What Was Life Like for Poor People in Tudor Times?

Tudor Beggars In 1570 there were more than 10,000 homeless people wandering the roads, looking for work and begging.

Tudor Beggars In 1547, a law was made ordering vagrants to be whipped and sent to their home towns.

Types of Poor People People on the breadline The "deserving poor", e.g. the very young, the very old, and disabled people Sturdy rogues: vagrants and people who moved about looking for work. There were many kinds of poor people.

Poor Families Families would wander with their children begging for money or food. Some parents would deliberately injure their children to get more money from the rich.

Tudor Punishments being chained to stocks hanging burning to death whipping dunking in a river branding with a hot iron

Almshouses Almshouses were sometimes built for the elderly and deserving poor. The money for building and keeping the almshouses was provided by the rich.

Almshouses Some almshouses can still be seen today. Who do you think lives in almshouses nowadays?

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