About one-third of the population lived in poverty, with the wealthy expected to give alms to assist the impotent poor.
Tudor law was harsh on the able-bodied poor, i.e., those unable to find work.
Those who left their parishes in order to locate work were termed vagabonds and could be subjected to punishments, including whipping and putting at the stocks.

The idea of the workhouse for the able-bodied poor was first suggested in 1576.
About one-third of the population lived in poverty, with the wealthy expected to give alms to assist the impotent poor. Tudor law was harsh on the able-bodied poor, i.e., those unable to find work. Those who left their parishes in order to locate work were termed vagabonds and could be subjected to punishments, including whipping and putting at the stocks.
The idea of the workhouse for the able-bodied poor was first suggested in 1576.
Elizabethan era