3.4 New poor law Flashcards
What was the political party associated with changing the poor law?
Whig government stood for political, social and
What did this party do? (what year did they do this)
They set up a Royal commission into the operation of the Poor Laws (1832).
There were 9 senior commissioners (Nassau Senior professor of political economics and Chadwick)
assistant commissioners visited 3,000 parishes 1/5 to create reports.
Questionnaires were sent to parishes and towns and then rural areas. They were not compulsory so only 10% were responded to.
What were the strengths and weaknesses of the Royal commission?
Strengths- they were headed by individuals who were highly educated Nassau Senior professor of political economy.
- they were tailored to the location there were different questionnaires sent to towns than rural
- they used questionnaires but also physically visited the location.
Weaknesses- they only visited 3,000 parishes which was
only 1/5 not a whole representation.
it was not compulsory to fill in the questionnaires so they only received 10% in return.
Interviews could have been skewed to reach a specific outcome.
What piece of legislation caused the first change to the old poor
the 1834 Poor Law amendment act was the piece of legislation that made a change to the poor law.
What were the recommendations of the Royal Commission report amendment act? (4)
1-Separate workhouses should be provided for the elderly, infirm, children and able bodied men, and able bodied women.
2-Parishes should group into unions for the purpose of providing workhouses.
3-All relief outside workhouses should stop, and conditions inside workhouses should be worse than those of the poorest labourer.
4- A new central authority should be established, with powers to make and enforce regulations.
What were the aims of the poor law amendment act? (3)
1-Reduced the cost of providing poor relief.
2-Ensuring only the completely destitute got relief.
3- insured it was a national system.
What were the main terms of the poor law amendment act? (4)
1-A central authority should be set up to supervise the implementation and regulate the administration of the poor law.
2-Each poor Law union was to establish a workhouse in which the conditions inside were were than those of the poorest independent labourer on the outside.
3-Outdoor relief for able-bodied paupers was to be discouraged but not abolished for able bodied pauper.
What were the key individuals involved in the 1834 poor law amendment act? (poor law commissioners)
1-Thomas Frankland Lewis- who had been a Tory MP
2- George Nicholls, a retired sea captain who had also been an overseer that proposed radical changes in Nottinghamshire.
3- John Shaw Lefevre- A lawyer who had also been a whig MP,
4- Edwin Chadwick- the secretary to the commission and a utilitarian lawyer.
Information about architecture of workhouses?
Were in a cruciform or y shape.
Had imposing gates at the entrance.
Desgined to look like a prison.
No sunlight going into the building.
What was the discipline of the workhouse?
Staff and paupers hurled abuse to each other.
Sexual abuse between overseer and paupers and pauper to pauper.
Workhouse staff used reward and punishment process.
Rewards were things like “clean jobs” food or pocket Money. They could be punished for being to loud or working too slowly.
Discipline was less severe under the new poor law as there were limitations to what the overseer could do.
Children in the workhouse information?
Children were not seen as responsible for being in the workhouse.
The condition inside the workhouses were better for children as they got medical attention and schooling.
Children were apprenticed to a trade at the age of 9.
Diet in the workhouse information? (4)
1-Supply of food was to keep paupers alive and degrade them.
2-Food was made to be monotonous and not pleasurable to eat.
3-They were made to eat in silence until 1842.
4-Food was mixed with dangerous ingredients.
Rules and routine of the workhouse? information(4)
1-On entry to a workhouse pauper families were given medical inspections and then split up. The assumption was that the pauper had given up responsibility of the family.
2-Paupers had to wear a uniform that fit for some and not for others.
3-Paupers were only allowed one weekly bathed and were watched.
4-No possessions were allowed on the inside of the workhouse.
Work in the workhouse information?
1-The work had to be available in the confines of the the workhouse.
2-It could not diminish employment outside the workhouse.
3-Women and children were made to maintain the workhouse.
4-Men were made to work like smashing limetone, unravelling ropes for fibre and chopping wood.
Types of people In the workhouse? (5)
Young people- workhouses provided a solution to personal crisis and would move in and out of the workhouses.
Vagrants- were seen as the lowest of the low and were given overnight accommodation in the “casual” wards.
Vagrants had their clothes disinfected.
Ederly- were given support until death before death by workhouse
Children- made up of 25% to 40% of the admissions
Mentally ill went from 1 in 100 inmates to 1 in 8
Staff in the workhouse information.
Master- was responsible for the discipline and economy of the workhouse.
Matron- for the female paupers and domestic sides of life.
In Kent the workhouse was run by a retired navy member and his wife. They were renowned for their efficiency and compassion. When they were no longer in charge paupers wept.
George Cath ex-policemen moved from workhouse to workhouse inflicting terror wherever he went.
What were 5 ways the workhouses did uphold less eligibility?
1-Upon arrival the pauper families were split up.
2- Meals had to be eaten in silence until 1842
3- No new jobs were created to prevent taking employment from paupers on the outside. So jobs were monotonous.
4- Loss of personal identity as all personal belongings were taken away.
5- Strong physical discipline against men.
What were the ways the workhouses did not uphold less eligibility?
1- They were able to have 3 meals a day were compulsory
2- Were given accommodation
3- Children were giving an education and apprenticed to a trade at 9.
4- If they behaved well they were given rewards like “pocket money”.
5- They were given a weekly bath.
What are the reasons the new poor Law was opposed?
Workhouses were seen as “prisons for the poor”.
Many people hated and feared the threat of a workhouses especially in the north.
Due to cyclical unemployment in rural areas, short term was needed not the movement of whole families in workhouses.
The centralisation of the Poor Law Commission was resented by many in the Midlands and the North who believed they had little knowledge of industrial conditions.
What were the different oppositions to poor law?
Protests in rural south, opposition in the north, Richard Oastler, Rumour and propaganda, Genuine fear, John Fielden.
what happened in the protests in rural south oppositions?
Local magistrates Clergy were angry at the centralisation of the new poor law joined with the poor who were also alarmed.
In Buckinghamshire, people took to the streets when paupers in Chalfont were being transported to the union workhouses in Amersham.
In East Anglia, newly built workhouses were attacked the one at St Clements being especially damaged.
Whilst poor citizens took to the street and more influential citizens continued to promote outdoor life.
What was the rumour and propaganda opposition?
Union workhouses were built so far from paupers they were seen as “extermination caps”
“Book of murder” was published and suggested that pauper children were getting gassed.
Rumours that children over 3 were killed.
It was rumoured that in outdoor relief the bread was poisoned.
What was the genuine fear opposition?
Poor Law commission didn’t do much to consider relief outside London.
Addition of workhouses would mean higher taxes.
Hard for the workhouse to sustain everyone.
What was Richard Oastler opposition?
He believed poor law commission was too powerful so had a monopoly.
Concerned about unions as he believed it depersonalised the workhouse.
by 1838 he was urging people to get involved in strikes and sabotaging.
He was dismissed from his role and sent to a debtors prison.
