I am looking, yet again, for something else. Does anyone have any information on schools and orphans, how they lived in worked, duing the Elizabethan Age?
Fucked Up Beyond all Recognition: Yay- I'm the only one here. The church has historically bore the brunt of caring for the sick and disabled- this included orphans. Around the 16th and 17th century we see in England the introduction of the Elizabethan Poor Laws- these were the first attempts following the Midieval world at social welfare-generalized, a model that the United States system (mingled with free enterprise and social darwanism) is based on. Before, it was assumed religious duty that the poor and sick be cared for by the church, holy writ. What these laws did, in 1601, was make the parents responsible for their children (as it should be, all hail Elizabeth) and the focus was shifted towards the state= the state became patron, no longer the church. For those, like orphans, who had no one to care for them, these laws gave them entitlement to benefits (room, board, education to a small degree) in much the way our system works in America where an orphan inherits the rights inherent to citizinship. If you are looking to find the the poor things were chewed up and thrown out with the corn husk in Shakespeare's time, then I'm afraid you'll be sadly disappointed.
You will not find specialised Orphans' Schools in the Elizabethan Era per se. The early modern period was one of significant social, political and familial change in Europe whereby the responsibility for orphans and children in general was in a state of flux. The crown held responsibility for propertied orphans who were children of crown tenants (until 1660 when feudal dues were abolished). The churches were coming to assume some responsibility as demographic shifts throughout the 16th and 17th centuries necessitated changes to century long customs of localised, county based welfare provision. Families themselves were also changing although this occurred more in the 18th and 19th centuries as affectionate marriages and concentration upon having only two or three children became increasingly common. If you want an interesting demonstration of links between England and America in this period (or actually just after the Elizabethan era) you could look at the transportation of London waifs and strays to the American colonies as indentutred labour for the Crown. These children were swept off the crowded streets of London between 1620 and 1750, put in ships and sent off for the rest of their lives al because there were too many of them and they represented a strain on London coffers. The practice was only ceased as aresult of the War of Independence. Hope this helps a bit.
Many of the most expensive English public schools (a public school in England is actually a private school) were established for the benefit of poor scholars and orphans, and still have charitable status because of their supposed purpose. The habit of sending orphans abroad continued until the 1950s. Barnardos used to send children to Australi and Canada.
