ABSTRACT
Poor law provision was most exposed in two specific circumstances: during trade depressions, and in dealing with those too old to support themselves. Between 1870 and 1895 it became clear that it was no longer adequate. Two Anglican clergymen were among the earliest to advocate provision for the aged in the form of pensions. W.L. Blackley (1830–1902) was Curate of St Peter’s, Southwark, in 1878 when he published his pioneer proposal for compulsory deductions from the wages of young men to establish a fund payable in later years as a pension (12a). Canon Samuel Barnett (1844–1913), a founder member of the Charity Organization Society and an enthusiast for a variety of social reforms in London’s East End, advocated a scheme which separated those whom Barnett considered the worthy from the unworthy poor. He proposed pensions for the over-60s, if they had not had recourse to the poor law during their working lives (12b).
