the whole family.
Classification of the Population of York
Classifying upon the basis described above, we obtain the following results : —
|
Class. |
Family Income (for moderate Family). |
Number of Persons in each Class. |
Percentage in each Class calculated upon total Wage-earners in York (excluding domestic servants and persons in public institutions). |
Percentage of whole Population. |
|
“ A ” |
Under 18s. per week |
1,957 |
4*2 |
2-6 |
|
“ B ” |
18s. and under 21s. |
4,492 |
9-6 |
5-9 |
|
“C” |
21s. and under 30s. |
15,710 |
33-6 |
20-7 |
|
“D” |
Over 30s. |
24,595 |
52-6 |
32-4 |
|
“ E ” |
Female domestic servants |
4,296 |
■ • • |
5-7 |
|
f‘F” |
Servant-keeping class |
21,830 |
• • • |
28-8 |
|
“G” |
In public institutions |
2,932 |
• • • |
3-9 |
|
75,812 |
100-0 |
100-0 |
The size of each class may be represented thus : —
In the next chapter the standard of living in these various classes is considered.
CHAPTER III
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
Life in Class “A”
Income under 18s. weekly for a moderate family.1
Total number of persons in Class . . . 1957
Percentage of the working-class population . . 4 '2
Percentage of the total population . . . 2 *6
Number of families . . . . . 656
Average size of family 2 .... 3
Average family earnings of those families who are
earning anything 3 . . . . 11s. 7d.
Average rent ....... 2s. 9fd.
This class comprises the poorest people in the city.
We shall best obtain a picture of the kind of life they live by studying a few typical cases taken from the investigators’ note-books.
The addresses of the houses are here omitted.
1 Where the family has consisted of one or two persons they have been placed in Class “ B ” if their total income has approached 18s. On the other hand, families with incomes between 18s. and 21s. are included in this class if the number of children exceeds four.
2 The average size of family is small because of the large number of old persons in this class.
3 This sum includes the total earnings of all the children.
32
CHAP. Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
33
NOTES
CLASS “a”
1. No occupation. Married. Age sixty-four. Two rooms. The
man “has not had his hoots on” for twelve months. He is suffering from dropsy. His wife cleans schools. This house shares one closet with eight other houses, and one water-tap with four others. Rent 2s. 6d.
2. Labourer, Foundry. Married. Four rooms. Four children.
Steady ; work regular. Man has bad eyesight, and poor wage accordingly. Family live in the midst of smoke. Rent cheap on account of smoke. Rent 3s.
3. Out of work. Married. Four rooms. Five children. Drinks.
“ Chucked his work over a row.” Very poor ; have to pawn furniture to keep children. Rent 4s.
4. Odd jobs. Married. Four rooms. Three children. Man drinks.
Formerly in good work. Cannot keep a situation. Poverty- stricken. Children not properly nourished. Had parish relief once. Rent 4s.
5. Widow. Four rooms. Grandson (eleven) sleeps here. Parish
relief. Woman takes lodgers when she can get them, but that is seldom. Do not know how she manages to live. Rent 4s. 6d.
6. Gardener, out of work. Married. Four rooms. Steady ; nice
home. Getting old. Been in gentleman’s service. Rent 4s. 3d.
7. Spinster. Blind. Two rooms. Earns a little by knitting.
Parish relief ; also 2s. per week from a former employer. Very clean. Spends a lot of time with relatives. This house shares one water-tap with seven other houses, and one closet with one other. Rent 2s. 6d.
8. Charwoman. Two rooms. Son twenty. Casual labourer.
Husband in workhouse. Dirt and drink in plenty. This house shares one water-tap with six other houses, and one closet with two others. Rent 2s.
9. Spinster. One room. Parish relief, and takes care of an
D
34
POVERTY
CHAP.
illegitimate child. This house shares one water-tap with eleven other houses, and one closet with two others. Rent Is. 9d.
10. Spinster. One room. Parish relief. Seems ill for want of
proper support. House as clean as a sick woman can make it. Shares a water-tap with eleven other houses, and a closet with three others. Rent 2s.
11. Three old sisters. Four rooms. Parish relief. One an invalid,
one drinks. Nice home. Reduced people. Take in sewing and washing. Rent 4s. 6d.
12. Widow. Two rooms. Eleven children; the eldest was fifteen
when father died. Four are now working. Sober and very industrious, clean and fairly comfortable. Never in debt ; children fairly well clothed and fed. Rooms well kept and of a good size. Parish relief. Rent 2s. 6d.
13. Old widow. One room. Son allows her 3s. per week. Goes
out to nurse occasionally. Sober and industrious. Health poor. Particularly clean, and nice furniture in the room. Rent Is. 6d.
14. Widow. Two rooms. Son thirty-two, messenger. Parish relief.
Very weakly. Sober and industrious. House clean and fairly comfortable. Son consumptive ; in sick club. Been twenty-five years in house and cannot get water laid on, though they offered to pay more rent. This tenement shares one water- tap with fourteen other tenements, and one closet with fourteen others. Rent 3s. 9d.
15. Old widow. One room. Parish relief. Has a lodger who is a
charwoman. Has been in better circumstances, and has some comfortable furniture, but is not clean. Has been confined to her room for twelve months. Drink may be cause of poverty here. This tenement shares one water-tap with eleven others, and one closet with fourteen other tenements. Rent Is. 4d.
N.B. — Nos. 14 and 15 are living in very old premises, which are now let out in single rooms. There is only one water-tap for the whole block. There are no sinks, slops being emptied down the street grating, or down one in the yard. There are two closets in the yard, but only one is fit to use, and is shared by fifteen different families.
16. Widow. Age seventy. Two rooms. One child. Parish relief.
Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
35
Lodger and nurse-cliild. This house shares one water-tap with twenty-one other houses, and one closet with six others. Kent 3s. 2d.
17. Kag and bone gatherer. Married. One room. One child. Not
very steady. This house shares one water-tap with eight other houses, and one closet with three others. Rent 2s.
18. Spinster. One room. Knits and nurses. Very poor, miserable,
and ill. Does knitting when she can get it. This tenement shares one closet with two others. Rent Is. 6d.
19. Widow. One room. One child. Sack-mender. Daughter takes
care of home and her illegitimate child. Mother respectable and hard-working. Daughter has been very unsteady. The room is fairly large and well lighted, and faces south. This tenement shares one^ closet with two others, and one water-tap with five others. Rent Is. 9d.
20. Regular loafer. Married. Two rooms. One child. Wife sews.
House very dark on account of high buildings just opposite Kept clean and tidy. This house shares one closet with two other houses, and one water-tap with six others. Rent 2s. 6d.
21. Labourer. Married. Two rooms. Four children. Chronic
illness. Not worked for two years. Wife chars. Parish relief. This house shares one closet and one water-tap with eight other houses. Rent Is. 7d.
22. Messenger. Married. Three rooms. Seven children. Husband
delicate. Very dirty house. Wife works when able. This house shares one closet with one other house, and one water-tap with three other houses. Rent 3s. 6d.
23. Blind. Age sixty-three. Married. Two rooms. Parish relief.
Husband been blind twenty years. Sober. Wife delicate, but earns a few shillings by needle-work and sitting up at night w'ith sick people. This house shares closet with another house. Rent 2s. 3^d.
24. Does odd jobs. Married. Two rooms. One child. Husband
thoroughly idle and unsteady. Never in regular work. Wife takes in washing. This house shares one closet with three other houses, and one water-tap with six others. Rent 2s. 8d.
25. Widow. Age sixty-three. Two rooms. Takes in washing ; most
industrious and hard-working. Will not give up work, though
36
POVERTY
CHAP.
suffering from a tumour, which should be operated upon would she consent. Will not apply to Guardians for help while she can work. This house shares one closet with two other houses, and one water-tap with six others. Rent 2s. 8d.
26. Two spinsters, sisters. Two rooms. Rooms dark and dreary,
Professional cadgers. One is lame, and the other is supposed
to be weak-minded. This house shares one closet and one water-tap with five others. Rent Is. 6d.
27. Woodchopper. Married. One room. Parish relief. Wife blind.
Mostly live on what they can * beg. This house shares one closet and one water-tap with two other houses. Rent 2s.
28. Spinster. Age seventy. One room. Parish relief. Harmless
imbecile ; neighbours clean up for her. This house shares one closet and one water-tap with eleven other houses. Rent Is. l^d.
29. Labourer. Married. Age seventy. Two rooms. House locked
up, windows broken and patched up with paper. Neighbours say sons lie in bed most of the day, and go out with sisters at night. Bad case. This house shares one closet with three other houses, and one water-tap with four others. Rent 2s. 6d.
30. Odd jobs. Age sixty-five. One room. Formerly grocer’s assis-
tant, dismissed on account of age. Very poor, intelligent, and respectable ; room clean and tidy. This house shares one closet and one water-tap with three other houses. Rent 2s. 6d.
31. Husband in asylum. Four rooms. Five children. Parish
relief. Very sad case. Five children under thirteen. Clean and respectable, but much poverty. Woman would like work. This house shares one closet with another house and one water-tap with three other houses. Rent 3s. 9d.
32. Old man. Age eighty. Two rooms. Brother sixty -five years
old. Both receive parish relief. Untidy and filthy house. Floor of kitchen full of holes, and dangerous for old men. This house shares one closet with three other houses, and one water-tap with twenty-one others. Rent 2s.
33. Labourer. Married. Four rooms. Six children. Filthy to
extreme. This house shares one closet with another, and one water-tap with five others. Rent 3s. 6d.
34. Laundress. Two rooms. One baby. No husband. Unsteady.
Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
37
This house shares one closet and one water-tap with three other houses. Rent 2s.
35. Widow. Three rooms. Three children. Parish relief. One
daughter working. Before the “ Board ” seven times for
neglecting to send children to school. This house shares one closet with three other houses, and one water-tap with twenty- two others. Rent 2s. 3d.
36. Deputy landlord. Living alone. Parish relief. Sells “hot
peas ” in the streets at night. This house shares one closet with three other houses, and one water-tap with seven others. Rent free.
37. Labourer. Married. Four rooms. Seven children under
thirteen. Untidy. Overcrowded. Drains bad and house wants disinfecting. Rent 4s. 6d.
38. Widow. Four rooms. Five children. Woman chars. Entrance
to house very bad ; slaughter-house on each side. House in bad condition. Rent 3s.
39. Labourer. Married. Two rooms. Out of work. Wife chars.
Man drinks “ all he can get hold of ” ; will not work ; dirty. Rent 2s. 9d.
40. Gilder. Married. Four rooms. One child. Out of work • ill
Man was in sick club, but benefit has run out. Wife chars ; is hard-working, clean, and respectable. Relations help them Rent 3s. 9d.
41. Joiner. Married. Four rooms. Six children. Poor and
untidy. Infant very sickly. Buried two children within two years. Husband often on short time ; reason given — “ Company’s arrangements.” Mother often ill, though looking healthy and cheerful. Rent 3s. 8^d.
42. Chimney-sweep. Married. Two rooms. Five children under
thirteen. All sleep in one room. Wife just confined. Man in temporary employment, earning 2s. per day. House not very dirty. Man brought up in an Industrial School, and is incapable of supporting his family decently. A bad workman. This house shares one closet with two other houses, and one water-tap with three others. Rent 2s. 9d.
43. Widow. Four rooms. One baby. Semi-lunatic family. Receives
Poor Relief. Son, who is the wage-earner, is weak bodily and mentally. Ditto the daughter. Nice house, but dirty.
38
POVEETY
CHAP.
4s. per week is received for an illegitimate child being brought up here. This house shares one closet with another house, and one water-tap with three other houses. Rent 4s.
44. Done no work for years. Married. Age sixty- five. Four rooms.
Was a painter. Crippled with rheumatism. Sick club run out. Very superior family. Had considerable sum of money in the Savings Bank at one time ; all used up now. Man does house work when able. Wife works, and son is an apprentice. Rent 4s.
45. Widow. Five rooms. Keeps a little shop. Mother mentally
deficient ; one daughter quite deaf, the other nearly so. Fairly clean. Rent 4s. lOd.
46. Polisher. Married. Four rooms. Two children. Parish relief.
Wife washes. Husband is an invalid and capable of little work. One child, cripple. Man not deserving ; has spent all large earnings on drink. Fellow - workmen have made several collections for him. All speak badly of him. Has written begging letters. House very dirty. Rent 3s. lOd.
47. Widow. Two rooms. Parish relief. Subject to bronchitis ;
house damp, and sometimes smells badly. Takes lodgers and nurse-children when she can get them. This house shares one closet with six other houses, and one water-tap with twenty others. Rent 2s. 7d.
48. Spinster. Age seventy. Two rooms. Cleans and does odd jobs.
Very poor and “ a little foolish ” ; not very clean. This house shares one closet with six other houses, and one water-tap wuth twenty others. Rent Is. 2d.
49. No occupation. Married. Two rooms. Two children. Parish
relief. Ill and incapable. A “charity man.” Two little girls, one consumptive. The rooms are miserable, badly ven- tilated, and damp. This house shares one closet with six other houses, and one water-tap with three others. Rent 2s. 8d.
50. Husband in asylum. Four rooms. Five children. Parish relief
and 4s. per week from a pension fund. Clean and tidy. This house shares one closet with another house. Rent 4s.
51. Retired soldier. Married. Three rooms. One child. Parish
relief. 111. Husband, after serving twelve years in India, receiving no pension. Dying of consumption ; poverty-stricken. This house shares one closet with another house. Rent 4s.
Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
39
The preceding pages tell of life lived under the pressure of chronic want. The families in Class “A” may be divided into two sections, viz. those who are earning money, and those who are earning no money. In the former section there are 474 families com- prising 1589 persons, or an average of 3*3 persons per family. Their average weekly family earnings, including the total earnings of all children, irre- spective of their ages, are 11s. 7d., made up as follows : —
Average sum contributed by —
Male head of household Female ,, ,,
Male supplementary earners Female ,, ,,
Lodgers for board and lodging (the lodgers being considered as members of the family)
s. d.
4 6 =
5 8f = 7 : 7 :
38 '8 per cent of whole income. 50-0 5-0 5-0
3 3 33 3 3
35 3 3 3 3
3 3 33 3 3
= 1-2
3 3
Total1 . 11 7 =100-0
The small proportion of the average family income contributed by the male heads of households is due to the large proportion of families in Class “ A ” in which the father is either dead or unable to work through age or illness. We also notice how small are the sums contributed by supplementary earners ; this is due to the fact that the bulk of the children in Class “A” are too young to work. If the children’s earnings were considerable, the family would rise into
1 The method of arriving at these weekly earnings is described in Chapter II., pp. 26-27. Owing, however, to the character and irregularity of employment in Class “ A ” it is more difficult to accurately estimate the family earnings in this than in the other classes.
POVERTY
CHAP.
40 '
a higher class. It is not surprising that the average sum received from lodgers is small ; they would usually prefer to board with families where the standard of comfort is higher than that prevailing in this Class.
It is of course obvious that the income earned by these 474 families is totally inadequate to maintain them, even in a state of merely physical efficiency. Their weekly earnings amount in the aggregate to £274 : 11 : 6. Out of this sum, £68:13:4^- is paid for rent,1 leaving £205 : 18 : 1^ with which to provide food, clothing, fuel, and all other necessaries for 1589 persons. This is equal to 2s. 7d. each per week, or less than 4-J-d. per day.
The poverty of the Class is rendered apparent when it is stated that it would cost £227 : 15 : 8 to provide food alone for these people for one week, according to the diet allowed to paupers in York Workhouse, calculating the cost at contract prices. The total earnings of these 474 families is thus shown to fall short by £21 : 17 : 6^- of the sum required to provide for food alone without taking into considera- tion other necessary expenditure such as that on clothes and fuel.2
1 The average sum paid for rent by these 474 families is 2s. 10|d., which is equal to 25 -1 per cent of their total income.
2 In addition to the income referred to above, the official records show that 175 of these families are in receipt of parish relief to the amount of £35 : 5 : 6, or an average of about 4s. per household, but even if this sum be added to the earnings there is still only a surplus of £13 : 7 : 11^ to provide necessary coal, clothing, and all other household sundries for 474 families. Had the cost of the food been calculated at retail prices instead of at the contract prices paid by the Guardians, much of this surplus even would disappear.
Ill
TfrE STANDARD OF LIFE
41
In Section 2 (families earning no money) there are 182 families comprising 368 persons. It is possible that small sums may occasionally be earned by some of these by knitting, sewing, etc., but where such sources of income are known to be at all regular, the families have been included in Section 1. 35
persons are in almshouses; the remaining 147 families, comprising 329 persons, are entirely de- pendent upon public and private charity. They are all in receipt of parish relief. The total amount thus received weekly by these 147 families is £29, or an average of 3s. lljd. per family, or Is. 9d. for each person, a sum which is obviously insufficient for their maintenance. These families pay weekly for rent a sum of £16 : 11s., and to feed them upon a workhouse diet calculated at contract prices would cost £51:0:10. It is thus seen that the total sum paid in parish relief falls short of the amount required for rent and food alone by £38:11:4. This deficiency is met partly by private charity and partly by starvation.
The financial position of the above two Sections of Class “ A ” is perhaps made clearer by the follow- ing statement : —
42
POVERTY
CHAP.
Statement of Weekly Income and Expenditure of 474 Families in Section l. (Earning Wages.)
|
Income. |
Expenditure. i |
|
£ s. d. Total earnings of 474 families . . . 274 11 6 Received by 1 7 5 families as Parish Relief (average 4s. per family) 35 5 6 / |
£ s. d. Actual rent paid by 474 families (average 2s. 10£d.) . . 68 13 4£ Food — Workhouse diet (cost calculated at contract prices paid by Guardians) would cost . . . 227 15 8 Surplus, out of which must be met all household expenses, such as coal, furniture, clothes, etc., for 474 families ( = 6fd. per family) 13 7 11^ |
|
£309 17 0 |
£309 17 0 |
Statement of Weekly Income and Expenditure of 147 Families in Section 2. (Earning NO Wages.)
|
Income. |
Expenditure. |
|
£ s. d. Parish Relief to 147 families . . 29 0 0 Deficit, being the sum required to pay for rent and food alone . ( = 5s. 3d. per family) 38 11 10 |
£ s. d. Actual rent paid by 147 families (average 2s. 3d. per family) . 16 11 0 Food — Workhouse diet (cost calculated at contract prices paid by Guardians) would cost . . . 51 0 10 |
|
£67 11 10 |
£67 11 10 ♦ |
The poverty of the members of Class “A” is indeed such that probably the bulk of them would be driven into the workhouse, were it not that their meagre earnings are eked out by charity, either public or private.
Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
43
Families which are, from any cause, in particu- larly hard straits, are often helped by those in circum- stances but little better than their own. There is much of this mutual helpfulness among the very poor. In cases of illness neighbours will almost always come in and render assistance, by cleaning the house, nursing, and often bringing some little delicacy which they think the patient would “fancy.” In some districts also it is a common practice, on the death of a child, for one of the neighbours to go round the neighbourhood to collect coppers towards defray- ing the cost of the funeral.
Members of Class “A” do not live in any one particular district, but are found scattered almost all over the working-class parts of the city. Wherever a house or room is to be had for a low rental, either on account of dilapidation or dampness, or from any other cause, it is eagerly taken by a member of this Class. Many of these houses and rooms, hidden away in dark and narrow streets, are indeed miserable dwellings. Some of them have been closed by the Sanitary Authority since this inquiry was made, but unless equally cheap as well as more sanitary accom- modation can be provided elsewhere, such action will be of doubtful benefit to those displaced.
As already stated, the food of these poor people is totally inadequate. In Chapter VIII.1 detailed par- ticulars are given regarding the diet of two families in Class “A.” A glance at these will show how
1 Budgets 1 and 4, pp. 263 and 271.
44
POVERTY
CHAP.
monotonous it is, consisting largely of a dreary suc- cession of bread, dripping, and tea ; bread and butter and tea ; bacon, bread, and coffee, with only a little butcher s meat, and none of the extras and but little of the variety which serves to make meals interesting and appetising.
A woman, now in fairly comfortable circumstances, told one of my investigators something of the struggle which she had gone through during the years when her husband was earning only 17s. a week. To make both ends meet with that sum for a large family of children was no easy matter. Each week, she said, as soon as she received the 17s. she put aside the money required for rent, and then planned out exactly how she could spend the remainder to the best advantage. The family never had a joint of meat, but occasionally she managed to afford 6d. for a sheep's head or to buy 6d. worth of “ meat pieces.” At the birth of a child she employed a woman for a week to nurse her, to whom she gave 5 s. and her board. As soon as she knew that a child was coming; she began saving odd coppers until the 5s. was collected, and so she was always able to pay the woman before she left the house. During the time she was nursing her children she lived chiefly upon bread and tea. Who can wonder that some of her children died during their first year ?
The clothing of Class “A” is often as inadequate as the food ; this is notably the case amongst the uncomplaining poor, who receive few gifts of clothing,
Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
45
their clean and tidy appearance not suggesting that although the exterior garments are tidy, the under garments are totally inadequate to keep out the cold.
It would be easy to give further facts to illustrate the depth of poverty which prevails in this Class, but those already given make it clear that after full allow- ance has been made for public and private charity, the people in Class “ A ” are chronically ill-housed, ill-clothed, and underfed. Let us now see if we can ascertain the immediate causes of their poverty.
If we make a more detailed analysis of Class “ A” we find it is composed as follows : —
|
Condition and Number of Heads |
Other Members of Household. |
Totals. |
Percentage of |
||
|
of Households. |
Children under 16. |
Adults. |
Whole Class. |
||
|
Widows .... |
347 |
337 |
198 |
882 |
45-06 |
|
Ill or old (13 women, 133 |
|||||
|
men) .... |
146 |
81 |
143 |
370 |
18-90 |
|
Deserted by husbands |
8 |
19 |
• • • |
27 |
1-37 |
|
Separated from husbands . |
6 |
10 |
• • • |
16 |
•81 |
|
Families with incomes be- tween 18s. and 21s., but with more than four |
|||||
|
children per family |
20 |
104 |
20 |
144 |
7-36 |
|
Men in regular work, but earning less than 18s. |
|||||
|
per week |
66 |
128 |
53 |
247 |
12-64 |
|
Out of work |
37 |
91 |
43 |
171 |
8-75 |
|
Casuals .... |
26 |
47 |
27 |
100 |
5-11 |
|
Totals |
656 |
817 |
484 |
1957 |
100-00 |
It thus appears that in the case of 1295 persons, or almost exactly two - thirds of the whole, the immediate cause of poverty is the removal of the
46
POVERTY
CHAP.
wage -earner by death or desertion, or the inability to earn wages through illness or old age. Economic causes, i.e. lack of work or lowness of wa^e, account for the poverty of 418 persons, or about 21 per cent of the whole class. The remainder of Class “ A ” consists of casual labourers and families who would have been in Class “ B ” had there not been more than four children.
It will be noticed that in the case of sixty-six families, comprising 247 persons, the wage-earner is in regular work, but earning less than 18s. per week. As the wages paid in York for unskilled labour are not as a rule under 18s., it may be presumed that these men are in some way “ unfit.” Such men have at all times to be content with the lowest paid work, and they are the first to lose their situations as soon as there is any slackness of trade. At the time when this inquiry was being made trade was good, and probably the proportion of “unfit” workmen who were in work was above the average. The position of these workmen is one of peculiar hopelessness. Their unfitness means low wages, low wrages means insufficient food, insufficient food unfitness for labour, so that the vicious circle is complete. The children of such parents have to share their privations, and even if healthy when born, the lack of sufficient food soon tells upon them. Thus they often grow up weak and diseased, and so tend to perpetuate the race of the “ unfit.” 1
1 Evidence in proof of this will be found in Chapter VII., p. 209.
Ill
THE STAND AKD OF LIFE
47
Few people spend all their clays in Class “A.” It is nevertheless a class into which the poor are at any time liable to sink should misfortune overtake them, such as continued lack of work, or the death or illness of the chief was;e-earner. The families who are in it because the wage-earner is out of work will rise above it when work is found, unless physique and morale have been ruined by the period of economic stress. Many families too will rise above it when the children begin to earn money. But the old people, who have no children growing up, must remain in the class until they die, or enter the workhouse.
Life in Class “B”
Income 18s. and under 21s. weekly for a moderate family}
Total number of persons in Class . . . 4492 2
Percentage of the working-class population . 9-6
Percentage of the total population . . . 5*9
Number of families ..... 983
Average size of family . . . . . 4 '5 6
Average family earnings . . . . .19s. 9d.3
Average rent . . . . . .3s. 7^d.
The following typical cases, taken from the in- vestigators’ notebooks, will give some idea of the
1 I.e. for a family with from two to four children. Where the number of children is less than two, the family has been placed in Class “C ” ; if more than four it has been placed in Class “A.”
2 193 of these persons have not been taken into account in working out either the average wage or the average size of family, as it was impossible to estimate their wages with any degree of accuracy. They are all living in Common Lodging-Houses and pick up a precarious livelihood, often tramping from one town to another.
3 This sum includes the total earnings of all the children.
48
POVERTY
CHAP.
kind of life lived by people in Class “B.” The addresses of the houses are omitted.
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Age.
Labourer (casual). Married. Four rooms. One daughter at confectionery works. Steady, but daughter not so. Rent 3s. 9d.
Gardener. Married. Four rooms. Four children, school age or under. One daughter is a nurse girl ; goes for days only, and sleeps at home. Rent 3s. 9d.
Widow, works at glass works. Four rooms. Son idle, does not work. Nephew (casual labourer) and niece (at confectionery works) are also living in the house. Rent 3s. 9d.
Widow, chars and has a lodger. Four rooms. Four children. Two step-children at school, and two babies. Very clean and steady. Rent 4s. 3d.
60 Labourer. Married. Four rooms. Two daughters at confectionery works. Very steady and respectable. Father has cancer in his lip. Rent 3s. 6d.
Hawker and odd jobs. Married. Two rooms. Three children, school age or under. Wife employed in glass works. Children tidy. Man respectable. Rent 2s. 6d.
37 Bricklayer’s labourer. Married. Three rooms. Four children, school age or under. Untidy. Rent 2s. 8d.
30 Labourer. Married. Two rooms. Three children, school age or under. Dirty house, smells badly ; wants
disinfecting. Rent 2s. 6d.
Butcher. Married. Four rooms. Three children, school age or under. Sober and industrious, home clean and comfortable. Work steady. Formerly in business for himself, but trade was not good. Rent 4s.
Widow. Takes lodger. Four rooms. Respectable, clean and tidy house. Only daughter, a child six years old, died the day before this inquiry was made. Rent 4s.
Porter at a shop. Married. Four rooms. Two children,
Ill
Age.
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
49
No.
12
13
14
school age or under. Sober and industrious. Home not very clean or comfortable. Work steady. Rent 4 s.
Tailor. Married. Four rooms. Six children, school age. or under. Apparently very steady and industrious. Home fairly clean and comfortable. Landlord has warned them to “look out for another house,” as he objects to so many children. Rent 4s.
Labourer. Married. One room. Three children, school age or under. Shares one closet with five other houses, and one water-tap with twenty-four houses. Rent Is. 6d.
50 Widow, works in the fields. One room. Daughter also works in the fields. One closet shared with five other houses, and one water-tap with twenty-four other houses. Rent Is. 6d.
15 35 Rag-dealer. One room. These people are not married ;
woman has taken the house in her name. One closet shared with five other houses, and one water-tap with twenty-four other houses. Rent Is. 6d.
16 26 Bricklayer’s labourer. Married. Two rooms. One child,
school age or under. Two houses share one closet. The water-tap here is in a bad position, and in conse- quence of this the walls are very damp and unhealthy. Rent Is. 6d.
17 50 Labourer. Married. Two rooms. One child, school age
or under. Wife worse for drink, “ house lost in dirt.” Two houses share one closet. The closets in this yard are blocked with refuse, and lower part of yard is under water. Bad smells here. Rent Is. 6d.
18 36 Drover. Married. Two rooms. Three children, school
age or under. Wife works in the fields, and drinks. House filthy. Six houses share one water-tap and three houses share one closet. Rent 2s.
19 50 Gardener. Married. Two rooms. Twelve houses in this
yard, and one water-tap serves for the whole number. There are two closets for the twelve houses. The tenants living in these twelve houses complain of the insufficiency of the closet accommodation and water supply. Rent Is. 9d.
E
50 POVERTY CHAP.
No. Age.
20 45 Carter. Married. Two rooms. Six children, school age
or under. Untidy and overcrowded. House shares one water-tap with eleven others. Three houses share one closet. Rent 2s. 6d.
21 Bootmaker. Married. Five rooms. Four children, school
age or under. Sober and industrious, work steady, house clean. Rent 4s. 6d.
22 49 Widow. Four rooms. Two children, school age or under.
One lodger. Widow has suffered from a weak heart, but is recovering. Rent 4s.
23 Charwoman. Four rooms. Living apart from husband.
Goes out to work. Rent 4s.
24 40 Bricklayer’s labourer. Married. Two rooms. Five
children, school age or under. Slovenly wife, children and house dirty. Twelve houses in this yard. Two water-taps for the whole number of houses, and four closets. Rent 2s. 3d.
25 30 Labourer. Married. Four rooms. Six children. One
female lodger, works at confectionery works. The six children are under seven years of age. House very untidy, children dirty. Five houses share one yard and water-tap. Rent 3s. 6d.
26 35 Widow. Two rooms. Two children, school age or under.
Chars, and has a lodger. Both the mother and children were under the influence of drink when I called. House dirty. Two houses share the same yard, water-tap, and closet. Rent 2s. 3d.
27 45 Labourer. Married. Four rooms. Six children, school
age or under. One son just beginning to work. House dirty, and children untidy. Rent 4s.
28 30 Labourer. Married. Four rooms. Three children, school
age or under. Two houses join at one yard, but six houses join at the same water-tap. The water-tap is quite 100 yards away from this house. Rent 3s.
29 38 Labourer. Married. Three rooms. Six children, school
age or under. Wife used to go out to work, but cannot do so now. House clean, but damp and almost
Ill
THE STANDAED OF LIFE
51
No. Age.
uninhabitable. There are eleven houses in this yard, and three houses join at one closet. Rent 3s.
30 45 Widow. Two rooms. One child, school age or under.
Has one lodger, and takes in washing. Shares one water-tap with four other houses, and a closet with one other house. Drains smell very bad here. Rent 2s. 8d.
31 25 Bricklayer’s labourer. Married. Two rooms. Three
children, school age or under. The stench here is abominable. The grating of the street drain is 1^ yards from the house door, and is blocked up. There are twenty-three houses in this yard, and only one water- tap for the whole number. Four houses join at one closet. There is one ashpit for this yard ; it is full to the top, and slime running down the walls. Rent 2s. 3d.
32
33
34
35
36
60 Bricklayer’s labourer. Married. Two rooms. Three
children, school age or under. Young wife. Both man and wife drunk, children dirty. Sanitation as No. 31. Rent 2s. 3d.
36 Field labourer. Married. Two rooms. Two children,
school age or under. Very dirty and untidy. Seven houses in this yard, and one water-tap. There are supposed to be two closets, but one of these is blocked with deposit and filth, and has been unusable for some time ; the stench is unbearable. Rent 2s. 3d.
50 Labourer. Married. Four rooms. Two children, school age or under. This house has an earth closet ; when it is emptied the night soil has to be removed through the house. There are great complaints about this state of things. Rent 3s. 6d.
25 Bricklayer’s labourer. Married. Two rooms. Wife
chronically sick, ought to be in workhouse infirmary. There are ten houses in this yard, and only one water- tap. Three houses share one earth closet.
46 Deal-carrier. Married. Three rooms. Five children,
school age or under. Work precarious. Son (seventeen), moulder’s labourer. Daughter (fifteen), confectionery works. House tidy, but drains from closets choked up. Rent 3s.
52
No.
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
POVERTY
CHAP.
Age.
48 Widow. Does washing. Two rooms. Very respectable. Ten houses in this yard share two water-taps and three closets. Rent 2s. 3d.
60 Widow. Sells quack medicines. One room. Tidy. Shares one water-tap and three closets with nine other houses. Rent Is. 6d.
45 Labourer. Married. Two rooms. Two children, school age or under. Wife chars. House and children filthy. There are sixteen houses in this yard. Twenty-two houses share one water-tap, and four houses join at one water-closet. Rent 2 s.
Employed in a public institution. Married. Five rooms. Five children, school age or under. One son (fifteen) in a factory. Steady and industrious. Father was a coachman, hut unable to find employment was glad to accept present position. All the family pale and delicate-looking, probably owing to unhealthy house. House very dark and awkwardly arranged. All the rooms are small and damp, two being so damp they cannot be used. Rent 4s.
Labourer. Married. Four rooms. Two children, school age or under. Home fairly clean, work good. Little girl just recovering from pleurisy, and doctor advises removal to a more healthy locality. Rent 3s. 6d.
Widow. Takes in washing. Four rooms. One child, school age or under. Sober and industrious. Home very clean and comfortable. Been a widow two years. Earns sufficient by washing to keep herself and boy. Rent 4s.
Labourer. Married. Four rooms. Two children, school age or under. Not sober. Home poor and cheerless. Wife’s mother lives with them. The closet and pantry adjoin. Rent 4s. 6d.
45 Hawker. Married. Two rooms. Very dirty, and signs of intemperance. Six houses in this yard, and one water- tap. Three houses share one closet. Rent 2s. 6d.
35 Labourer. Married. Three rooms. Two children, school age or under. Untidy. Earth closet smells very bad.
THE STANDARD OF LIFE 53
No. Age.
When emptied, night soil has to be carried through house. Kent 3s. 9d.
46 Labourer. Married. Four rooms. Three children, school
age or under. Has great trouble. Two children have died, and constant illness in the house. Very poor. Rent 4s. 6d.
47 53 Spinster. One room. Has a little money ; goes out sewing
and nursing. There are twenty-one houses in this yard and one water-tap supplies the whole number. Seven houses share one closet. Rent Is. 7d.
48 48 General dealer. Married. Four rooms. Four children,
school age or under. Poor business, perhaps owing to bad management. The house is very dirty, and youngest child always ill. Rent 4s. 6d.
49 Old Organ-tuner and repairer. Married. Five rooms. Not
doing as well as he used to do ; perhaps this is due to age House clean. Rent 5s. 9d.
50 Labourer. Married. Two rooms. Five children, school
age or under. Wife goes out to work sometimes. Husband not quite steady. Wife looks delicate and respectable. One boy sent to a truant school. House fairly clean. Fifteen houses in yard and only one water- tap. Three houses share one closet. Rent 2s. 6d.
51 Labourer. Married. Three rooms. Two children, school
age or under. A bad lazy lot. Man drinks. Woman begs whenever she has an excuse. Rent 3s. 9d.
52 Monthly nurse. One room. The last three tenants have
been “carried out” (i.e. died). The ashpit and closets belonging to four other houses adjoin the back wall of the house, and rats and other vermin are common. Rent Is. 6d.
Class “B” consists chiefly of unskilled labourers and their families, and although their standard of living is a degree better than that of Class “ A,” there is, nevertheless, a large amount of poverty among them.
The average size of family in the class is 4 ’5 6, and
54
POVEKTY
CHAP.
their average weekly earnings, including the total earnings of all the children, irrespective of their ages, are 19s. 9d.,J made up as follows : —
|
Average sum contributed by — |
s. d. |
Per cent. |
||
|
Male head of household |
• |
• • |
15 1 = |
76-4 |
|
Female ,, ,, |
. • |
• ■ |
2 7J = |
13-3 |
|
Male supplementary earners |
• « |
• • |
0 8£ = |
3-5 |
|
Female ,, ,, |
• • |
• • |
0 9 = |
3-8 |
|
Lodgers for board and lodging |
(the lodgers^being |
|||
|
considered as members of the family) |
• • |
0 7\ = |
3-0 |
|
|
Total |
• • |
19 9 = |
100-0 |
The comparatively small proportion of this average income contributed by children is due, as in Class “ A,” to the fact that the bulk of the children in this class are not working. Families where the wages earned by children are considerable will chiefly be found in Class “D.” Here, as in Class “A,” the average sum received from lodgers is small, as they usually prefer to board in families where the standard of comfort is higher than obtains in Class “B.”
Practically the whole of this class are living either in a state of actual poverty,2 or so near to that state that they are liable to sink into it at any moment. They live constantly from hand to mouth. So long as the wage-earner is in work the family manages to get along, but a week’s illness or lack of work means short rations, or running into debt, or more often both of these. Extraordinary expenditure, such as
1 The method of arriving at these weekly earnings is described in Chap. II. pp. 26-27.
2 By this is meant that their total earnings are insufficient to supply adequate food, clothing, and shelter for the maintenance of merely physical health.
Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
55
the purchase of a piece of furniture, is met by reducing the sum spent on food.1 As a rule, in such cases it is the wife and sometimes the children who have to forego a portion of their food — the importance of maintaining the strength of the wage -earner is recognised, and he obtains his ordinary share.
“ If there’s anythink extra to buy, such as a pair of boots for one of the children,” a woman in Class “B” told one of my investigators, “me and the children goes without dinner — or mebbe only ’as a cup o’ tea and a bit o’ bread, but Jim (her husband) oilers takes ’is dinner to work, and I give it ’im as usual ; ’e never knows we go without, and I never tells ’im.”
Another woman in Class “ B,” whom we will call Mrs. Smith, an excellent housewife, with a steady husband and three children at home, gave the follow- ing account of how she managed. Her house is scrupulously clean and tidy. Mr. Smith is in regular work and earns 20s. per week. He keeps 2s. a week for himself, and hands over 18s. to his wife. Out of his two shillings Mr. Smith spends Id. per day on beer, 3d. a week on tobacco, puts 3d. into the children’s savings-box, and clothes himself out of the remainder. One new dress, Mrs. Smith tells us, will last for years. For everyday wear she buys some old dress at a jumble sale for a few shillings. Old garments, cast off by some wealthier family, are some- times bought from the ragman for a few coppers ; or
1 This statement applies to the majority of families in Class “ B.” When, however, the family income is as much as 20s., and there are not more than two children, there will be a slight margin for “ extraordinary expenditure.”
56
POVERTY
CHAP.
perhaps they are not paid for in cash, but some older rags and a few bones are given in exchange for them. Garments so purchased are carefully taken to pieces, washed, and made up into clothes for the children. Mrs. Smith said that she once bought a pair of old curtains from the ragman for 3d. She cut out the worn parts and then made curtains and short blinds from the remainder sufficient for all the windows in her house. She regularly pays 6d. a week for sick clubs, 4d. for life insurance, and 3d. per week into the clothing club held in connection with her church. On being requested to do so, she kept detailed accounts of her total income and expenditure during two months.
Her 18s. is usually spent as follows : —
s. d.
Food (five persons) Kent
Coal and light Soap, etc.
Sick club Life insurance Clothing club
11 0 3 2 2 0 0 5 0 6 0 4 0 3
17 8
In addition to this sum Mr. Smith keeps 2s. per week for his personal expenditure .
2 0
If this sum is included the average weekly total is brought up to
19 8
Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
57
It was obvious that with such a normal ex- penditure there was no appreciable sum available for “extras.” “Then how do you do, Mrs. Smith,” my investigator asked, “ when you have to meet any extraordinary expenditure, such as a new dress, or a pair of boots ? ” “ Well, as a rule,” was the answer,
“ we ’ave to get it out of the food money and go short ; but I never let Smith suffer — ’e ’as to go to work, and must be kept up, yer know ! And then Smith ’as oilers been very good to me. When I want a new pair of shoes, or anythink, ’e ’elps me out of ’is pocket money, and we haven’t to pinch the food so much.” Here, then, is a family where the husband is in regular work and is absolutely steady, where the rent is less than the average for the class, and the wife is an exceptionally clever and economical housekeeper, and yet every extra must be bought out of the food money. This at its normal level is 4s. 5d. per week below the sum which would be required to provide such a family with the diet supplied to able-bodied paupers in York Workhouse.1 This illustration (fuller particulars of which are given on page 272) serves to show what can and what cannot be made out of a pound a week, with clever management. Under average management the standard of living of the families in Class “B” will be distinctly below that which is here described.
1 Repeated inquiries from women in this class, as to how they met expenditure for household replacements or for any other special purposes, always drew forth a reply to the same effect, namely, “We have to get it out of the food money and go short.”
58
POVERTY
CHAP.
There is more drinking in Class “ B ” than in Class “ A,” but this does not imply a lower moral standard. People in Class “ A ” are for the most part so absolutely destitute that they could not get much drink even if they wished. And in Class “ B,” as we have seen above, the money for drink can only be found, in the great majority of cases, by foregoing some other expenditure which is necessary for main- taining the family in a state of physical efficiency.
The families belonging to Class “ B” are distributed all over the working-class districts of the city. They inhabit, as a rule, the cheapest houses they can obtain, excepting the very cheap and dilapidated houses occupied by Class “A.” Their houses seldom have more than two bedrooms, the total number of rooms usually varying from two to four. Many of the houses are overcrowded,1 and a large proportion are old and without modern sanitary conveniences. Often there is no scullery, and the pantry consists of an unventilated cupboard under the stairs leading from the kitchen to the bedroom. In many cases the water-tap and privy have to be shared with several other houses.2
The average sum paid for rent by families in this class is 3s. 7|-d., which is equal to 18'4 per cent of the average family income.
Not a few of the houses occupied by Class “ B ” are to be found in the slum districts. It is to be
1 That is, contain more than two persons to each living room.
2 A detailed account of the housing of the working classes in York will be found in Chap. VI.
Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
59
regretted that families with small incomes are often unable to obtain houses at low rentals in respectable neighbourhoods, and are consequently driven to take houses in the slums ; in not a few such cases respect- able families have given way to the influences of their surroundings and have sunk to the low moral level of their neighbours.
The pawnshop often plays an important part in the lives of the people in Class “ B,” but especially is this true of those who live in the slums, where the stream of people coming to the pawnshop on Monday morning is a characteristic sight. The children are sent off with the weekly bundle early on that day, and a number of them may sometimes be seen sitting on the steps outside the pawnshop door waiting for it to open. Once the habit of pawning has been formed, it is difficult to break. Some families pawn their Sunday clothes regularly every Monday, and redeem them as regularly on the following Saturday night when the week’s wages have been received.
Many of those now in Class “ B ” will rise into a higher class as soon as the children begin to earn money, possibly to sink back again, however, wffien their children marry and leave home.
The importance attaching to the earnings of the children in the families of the poor reminds us how great must be the temptation to take children away from school at the earliest possible moment, in order that they may begin to earn. The temptation is also
60
POVERTY
CHAP.
great to put them to some labouring work where they can soon earn from five to eight shillings weekly rather than to apprentice them to a trade in which they will receive but low wages until they have served their time.
There are many persons in Class “B” whose natural ability and moral qualities would fit them to occupy higher positions in the industrial world were they not prevented by lack of education.1
Life in Class “C”
Income 21s. and under 30s. weekly for a moderate family.2
Total number of persons in Class . . . . 15,710
Percentage of the working-class population . . 33 -6
Percentage of the total population . . . . 20’7
Number of families ...... 3822
Average size of families . . . . . 4T1
Average family earnings . . . . . 26s. 7d.3
Average rent ....... 4s. 4d.
It is not proposed to describe this class in great detail. The margin of income in the class is a wide one. The condition of the families with incomes only a little over 21s. can be gathered from the description just given of life in Class “ B ” ; the slight increase of income would allow for the purchase of a few extras without cutting down the food money. There is, however, evidence (dealt wTith in the following
1 In this connection see p. 74.
2 That is, for a family with from two to four children.
3 This sum includes the earnings of all the children, irrespective of their ages. Eighty - four families refused to give information regarding their occupations, and they have therefore not been included in this average figure.
Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
61
chapter) that not a few of those in this class are living in a state of poverty.1 On the other hand, many of those whose incomes approach 30s. are living under conditions but little inferior to those obtaining in Class “D.”
The following typical cases taken from the investigators’ notebooks will help to give a picture of the conditions of life in Class “ C.” The addresses of the houses are omitted.
No. Age.
1 Tailor. Married. One room. Works at home. Both he
and his wife drink. Four houses share one water-tap
and one closet. Rent 2s.
2 Watchman. Married. Four rooms. One child, school
age or under. Steady man. Work regular. Nice home.
Rent 4s. 6d.
3 53 Cab-driver. Married. Two rooms. Tidy home and wife,
but house very damp. Rent 2s. 6d.
4 50 Labourer. Married. Two rooms. Very untidy home.
Four houses share one water-tap and one closet. Rent
2s. 3d.
5 68 Widow. Three rooms. One child, school age or under
Son (thirty-five), warehouseman ; son (twenty), painter.
Nine houses share one water-tap, and two houses share
one closet. Rent 4s.
6 Widow. Four rooms. Daughter (twenty) chars. Have a
lodger. Steady. Fair house. Rent 4s. 6d.
7 40 Painter. Married. Two rooms. Two children, school age
or under. House and children untidy. Rent 3s.
8 35 Rulleyman. Married. Four rooms. Tidy, comfortable
home. Rent 5s.
9 Labourer. Married. Four rooms. Five children, school
age or under. Steady man. Woman bad-tempered,
1 I do not here refer to poverty caused by wasteful expenditure. I refer to those whose total earnings are insufficient to provide food, clothing, and shelter adequate to maintain them in a state of physical efficiency.
Age,
55
27
35
35
35
50
40
37
POVERTY
CHAP.
annoying neighbours with bad language. Poor home. Man earns good wages. Rent 4s. 6d.
Labourer. Married. Two rooms. Wife nearly blind. House untidy. Six houses share one water-tap, and three houses share one closet. Rent 3s.
Labourer. Married. Three rooms. One child, school age or under. House almost uninhabitable. Stench abominable ; floor of kitchen full of deep holes. Seven houses share one water-tap. Rent 3s. 6d.
Bricklayer’s labourer. Married. Two rooms. One child, school age or under. House untidy. The grating of the street drain is about a yard away from the house door. Refuse comes into this drain from adjoining slaughter- house and piggeries. Stench very bad ; strong complaints from the inhabitants of neighbourhood. Rent 2s. 9d.
Painter. Married. Three rooms. Four children, school age or under. Rent 3s. 6d.
French polisher. Married. Three rooms. Two children, school age or under. Very respectable. Rent 4s. 6d.
Striker. Married. Four rooms. Two children, school age or under. Nice tidy home. Rent 4s.
Widow with small means. Five rooms. Son (eighteen) apprenticed fitter. Rent 5s. 6d.
Tinner. Married. Three rooms. Five children, school age or under. Untidy home. Rent 3s. 3d.
Carter. Married. Three rooms. One child, school age or under. A son of fifteen employed at confectionery works. Tidy home, but the father drinks.
Labourer. Married. Four rooms. One child, school age or under. Son (seventeen), stable boy. Sober. Nice home. Work regular. Rent 4s. 6d.
Bricklayer’s labourer. Married. Four rooms. Five children, school age or under. Son (sixteen), printer. Very dirty house and children. Rent 3s. 9d.
Labourer. Married. Four rooms. Two children, school age or under. Widower. Fond of drink. Woman next door looks after children. Fair home. Work regular when he likes to go. Rent 4s. 6d.
Ill
Age.
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
63
No.
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
Bricklayer. Married. Four rooms. Two children, school age or under. Thriftless people, in debt. Poor home ; it was furnished for £5, which they owe. Bent 4s. 6d.
Labourer. Married. Four rooms. One child, school age or under. Man has a pension in addition to his work. Nephew (seventeen) apprenticed. One child adopted. Fairly steady, except on pension day. Nice home. House cheap on account of its being in the midst of smoke. Bent 3s.
Porter in a shop. Married. Four rooms. Steady. Nice home. Bent 4s.
Blacksmith. Married. Four rooms. No children. Steady. Nice home. Bent 4s.
Widow. Four rooms. Son (thirty-two), labourer. Work regular, but he takes a day off now and again to drink. Very nice home. Bent 3s.
35 Stoker. Married. Four rooms. Two children, school age
or under. Sober. Middling home. Bent 4s. 3d.
60 Widow, chars and washes. Four rooms. Sister helps with washing. Lodger. Bent 5s. 3d.
26 Tailor. Married. Four rooms. No children. Steady
and industrious. Bent 4s. 6d.
Labourer. Married. Three rooms. One child, school age or under. Booms are very small. The closet immedi- ately adjoins the pantry wall, and the ashpits in the summer are fearful. Bent 3s.
Widow, dressmaker. Four rooms. Daughter (nineteen) helps mother. Fairly good connection. Sometimes take care of vacant houses. Make a comfortable living. Bent 4s. 6d.
24 Fireman on railway. Single. Four rooms. Mother keeps house for son ; she is very delicate, and depends upon her son for support. Bent 4s. 6d.
Painter. Married. Four rooms. Four children, school age or under. Delicate family ; husband has lung complaint. Bent 4s. 9d.
Warehouseman. Married. Four rooms. Very nice home. Bent 4s. 6d.
34
POVERTY
CHAP.
64
No. Age.
35 Carter. Married. Four rooms. Three children, school age
or under. Son (eighteen), foundry. Steady. Nice home. Rent 4s. 6d.
36 Old Married. Lives on his means. Four rooms. Wife goes
out to work occasionally. Steady. Nice home. “ Resting after a life’s hard work.” Rent 4s. 6d.
37 Clerk and “Bookmaker.” Married. Four rooms. Two
children, school age or under. Fairly steady. Regular job. A racing man. Rent 4s. 6d.
38 Carter. Widower. Four rooms. Son (twenty-one), con-
fectioner. Sister keeps house. Rent 6s. 2d.
39 Painter’s labourer. Married. Four rooms. Steady. Fair
home, but wife dying of consumption. Till recently she was in the house alone during the daytime, now has a girl to attend to her. Baby four months old living away from home. Rent 4s. 6d.
40 Fitter’s labourer. Married. Four rooms. One child, school
age or under. Steady, but a poor home. Rent 4s. 6d.
41 Platelayer. Married. Four rooms. Two children, school
age or under. Steady. Nice home. Rent 4s. 6d.
42 Painter. Married. Four rooms. Three children, school
age or under. Two are step-children. Sober. Furniture, etc., belongs to wife. Rent 4s. 6d.
43 Widow, helps in neighbour’s shop. Son (nineteen) works
at foundry. Clean and respectable. Rent 4s. 6d.
44 35 Labourer. Married. Two rooms. Wife chars. Husband
very steady ; wife sometimes drinks. Rent 2s. 9d.
45 Groom. Married. Four rooms. Sober. Nice home.
Rent 4s. 6d.
46 Furniture remover. Married. Three rooms. Five children,
school age or under. Children and home tidy. This house shares one water-tap with six other houses. Rent 3s.
Class “C” comprises all classes of labour excepting the lowest paid labour on the one hand and skilled labour on the other. There are many unskilled
labourers in this class who would have been in Class “ B ” but for the earnings of their children.
Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
65
The average size of family in Class “C” is 4T1, and the average weekly earnings, including the total earnings of all children, irrespective of their ages, are 26s. 7d., made up as follows : —
|
Average sum contributed by — |
s. |
d. Per cent. |
|
Male head of family ...... |
22 |
5 = 84-3 |
|
Female ,, |
1 |
5£= 5-3 |
|
Male supplementary earners .... |
1 |
3 = 47 |
|
Female ,, ,, .... |
0 |
h- * o II CO H-h |
|
Lodgers for board and lodging (the lodgers being considered as members of the family) |
0 |
7§ = 2-6 |
|
Total |
26 |
7 =100-0 |
The families belonging to this class are distributed almost all over the working-class districts of the city. The average rent paid by Class “C” families is 4s. 4d., which is equal to 15*6 per cent of the average income.
Life in Class “D”
Income over 30s. weekly for a moderate family .
N.B. — Families earning 26s. and over are included in this class if there is only one child ; on the other hand, families with more than four children have been placed in Class “C” if their incomes only slightly exceed 30s.
Total number of persons in Class ..... 24,595
Percentage of the working-class population . . . 52-6
Percentage of the total population ..... 32-4
Number of families . . . . . . . 6099
Average size of family . . . . . . . 4 ’03
Average family earnings ( i.e . including total earnings of
all the members of the family irrespective of age) . 41s. 9£d.1
Average rent ........ 5s. 4d.
1 358 families in Class “ D ” are living on private means. These are not included in this average figure.
F
66
POVEKTY
CHAP.
As in the former chapters, we will begin the description of this class by giving some typical cases taken from the investigators’ notebooks. The addresses of the houses are omitted.
No. Age.
1 Joiner. Married. Five rooms. Two children, school age
or under. Two lodgers. Rent 6s.
2 70 Fitter. Married. Five rooms. Sober and industrious.
Home clean and comfortable. Health good but for a chronic cough. Man worked from seven years of age to seventy. Had a large family, one son now a clergyman. Lives in his own house.
3 Widow. Five rooms. Cleans offices. Son (twenty -five),
painter. Son (twenty-three), turner. Daughter helps at home. Sober and industrious family. Good managers ; very clean, comfortable, and superior. Rent 6s. 2d.
4 Bricklayer’s labourer. Two rooms. Lives alone. This
house shares one water-tap with seven other houses. Rent 2s. 9d.
5 Boilermaker. Married. Four rooms. Four children, school
age or under. Son (fifteen), labourer. Daughter (eighteen), dressmaker. Daughter (seventeen), pupil teacher. Rent 5s. 9d.
6 Retired. Married. One child, school age or under. Son
(twenty - three), labourer. Son (twenty- two), labourer. Son (twenty), labourer. Daughter (seventeen), confectionery works. Rent 5s. 9d.
7 40 Planemaker. Married. Four rooms. Three children,
school age or under. The husband is consumptive.
Both he and his wife are sober and industrious. House clean and comfortable. Rent 4s. 3d.
8 47 Joiner. Married. Two rooms. Far from sober. Good
workman, but tools often in pawn for drink. Wife drinks also. Two houses share one closet. Rent 2s. 7d.
9 Fitter. Married. Four rooms. Two children, school age
Ill
No.
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
67
Age.
or under. Not very steady. Member of club. Nice home. Rent 4s. 6d.
Fislidealer. Bachelor. One room. Very steady man. Seven houses share one water-tap, and three houses one closet. Rent 3s.
Labourer. Married. Eight rooms. Six children, school age or under. Wife takes five lodgers. Man (forty-nine), labourer. Man (twenty), labourer. Man (twenty -two), porter. Man (sixty - five), gardener. Man (forty -six), labourer. House dirty and untidy. Rent 7s.
Shoemaker. Married. Three rooms. Works at home. Son (twenty-three), employed in a shop. Wife takes in washing. Industrious people. Home clean and com- fortable. Steady work. Yard very badly lighted, and drainage bad. Ashpit in corner of yard is shared with four other houses. Rent 3s. 6d.
Sawyer. Married. Four rooms. Four children, school age or under. Fairly clean. Youngest child been suffering from lung complaint, but getting better. Previously kept a shop, and have now come into a little money. Rent 4s. 9d.
Mechanic. Married. Two rooms. Steady and industrious. House clean and tidy. Work regular. Health good. Rent 2s. 9^d.
Engine-driver. Married. Five rooms. Two children, school age or under. Mother-in-law aged sixty lives with them. Rent 4s. 6d.
J oiner. Married. Five rooms. Son (twenty-four), fireman. Son (nineteen), joiner. Son (nineteen), fruiterer. Rent 5s. 6d.
Machinist. Married. Five rooms. Two children, school age or under. Son (twenty-eight), fitter. Son (nineteen), machinist. Son (fifteen), chemist. Daughter (seventeen), tailoress. Rent 5s. 6d.
42 Ticket -collector. Married. Five rooms. Wife takes in three lodgers. Man (twenty-one), fitter. Man (nineteen), cleaner. Man (twenty-five), joiner. Rent 4s. 7d.
POVERTY
CHAP.
68
No. Aoe.
19 31 Piano-tuner. Married. Five rooms. Father, who is an
inspector on the railway, lives with them. Rent 5 s. 6d.
20 Boilersmith. Married. Five rooms. Son (twenty -seven),
fitter. Son (twenty-two), fireman. Son (nineteen), cleaner. Daughter (twenty-five) assists at home. Owns the house.
21 32 Guard. Married. Four rooms. Comfortable home.
Rent 4s. 7d.
22 Bookbinder. Married. Five rooms. Son (seventeen),
apprenticed lithographer. Daughter (twenty-five), book- binder. Owns the house.
23 Ganger on permanent way. Married. Five rooms. Son
(twenty), clerk. Daughter (seventeen), apprenticed dress- maker. Rent 5s. 4d.
24 Optician. Married. Five rooms. Comfortable home.
Rent 5s. 4d.
25 Draughtsman. Married. Five rooms. Four children,
school age or under. Rent 5s. 4d.
26 Photographer. Married. Four rooms. Three children,
school age or under. Son (twenty - one), cabinetmaker. Son (fifteen), timekeeper. Daughter (eighteen), music teacher. Very respectable people. Formerly in business, but failed through depression in trade. Pantry adjoins privy. Rent 5s.
27 Does odd jobs. Married. Five rooms. Son (twenty-one),
foreman. Son (nineteen), confectionery works. Daughter helps at home. Have seen better days. Man formerly in business for himself, failed. Wife a confirmed invalid. Rent 5s. 6d.
28 26 Blacksmith. Married. Four rooms. Sober and indus-
trious. Home clean and comfortable ; work steady. Rent 4s. 6d.
29 Joiner. Married. Five rooms. Five children, school age
or under. Son (eighteen), stonemason. Son (sixteen), apprenticed joiner. Newcomers, apparently sober and industrious. Home being made clean and comfortable. Rent 6s. 3d.
Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
69
No.
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
33
39
40
41
Age.
40 Painter. Married. Two rooms. Two children, school age or under. Son (nineteen), warehouseman. Son (fifteen), labourer. Daughter (eighteen), confectionery works. Overcrowded. Six houses join at one water-tap and three houses at one closet. Rent 2s. 6d.
50 Field labourer. Married. Two rooms. Son (thirty), field labourer. Son (twenty-two), field labourer. Son (twenty), field labourer. Son (eighteen), field labourer. All drink. Sons said to be idle and dissipated. Rent 2s. 6d.
Smith. Married. Six rooms. One child, school age or under. Son (sixteen), errand boy. Two lodgers (a wheelwright and a cycle finisher). Sober. Home clean. Rent 6s.
Cattle-drover. Married. Four rooms. Son (twenty-one), cattle - drover. Live alone, but are seldom at home ; cannot get further information. Rent 4s.
Glassblower. Married. Four rooms. Industrious, but not steady. Rent 4s.
Widow. Four rooms. Small shop. Son (thirty - five), labourer. Son (twenty), clearing sheds. Niece (sixteen), confectionery works. Daughter (thirty -three), keeps house. Rent 4s.
35 Tailor. One room. Lives alone. Twelve houses share one water-tap, and three houses one closet. Rent Is. l^d.
55 Builder. Married. Four rooms. Son (twenty -six), plasterer. Father delicate. Very respectable and hard-working people. House clean and well kept. Rent 4s.
Blacksmith. Married. Four rooms. One child, school age or under. Rent 4s. 6d.
Confectioner. Four rooms. Rent 4s. 6d.
Tobacconist. Married. Two rooms. Good business. House consists of shop and kitchen. Twenty-one houses share one water-tap, and seven houses one closet. Rent 2s. 2d.
40 Tailor. Married. Five rooms. Two children, school age or under. Son (eighteen), tailor. Daughter assists at home. Rent 5s. 4|d.
Age.
60
POVEETY
CHAr.
70
No.
42
43
Stone-carver. Five rooms. Man and wife living alone. Own house.
Mason. Married. Six rooms. Son (twenty-two), mason. Son (twenty), clerk. Son (eighteen), bricklayer. Two daughters assist at home. Two lodgers, both engineers. Kent 5s.
44 Printer. Bachelor. Four rooms. Lives alone. House
clean and comfortable. Rent 3s. lOd.
45 Lithographic printer. Married. Four rooms. Two
children, school age or under. Son (fourteen), assistant at library. Daughter (sixteen), day work. Rent 3s. 6d.
46 41 Sawyer. Married. Five rooms. Four children, school age
or under. Son (eighteen), apprenticed sawyer. Son (fifteen), apprenticed moulder. Daughter, day domestic. This house shares one water-tap with eight other houses. Rent 5s. 6d.
47 Bricklayer. Married. Four rooms. Two children, school
age or under. Not very sober. Good home. Rent 4s. 6d.
48 Mechanic. Married. Four rooms. Three children, school
age or under. Steady. Comfortable home. Rent 4s. 6d.
Composition of Class “ D ”
This class, as already stated, comprises all families with 30s. or over who do not keep domestic servants.1 These families may be divided into two sections, viz. —
(i) Families in which the fathers are skilled workers, or foremen who have risen through superior ability, or men who on account
1 As stated on p. 65, families earning 26s. and over are included in this class if there is only one child ; on the other hand, families with more than four children have been placed in Class “C” if their incomes only slightly exceed 30s.
Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
71
of their high character have been placed in well-paid positions of trust.
(2) Families in which the fathers are unskilled workers earning less than 30s., but where the total family income is raised above that figure on account of the sums contri- buted by children who are working.
Income. — The average size of family in the class is 4*03, and the average weekly earnings,1 including the total earnings of all children irrespective of their ages, are 41s. 9^d., made up as follows : —
Average sum contributed by — s. d. Per cent.
|
Male head of household ..... |
29 8f = 71-2 |
|
2 Female ,, ,, |
13 = 3-0 |
|
Male supplementary earners .... |
7 3| = 17-4 |
|
Female ,, ,, .... |
2 lj = 5-20 |
|
Lodgers for board and lodging (the lodgers being- considered as members of the family) |
1 4f = 3-2 |
|
Total |
o o o I — 1 II 05 r"H |
This sum is the average of earnings which vary from 30s. up to as much as £4 or £5 for a moderate
1 As stated on p. 65, 358 families in Class “D” living on private means are not included in this figure of average earnings.
2 The corresponding figures in the other classes are as follows : —
Class.
“A”
“B”
“C”
“E”
s. d.
5 Si 2 7\ 1 5^
1 3
In York it is unusual for the wife to go out to work if her husband is in employment. The comparatively high average contributions of the female heads of households in classes “ A ” and “B” are chiefly due to the large proportion of cases in which, through the death or illness of the male head of the household, the woman is obliged to go to work.
72
POVERTY
CHAP.
family, although the number of families receiving these higher sums is small.
Occupation. — As previously stated, Class “ D ” ' consists largely of skilled workers, but there is also a number of families in which, though the father is an unskilled worker, the wages of the children bring up the family income to above 30s. Where the father is a skilled workman, his sons will generally be apprenticed to the same or to some other skilled trade. Frequently they become clerks, but are seldom brought up as mere labourers. From the social standpoint “ clerking ” is looked upon as an advance, but the social prestige thus obtained is sometimes purchased at the cost of a diminished income. The number of girls belonging to Class “ D ” who enter domestic service, except as nurses, is small and is decreasing. They prefer to become dressmakers, shop assistants, or clerks, or find em- ployment in the confectionery factories. Except in families where the income is high, say £3 or £4 a week, or in which the wife is either deceased or a confirmed invalid, the daughters usually earn their own living in one way or another.
Housing. — The houses occupied by the families classed as “ D ” are distributed more or less all over the city, but there are some districts peopled only by this class, and chiefly by that section of it com- prising skilled workers, and those holding responsible positions as foremen, etc. The unskilled workers who are placed in Class “ D ” on account of the
Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
73
earnings of their children do not, as a rule, penetrate into these more favoured districts, preferring to live with Classes “B” and “ C,” among whom they feel most at home.
The houses occupied by Class “ D ” are described in detail in Chapter VI. They contain, as a rule, three bedrooms, a kitchen, scullery, and sitting-room. In the latter are often found a piano, and occasion- ally a library of thirty books or more. Some of the houses have bay windows and a small front garden. They are for the most part sanitary.1 The average rent paid by the families in this class is 5s. 4d., which is equal to 12#8 per cent of the average income.
General Conditions. — There is, practically speak- ing, no poverty in Class “ D ” except such as is caused by drink, gambling, or other wasteful ex- penditure, the latter due in some cases to ignorance of domestic economy. There is no doubt that the average weekly expenditure upon alcoholic drink by the families in Class “ D ” is considerable. They have more money available for this purpose than those in the other classes.2 Such a fact reminds us that while adequate wages are one principal factor in social progress, other influences are required to
1 There are, of course, some families belonging to Class “D” who spend the bulk of their money in drink or gambling, and who are in consequence living in small houses in the slums.
2 In chap. v. p. 142, an estimate is given of the average weekly family expenditure upon drink of the working classes as a whole ; but I have been unable to apportion the share of the expenditure which belongs to each of the separate classes described in this chapter.
74
POVERTY
CHAP.
produce strong and rightly developed character. The stimulus of a worthy ideal can only be made effective by adequate mental and moral training.
Education. — Although education in Class “ D ” is superior to that of the other classes, one is never- theless constantly reminded of its grave limitations. Many of the parents in this class left school very early, for until 1888 the compulsory education clauses were imperfectly enforced in the city, and it was comparatively easy to obtain special orders from the magistrates exempting children from com- pulsory education at an early age. It is true that the children stay longer at school now ; but although Class “D” children form the majority in the higher standards, the total number even of these children whose school life is continued after they are fourteen years of age is lamentably small,1 and attendance at the continuation classes,2 valuable though it is,
1 The following story, given upon the authority of a school inspector, is appended as an extreme instance of the prevailing anxiety to remove children from school at the earliest possible moment : —
A lad in a Board School was observed one morning by his teacher to be very fidgety ; questioned as to the cause, he asked in his turn, “ Please, sir, what time is it?” “ Half- past ten, my lad ; but what’s the matter ?” “Please, sir, then may I go, sir ? My mother said I should be fourteen at half-past ten this morning, and I could leave school when I was fourteen, sir.”
2 Evening continuation classes have been held in York during the last few years under the auspices of the School Board. The number of students on the books during the last four sessions was as under : —
1897- 98 496'
1898- 99 400
1899- 00 595
1900- 01 668
The following subjects are taught in these classes : — Writing, Shorthand, Arithmetic, Book-keeping, Music, Drawing, Physical Drill, French, Dress- making and Needlework, Cookery, Woodwork, Ambulance, and Mensuration.
Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
75
cannot make up for the loss resulting from the early age at which the children leave school to go to work.1
In consequence of the limited education they receive, the intellectual outlook of Class “D” is narrow. They do not as children stay long enough at school to acquire intellectual tastes, or even the power of applied reading and study. To this broad statement there are, of course, not a few exceptions — thoughtful men and women who throughout their lives take every opportunity of extending their knowledge by reading, and in other ways. But, for the most part, the reading of Class “ D ” is confined to the evening papers, to more or less sentimental or sensational novels, or to the endless periodicals made up of short stories, scrappy paragraphic com- ments upon men and events, columns of jokes and riddles, and similar items of a merely trivial character. And apart from reading, when literary or historical subjects are presented in the form of popular lectures, the number of those who are interested is compara- tively small. Well-delivered lectures upon scientific subjects are, however, appreciated. Interest in knowledge is as yet largely utilitarian ; its indirect value in influencing character and its service to the community are imperfectly recognised.
Shut out to a great extent from the larger life and the higher interests which a more liberal and a
1 A comparison of the ages at which compulsory education ceases in England and in some other countries is given at p. 339.
76
POYEETY
CHAP.
more prolonged education opens up to the wealthier classes, it is not surprising that, to relieve the monotony of their existence, so many artisans frequent the public -house, or indulge in the excitement of betting, and that professional football matches and race meetings often exercise so undue and unhealthy an influence upon their lives. The surprise is rather that the exceptions are so numerous.1 It is from among the thoughtful men in Class “ D ” that the Trade Unions, the Co-operative Movement, and Friendly Societies find many of their leaders. The Temperance Cause, and other efforts for social advancement, gather not a few helpers from this class.
Religious Influences. — The writer fully and regretfully recognises the fact that the direct influence of the Christian churches over the men and women in Class <c D ” is comparatively small, but a considera- tion of this great question falls outside the scope of the present volume.2
Holidays. — It is a growing practice for the families in Class “ D ” to take a few days’ summer holiday out of York. During the August Bank
1 It may be objected that many of the shortcomings of Class “ D ” referred to above are common to the more favoured “upper” classes. This is, however, no argument against developing as far as practicable through adequate education the latent powers, moral and intellectual, of the working classes. Moreover, mental and moral apathy, when found in the “upper” classes, is largely due to influences from which the working -classes are exempt, as, for instance, luxuriousness, a dilettante conception of educa- tion, etc.
2 The results of a “Church Census” taken in York by the writer, with some comments upon it, are given on pp. 345 et seq.
Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
77
Holiday week, working men from York crowd into Scarborough, and many of those who do not take such an extended holiday avail themselves of the cheap day and half-day excursions run by the N.E. Railway Company. Probably, however, travelling is more usual among the artisan classes in York than elsewhere, owing to the large number of rail- way employes who have the advantage of cheap “ privilege ” tickets.
Life of the Women in Class “D” — No one can fail to be struck by the monotony which characterises the life of most married women of the working class. Probably this monotony is least marked in the slum districts, where life is lived more in common, and where the women are constantly in and out of each others’ houses, or meet and gossip in the courts and streets. But with advance in the social scale, family life becomes more private, and the women, left in the house all day whilst their husbands are at work, are largely thrown upon their own resources. These, as a rule, are sadly limited, and in the deadening monotony of their lives these women too often become mere hopeless drudges. Especially does illness in the family, not infrequent with three or four growing children, tell heavily upon the mother, who has then to be nurse, cook, and housemaid all in one.1 The husband commonly finds his chief interests among
1 A lady of my acquaintance, who conducts a weekly meeting of women of the class under consideration, reports their frequent remark that the hour thus spent is the only one in the week when they can lay aside the burden of perpetual housekeeping.
78
POVERTY
CHAP.
his “ mates,” and seldom rises even to the idea of mental companionship with his wife. He rarely ill-treats her ; but restricted education and a narrow circle of activities hinder comradeship, and lack of mental touch tends to pass into unconscious neglect or active selfishness. It must be remembered, too, that we are dealing with a class who do not keep domestic servants. The mother of a young family is not therefore able to escape from her circumstances through the cultivation of those social amenities which are the relief of her wealthier sisters. Even when able to get away for a day’s holiday, or to go out for the evening, she is often obliged to take a baby with her. It is plain, therefore, that the conditions which govern the life of the women are gravely unsatisfactory, and are the more serious in their consequences since the character and attractive power of the family life are principally dependent upon her. This is a con- sideration which I venture to think has not received sufficient recognition in the past.1
1 The bearing upon the question under consideration of the following very striking quotation from Professor Ramsay’s Historical Commentary on the Galatians (chap. xl. pp. 387-389) will be clearly seen: — “We can indeed see with certainty, in comparing nation with nation and religion with religion, that one of the most important forces in the progress of society lies in the educa- tion which a mother conveys to her children, and that where a religion (as, for example, Mohammedanism) does not tend to raise the standard of thought and feeling, knowledge and character, among its women, no amount of excellence in abstract principles and truths will make that religion a practical power for steadily elevating the race which clings to it. . . . In considering the history of Mohammedanism — the contrast between the earlier glories and the later impotence and stagnation of the peoples whom it first affected, the marvellously rapid educating power that it exerts on a savage race, raising it at the first moment of conversion to a distinctly higher level of spiritual and intellectual life, and yet the following acquiescence in that level, or even
Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
79
Conclusion. — In conclusion, it is important to remember that, taken as a whole, Class “ D ” is that section of our population upon which the social and industrial development of England largely depends, and is the one which will always exercise the most important influence in bringing about the social elevation of those in the poorer classes.
It is clear, therefore, that effort cannot be too largely directed towards the realisation in Class “D” of a higher ideal as regards personal character, educa- tion, and home life. The fact that the members of this class are not handicapped by poverty should greatly facilitate the attainment of this end.
It may be urged that my criticisms of Class “ D ”
the sinking again below it — even the least thoughtful observer must seek for some explanation of so remarkable a history and so extraordinary a contrast. The traveller who studies a Mohammedan people in its actual state has no difficulty in finding the explanation ; he is struck with the utter want of education inside the home, and he sees that the position of the women, their utter ignorance (which is so complete that they have no subject to converse or think about except the most elementary facts of physical and family life), their general inability to entertain for themselves or to impress on their children any ideas of duty, any principles of good conduct, any desire for a higher level of life, any aspirations after any object except the most gross and vulgar, any habits of regularity, of work, of thought and meditation. He realises that a nation cannot permanently remain on a level above the level of its women, that if it rises under the immediate stimulus of a great moral idea (such as Mohammedanism was to the brutalised Arab tribes among whom it was first preached) to a higher plane of thought and life, it cannot long maintain itself on that plane unless women rise to it and kindle and foster similar ideas in the minds of succeeding generations when young. He will see that the progress of the Christian nations is founded on the keeping alive of education and thought and conscious moral purpose among their women, and that the opening to them in the Christian religion, from the first, of suitable opportunities for growing morally and intellectually is one of the necessary and primary conditions of national health. He will be slow to set in his thought any limits to the possible future development of a nation in which the women are always on the highest level of the existing generation.”
80
POVERTY
CHAP.
indicate the demand for a standard of thought and action which is higher than can be practically attained ; it will, however, be admitted that the general level of thought, of character, and of education ought to be as high as that which has for a long time been seen in the homes of the Scotch peasants, whence so many able professional men, writers, thinkers, and admini- strators have sprung.
Summary of Classes
We have now briefly considered the standard of living in each of the classes “A,” “ B,” “ C,” and “ D.” Before we pass on to a more detailed examina- tion of the social and economic conditions of the wage-earning classes in York, it may be well to summarise some of the more important figures dealt with in the present chapter as to average size of families, average earnings, and number of wage- earners.
A. Average Size of Families.1 — The average size of family in each of the classes dealt with above was shown to be as follows : —
Class.
“A”
“B”
“C”
“D”
Average size of family.
3- 00
4- 56 411 4-03
1 It is to be understood that the word family, as used here, is equivalent to household, and includes lodgers.
Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
81
Taking the wao;e-earnino' classes in York as a whole, we find the average size of family is 4 '04, whilst according to the 1901 census the average size of family for the entire city was 4 '71. This difference is accounted for mainly by two facts. In the first place, the census figures count domestic servants as members of the family with which they are residing, thus increasing the apparent size of family among the servant-keeping class, and reducing it among the wa^e-earnin^ class from which the servants are drawn. In the second place, according to the census methods, each schedule collected represents a family ; but in the case of public institutions, as, for instance, the workhouse, hospital, etc., only one schedule is left, and all the inmates are entered upon it, and hence only count as one family. Thus the average size of families is unduly increased. There were 2923 persons in public institutions in York in 1899. It must also be borne in mind that although the birth-rate among the working class may be higher than among the servant - keeping class, the effect of this upon the average size of working-class families will be largely neutralised by the high infant mortality prevalent amongst the poor.
According to the census returns the average size of family in York during the century has been as follows : —
G
82
POVERTY
CHAP.
Year.
1801
1811
1821
1831
1841-61
1871
1881
1891
1901
Average size of family.
4-2
4*5
4-7
4-5
not stated 4*3 4-5 4-8 4-7
Particulars regarding the birth-rate in different districts of the city will be found at pp. 199, 202, and 203.
In 1891 the average size of families in different countries was as follows : —
|
England and Wales |
4*73 persons |
|
|
„ „ „ (1901) . |
4*61 |
yy |
|
Scotland ..... |
4*6 |
yy |
|
Ireland ..... |
5 |
yy |
|
France ..... |
3*57 |
yy |
|
Germany (1890) . |
4*66 |
yy |
|
Austria ..... |
4*84 |
yy |
|
Switzerland ..... |
4*6 |
yy |
|
U.S.A. ..... |
4*93 |
yy |
|
B. Average Earnings. — The |
following |
table |
|
shows the total weekly earnings of each of the four |
classes, and the average earnings per family in each class. The wages of domestic servants are not included in this table.
Ill
THE STANDARD OF LIFE
83
|
Class. |
Total Weekly Earnings. |
Number of Families. |
Average Earnings per Family. |
|
£ s. d. |
s. d. |
||
|
“A” |
274 11 6 |
656 1 |
8 4£ |
|
“B” |
970 14 3 |
983 |
19 9 |
|
“C” |
4,968 19 6 |
3,822 2 |
26 7 |
|
“ D ” |
11,933 18 6 |
6,099 3 |
41 9£ |
|
Total for work- ) |
|||
|
ing classes j |
18,148 3 9 |
11,560 |
32 8f |
We note that the average earnings per working- class family in York amount to 32s. 8fd. This figure includes the total earnings of all members of the family who are living at home , including grown-up sons and daughters , and also includes payments made by lodgers for board and lodging , the lodgers being counted as members of the family.
This average sum of 32s. 8jd. per family is contributed by various members of the household in the following proportions : —
Average sum contributed by —
Male heads of households .
Female „ „
Male supplementary earners Female „ „
Payments by lodgers for board and lodgi
Total average sum earned per family . . 32 8f = 100‘0
In Appendix B are given particulars regarding
1 Only 474 of these families are earning money, their average earnings being 11s. 7d. The remainder are apparently entirely dependent on charity, either public or private.
2 The earnings (total and average) of 84 of these 3822 families are not shown in the table, as they refused information regarding their occupations.
3 385 families living upon private means are not included in the statement of total or average earnings.
ng
s. d. Per cent.
24 5 = 74-3
1 7£= 5
4 3 = 13'2
15= 4-5
1 0J= 3
84
POVERTY
CHAP.
the average earnings per working-class family in York, including the total earnings of lodgers, and the earnings of daughters away from home in domestic service. But as one of the chief uses of a knowledge of the average earnings of working-class families is to enable us to judge what surplus, if any, there is, after the necessaries of life have been pro- vided for, a truer statement of the financial position of the families is obtained if the earnings of lodgers and of domestic servants are omitted, as being seldom available for meeting the ordinary family expenditure.
Average Earnings per Worker. — The average earnings per male and female worker in York are as follows : —
Male heads of families .
„ supplementary earners .
„ lodgers .......
Average per male worker . ... .
Female heads of families .
„ supplementary earners .
„ lodgers ......
Average per female worker ( excluding domestic servants ) .......
27
14 31 24 5f 0
12 11 9 5 12 61
10 9
If we include domestic servants, estimating their average earnings, including board, etc., at £35 per annum, the average earnings of female workers are raised to 12s.
The average earnings per worker, male and female, excluding domestic servants, are 21s. 11^-d., or if we include the latter (including board, etc.), 20s. Sfd.
Ill
THE STAND AED OF LIFE
85
C. Number of Wage-Earners. — Of the 47,754 persons belonging to the wage -earning classes in York, 17,457, or 37*5 per cent of the whole, are earning money.1
Of these 17,457 workers, 14,090, or 81 per cent, are males, and 3367, or 19 per cent, females.
The average number of wage-earners per family is 1*5 excluding the 2864 domestic servants, or 1*75 if these are included.
1 Domestic servants are not included in these figures.
CHAPTEE IV
THE POVERTY LINE
The figures given in the preceding chapter which relate to the earnings of the working classes in York suggest some important considerations.
First among these is the question : What pro- portion of the population is living in poverty ? It will be the aim of the present chapter to answer this question.
The families living in poverty may be divided into two sections : —
(1) Families whose total earnings1 are insufficient
to obtain the minimum necessaries for the maintenance of merely physical efficiency. Poverty falling under this head may be described as “ primary ” poverty.
(2) Families whose total earnings 1 would be suffi-
1 In this and the following chapters the writer has assumed that the entire earnings of the family, including those of the grown-up children living at home, are available as family income. As a matter of fact, only a part of the earnings of the older children (i.e. a sum for board and lodging equivalent to that paid by ordinary lodgers) is contributed to the family purse.
It will be remembered (see p. 27) that in the estimates of earnings a careful attempt has been made to allow both for broken time and for over- time.
86
CHAP. IV
THE POVERTY LINE
87
cient for the maintenance of merely physical efficiency were it not that some portion of it is absorbed by other expenditure, either useful1 or wasteful. Poverty falling under this head may be described as “ secondary ” poverty.
We will now consider the extent of each kind of poverty.
The Proportion of the Population of York living in
“ Primary ” Poverty
Before we can arrive at an estimate of the number of those who are living in “ primary ” poverty in York, we must ascertain what income is required by families of different sizes to provide the minimum of food, clothing, and shelter needful for the mainten- ance of merely physical health.
Expenditure needful for the development of the mental, moral, and social sides of human nature will not be taken into account at this stage of the inquiry. Nor in thus estimating the poverty line will any account be taken of expenditure for sick clubs or insurance. We confine our attention at present simply to an estimate of minimum necessary expenditure for the maintenance of merely physical health. This may be discussed under three heads : —
Food.
House Rent (including Rates).
1 It need hardly be said that an expenditure may be in the truest sense “useful” which is not necessary for the maintenance of merely physical efficiency.
88
POVERTY
CHAP.
Household Sundries (such as clothing, light, fuel, etc.).
Food. — The question of food may be regarded under the four heads : (a) the function of food in the body ; (b) the quantity necessary ; (c) its kind ; ( d ) its cost.
(a) The function of food in the body. — The essential constituents of food are : Protein,1 Fats, Carbohydrates ( i.e . starches, sugar, etc.), Salts, and Water. Of these, water and salts can be obtained practically without cost, and we need not therefore concern ourselves with them here.
“ The two chief uses of food of animals are — first, to form the materials of the body and repair its wastes ; and, second, to yield energy in the forms of (1) heat to keep the body warm, and (2) muscular and other power for the work it has to do. In forming the tissues and fluids of the body, the food serves for building and repair. In yielding energy it serves as fuel for yielding heat and power. The different nutrients of food act in different ways in fulfilling these purposes. The principal tissue formers are albuminoids (i.e.
1 “Protein is the chief nutritive constituent of fish and eggs, as well as of lean meat. The albumen and casein of milk are also protein compounds. The gluten of wheat consists of protein compounds. These compounds occur in corn, beans, potatoes, and indeed all kinds of vegetable foods. One trouble in speaking of these substances is that they are known by so many different names. The terms ‘nitrogenous compounds,’ ‘albuminoids,’ and ‘ proteids ’ are often applied to them. The first term is very proper, because protein compounds contain the element nitrogen, which is not found in the other classes of nutrients. The term ‘ albuminoids ’ comes from albumen, a substance familiar to us in the white of eggs, and is applied to the compounds which are similar to