Scotland in the nineteenth century

14. Poverty and relief measures

Section 14.7: Vagrancy

The Committee was appointed to consider the best means by which Irish and Scottish vagrants, who had made claims under the Poor Laws, could be returned to their country of origin.

The majority of vagrants, especially along the west coast were Irish, but a number of Scots were included in the report. A table showed the number of foreign vagrants in England and Wales (p. 4).

Many Irish and Scottish vagrants were in the habit of coming to England in May, having planted their potatoes, to find summer work and then resuming home in October or November in time to harvest their crops.

To preserve their earnings and get a free passage home a group would either elect a treasurer who would be entrusted with their money or they would sew their earnings into their clothes before presenting themselves to the parish relieving officer as penniless.

Thomas Case wrote (p. 15) giving evidence to the Committee of the sinking of the packet King George on a voyage between Parkgate and Dublin in 1807. The bodies of the Irish labourers washed ashore were found to have money sewn into their clothes.

The Committee considered that if the system of free passage could be stopped it might reduce Irish and Scottish competition for English jobs. It was therefore recommended that the Vagrancy (England) Act, 1822 should be repealed.

The Committee considered evidence on Scottish and Irish vagrants and their habit of coming to England in the summer and earning enough money to keep them at home throughout the winter. Some witnesses were of the opinion that this was on the decrease as a result of the reduction in casual agricultural labour available during the early 1830s.

John Eastdex, assistant overseer for St. Giles London, gave evidence (p. 15) of the large number of vagrants still passing through the city and how one woman with cholera passed as penniless had money hidden in her clothes which her husband took before she died.

The Committee considered that the system of vagrancy in operation saved the London parishes a great deal of money but considered that the system would be more efficient if the vagrants were taken by ship direct from London rather than across country to the west coast or the Scottish borders.