Begging in Spain

In this country (UK) begging is illegal under the Vagrancy Act 1824 and during my childhood I never saw a beggar. Things have changed since then, but in those days they were just something in history and old stories. However, when I went to Spain in 1960, not so long after the Spanish Civil War, poverty was rife and beggars were a common sight in the street.

Spanish 10 céntimo coin from the Franco period (reverse) (NumisCorner.com)

I noticed that they all had small round metal collecting boxes and was told that these were issued by the local authorities to people who were licensed to beg. Apparently, each box had a registration number stamped on to it. I was also told that it was customary not to spend the tiny 10 céntimo coins, but to keep them to give to beggars. Indeed, I frequently saw people popping a coin into a collecting box and being thanked with a blessing. So I decided to do the same.

The coins were the smallest I had ever seen, just 18mm in diameter, the same as the current five pence coin, but much lighter, as they were made of aluminium. The exchange rate at that time was about 120 pesetas to the pound and so these coins were worth approx. one fifth of an old penny, less than the old farthing, which was withdrawn from circulation in 1961. This gives some idea of the level of poverty there was in Spain at that time.

Many of the beggars were disabled, some with missing limbs, and I imagined that they had been injured during the Civil War. The impression was that the state was not supporting them, except by institutionalizing begging.

Posted April 2017