Britain Booklet 5

Question 1

What is the definition of living in poverty?

Answer 1

When your standard of living is below the national average

Question 2

What is the definition of pauperism?

Answer 2

Anyone who is gaining poor relief

Question 3

What were the Elizabethan poor laws, 1601?

Answer 3

Parishes now had to care for the old and sick

First poorhouses were used

Outdoor relief now introduced however it was taken advantage of

Question 4

What were the laws of settlement, 1662?

Answer 4

Designed for keeping the poor in one area to enforce them working in workhouses

Question 5

What was Knatchbull’s Act?

Answer 5

More workhouses constructed and basically forcing people into them

Increasing the amount of people in workhouses

Question 6

What was Gilbert’s Act?

Answer 6

More workhouses constructed with more funding so more people could fit in them

Attempts to improve the conditions of workhouses for the and and infirm

Question 7

What was the Speenhamland system?

Answer 7

Employers took advantage of the scheme and paid less

Wages topped up to the value of 3 loaves of bread, 4 1/2 if they had a family

Never nationalized

Only topped up to 4 1/2 loaves, which covers nothing else

Question 8

By how much had the population increased by in England and Wales in 1801 since the Elizabethan poor laws?

Answer 8

The population was officially nine million, more than double since the Elizabethan poor laws

Question 9

What 2 reasons increased the cost of poor relief in the 18th and 19th century?

Answer 9

The French wars from 1793-1815
Poor harvests in the early 19th century

Question 10

How much money was spent on poor relief from 1814-1818?

Answer 10

It averages around £6.4 million from 1814-1818

Question 11

During the years after the French Wars, how much of Britain’s GNP was spent on poor relief?

Answer 11

2%

Question 12

What is utilitarianism?

Answer 12

Greatest happiness for the greatest number of people

Question 13

Between 1802 and 1803, what percentage of people were receiving poor relief in the north and south?

Answer 13

North: 10%
South 23%

Question 14

What was the Royal Commission?

Answer 14

The Royal Commission was setup by 9 commissioners including Nassau Senior and Edwin Chadwick. They aimed to find information about the workings of the poor law and recommendations for its improvement.

Question 15

When was the Poor Law Amendment Act (PLAA)?

Answer 15

1834

Question 16

What did the PLAA do?

Answer 16

Created a poor law commission, made up of three commissioners based in London given a wide range of powers to regulate the Poor Law.

Under the old Poor Law, each of the 15,000 parishes had been responsible for the poverty relief in their area, now the PLAA amalgamated parishes into groups of about 30

Question 17

How expensive was it to open a workhouse in Banbury?

Answer 17

£6200

Question 18

How much was it estimated that indoor relief cost more than outdoor relief than?

Answer 18

50-100%

Question 19

By 1862, how much did it cost to keep a pauper in indoor relief compared to outdoor relief?

Answer 19

Indoor relief: 4s 8d
Outdoor relief: 2s 3d

Question 20

What was the Andover workhouse scandal?

Answer 20

Workhouse in Andover with terrible working conditions where inmates were abused

Inmates were so hungry they were eating raw flesh of animal bones, eating the bone marrow in the bone

M’Dougal, the master of the workhouse had been assaulting female residents

Inmates were given reduced rations so McDougal could buy extra food for his family

Question 21

What positive impacts came after the Andover workhouse scandal?

Answer 21

The events at Andover were well publicised by critics of the new poor laws, including John Walter, editor of the Times, who covered it in great detail

After the scandal, groups such as the Workhouse visiting society were created (1858) and they performed unofficial checks on workhouses

The Poor Law Commission was abolished and the Poor Law Board was introduced, this meant control over the Poor law was brought under government control

Question 22

What negative impacts came after the Andover workhouse scandal?

Answer 22

In spite of the scandal, workhouses remained a central feature of poor provision, Between 1851 and 1866, another 100 workhouses had been built to add to the 402 built following the 1834 PLAA

Question 23

What are 3 examples of jobs in a workhouse?

Answer 23

Rockbreaking
Rope picking
Bone breaking

Question 24

When was the Andover workhouse scandal?

Answer 24

1845

Question 25

What did Thomas Carlyle do?

Answer 25

His work ‘Past and Present’ published in 1843, drew attention to the growing class divide within Britain, by describing the workhouses as Poor Law Prisons

Well read by middle class reformers and his words

Question 26

What did Henry Mayhew do?

Answer 26

Empirical work - Produced a 4 volume work which cataloged in more than 2 million words the experiences of Britain’s poor

Showed how insufficient wages made people dependent upon poor relief

Forced middle class Victorians to consider an alternative about how to treat the poor and let to growth in charity work

Question 27

What did Elizabeth Gaskell do?

Answer 27

Another author who contributed to the growing awareness of poverty

Her book “Mary Barton” published in 1848 is her best known work, and it describes the lives of the working class and their difficult existence amid the smoke stacks of Manchester

Offered a realistic impression of the poor classes in Britain

Question 28

How many soldiers returned home at the end of the Napoleonic Wars?

Answer 28

400,000

Question 29

Which charity was set up to determine deserving and undeserving poor and when?

Answer 29

Charity Organisation Society, 1869

Question 30

By 1776, how many poorhouses were there with how many inmates in each?

Answer 30

2000 and 20-50

Question 31

Where was there another workhouse scandal following Andover and when?

Answer 31

Huddersfield, 1848

Question 32

Which act provided medical facilities for paupers and when?

Answer 32

Metropolitan Poor Act, 1867

Question 33

Name two individualists

Answer 33

Thomas Malthus, Ricardo Townsend

Question 34

Name two utilitarians

Answer 34

Chadwick and Bentham