Were single mothers better off in the 19th Century?

samtoby

Read this link....interesting....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17159966

Average weekly incomes today

• Single/couple all in full-time work £644:eek:
• Couple, one full-time, one part-time work £567
• Couple, one full-time work, one not working £519
• No full-time, one or more part-time work £419
• Workless, one or more aged 60 or over £381
• Workless, one or more unemployed £246
• Workless, other inactive £298

Clearly does not include Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and all the other benefits......:rotfl:

chewmylegoff

What a !!!!!! article.

SailorSam

When i started to do a family tree i found out that my Grandad was born in a workhouse in 1894, i came to a dead end trying to trace any information but from what i could make out his Mum must have been kicked out on the street by her parents when she got pregnant. I doubt that would happen today.

atush

How could you even pose such a stupid question? To be a single mother then was to be ruined, unemployable, shunned even.

What a !!!!!! article, I agree.

SkyeKnight

atush wrote: »

How could you even pose such a stupid question? To be a single mother then was to be ruined, unemployable, shunned even.

What a !!!!!! article, I agree.

Really? I actually thought it was quite interesting - I didn't know people got benefits in the 1800s - at least not in quite such an organised way.

I think the "ruined, unemployable, shunned" thing came a bit later with the Victorians. I imagine for most of history single mothers were very common and the article says "the birth of illegitimate children to errant fathers was massively widespread during this period in history".

vivatifosi

SailorSam wrote: »

When i started to do a family tree i found out that my Grandad was born in a workhouse in 1894, i came to a dead end trying to trace any information but from what i could make out his Mum must have been kicked out on the street by her parents when she got pregnant. I doubt that would happen today.

I have the same thing in my family tree. I can't get back any further either. However going forward I do know that the kids had to finish school and start work aged about 12, no comparison with today. Incidentally, some local councils hold workhouse records and you may be able to get a report from them.

PasturesNew

samtoby wrote: »

Average weekly incomes today

• Single/couple all in full-time work £644

I wish! Single here looking at job adverts = £245/week Looking at GOOD job adverts = £320/week.

MrRee_2

£644 a week ...... it surely cannot be fair making people struggle to live on that?

Jimmy_31

MrRee wrote: »

£644 a week ...... it surely cannot be fair making people struggle to live on that?

YOU, just struggle to live.

Get out a bit more.

Do u fancy going paintballing ?

pqrdef

SailorSam wrote: »

When i started to do a family tree i found out that my Grandad was born in a workhouse in 1894, i came to a dead end trying to trace any information but from what i could make out his Mum must have been kicked out on the street by her parents when she got pregnant.

People weren't expected to support their children beyond school-leaving age. If they were entitled to parish relief, they took it. Generally they couldn't afford not to.

But the general rule in that era was that the able-bodied couldn't get parish relief except by entering the workhouse. Otherwise, her parents may have been happy enough to have her at home.

Also, by that time, some workhouse maternity wards had acquired a reputation as a good place to have a baby, and girls with jobs would sometimes pauperise themselves to get in.

MrRee_2

Jimmy_31 wrote: »

Do u fancy going paintballing ?

I was paintballing when you were in nappies, boy.