[from the Medical Aid and Poor Relief Commission Report - 1879]

SUPPORT OF THE POOR BY THEIR RELATIVES

Questions were addressed to us by witnesses in every place we visited as to the extent to which the law as to the support of the poor by their relatives has been carried out, and, although a few instances enforce it, there was a general concurrence of testimony to the effect that the process of obtaining a decree in the Vicar-General's Court is so cumbrous, and the decree, when obtained so difficult of application, that the law is practically a dead letter As a rule, though, there does not appear to be any reluctance on the part of the next of kin to support their poor relations.

They cannot, under the present law, be compelled to contribute to their support by a money payment but the next of kin in an equal degree who would be entitled to the personal estate of the pauper (if any) on his decease are liable to support him in turns, by taking him to their homes and keeping him there for a certain period; and husbands of wives who are next of kin are under the liability to which their wives would have been subject if unmarried.

A recent case, in which a son-in-law was compelled to maintain his wife's father was mentioned to us at Castletown.

That a system of periodical removal to the homes of unwilling relatives is not likely to conduce to the comfort of the pauper is sufficiently manifest ; and a case was mentioned to us, in the parish of Jurby, in which, even when the children were willing and able to maintain their parents in their homes in turns, the old man refused to go with them. He wanted them to make him an allowance to keep him in his own cottage, and that they declined to do. The consequence is that he now lives with a friend, who is not a relative,in another parish, and the vicar and wardens: of Jurby made him last year an allowance of 10s from the church funds. The general result seems to be a sort of compromise—the children or other next of kin doing something towards the support of their poor relations, and the vicar and wardens doing the remainder. But at Castletown we were told by the chairman of the Poor relief Committee—

"They generally refuse relief if the Committee find that they have relations well enough off to keep them ; and they, as a rule, find that children are anxious and willing to maintain their poor parents, and take them off the relief fund as soon as they are able."

Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received The Editor HTML Transcription © F.Coakley , 2026