Depth 1: Paupers and Pauperism, 1780-1834 Flashcards
What did the Elizabethan Poor Law provide?
A philosophical and practical basis for providing assistance to the needy.
How was the Elizabethan Poor Law structured?
It was not one law, but a collection of laws passed between the late 16th and 18th centuries.
What was the Poor Rate and who set it?
The Poor Rate refers to the particular tax which would be levied on a local basis to fund poor relief payments.
What was the problem with Poor Law administrators before the mid-to-late 18th century?
They were unpaid and unprofessional.
Which specific individuals dealt with local administration and what was their typical background.
Churchwardens and overseers of the poor.
Local farmers and respectable householders.
Who appointed churchwardens and overseers of the poor, and how often?
Justices of the peace (JPs)
Annually
What was good about poor relief being managed by an administrative unit as small as the parish?
Local administrators knew the local people so could show them greater sympathy and more accurately distinguish between the deserving and the undeserving poor.
What was bad about poor relief being managed by an administrative unit as small as the parish?
Overseers of the poor could act with tyranny as they used their power to settle old grievances.
They tended to look down on their inferiors.
A local parish would struggle to cope with the costs associated with a poor harvest or economic crisis if poor relief was funded locally.
Around how many parishes were there in England and Wales?
c.1500
How did social writers and reformers generally view poverty in the late 1700s/1800s?
As both inevitable and necessary.
Why was poverty seen as necessary for society?
It gave people the incentive to work, therefore provide for themselves and contribute towards the economy.
What was indigence and what was the attitude towards it?
One’s inability to provide for themselves and their family.
It was seen as evitable and unacceptable within society.
What was the aim of poor relief?
To prevent the indigent from starving whilst forcing people to work to prevent their dependency upon the state.
Who were seen as the deserving poor?
The old, the sick and children: those who were poor through no fault of their own.
Who were seen as the undeserving poor?
People who had found themselves poor due to perceived moral failure, e.g. prostitution or alcoholism.
Why were commissioners reluctant to give too much support to the poor?
They might see no need to look for work if the state was providing well for them; causing them to pursue an immoral, jobless lifestyle.
What was the settlement legislation of the 1601 Poor Law?
Pauper would receive relief from his home parish. If this wasn’t known, it’d be the parish of the place he’d lived for at least a year, or the last town he passed through without getting into legal trouble.
When was the Settlement Act and what did it do?
1662; outlined that settlement would be permitted by birth, marriage, apprenticeship or inheritance. They could be removed if they did’t find work within 40 days or if it looked like they were to claim relief, but they were generally untouched until they tried.
What modification was made to the Settlement Act in 1697?
You needed a settlement certificate from your home parish in order to move; outlining that they would provide for you if you ever needed to claim relief.
When was the Removal Act and what did it do?
1795; it prevented parishes from removing people until they tried to access poor relief.
What was an issue with settlement legislation?
It could easily be manipulated by local magistrates; they’d remove families frequently using pre-printed forms, usually basing it upon their backgrounds.
There was no consistent application.
What was good about settlement legislation?
People knew their rights surrounding poor relief. It also aimed to reduce pressure upon parishes in having to deal with significant populations.
What was cyclical unemployment?
Short term unemployment that sprung up as a result of trade cycles.
Why were existing poor relief systems ineffective in the face of the industrialising economy?
They were geared to a pre-industrialised economy; less disease, smaller populations.
New issues: bad harvests and the Napoleonic Wars.
What did MP Samuel Whitbread and PM William Pitt propose in 1795-1796 and why was it rejected?
Raise wages to help people who were working but still not earning enough to live on.
Because the House of Commons was dominated by wage-paying landowners and it was in their interests that they not have to increase wages.
What was to be introduced instead of what was proposed by MP Samuel Whitbread and PM William Pitt in 1795-76?
An allowance system which would see low wages being topped up by the parish.
When and where was the Speenhamland System introduced?
1795 in Speenhamland, Berkshire
How did the Speenhamland deal with low wages?
It subsidised them, in the form or money or other goods (e.g. flour in Newton Valance, Hampshire).
The amount received depended upon the price per gallon loaf.
Whether a fixed price was given per family or if kids were taken into consideration depended upon the parish.
Where and when was the Speenhamland system widely enforced? Where was it not?
South and east of Britain in the early 19th century during slack times.
North - as there was much rural employment.
What created greater need for the system within the south and east?
Loss of cottage industries with the Industrial Revolution: less work for women.
Enclosures meant there was a loss of common land so people couldn’t farm to earn money/provide for themselves.
Lack of allotments to grow crops to provide for oneself due industrialisation.
How was the Speenhamland system administered in Speenhamland in 1797 and in Winfarthing, Norfolk in the 1820s?
SPEENHAMLAND - Cost depended upon the value of a 4kg gallon loaf. If the gallon loaf cost 1s 4d, you received 4s as a man, 2s 4d as a woman, 5s 10d for a married couple and an extra c.4s for every child.
WINFARTHING - Price went on the number of relatives and the season. A family of 4 would receive 2s 4d in the summer or 2s 8d in the winter.
How did the Roundsman system work?
It dealt with a lack of available work by having paupers work in rotation for local farmers, completing work that either needed doing or that had been created for the purpose. They were paid by both the farmer and the parish; the farmer signed a ticket (‘billet system’) to say they’d been paid and done the work, and the parish commissioner would top it up with poor rates.
How was the amount to be received by the pauper determined?
It varied from parish to parish. Some based it on family size and the price of the gallon loaf, whilst others offered a flat rate.
What was an issue with the billet system of the Roundsman system before the Labour Rate?
It could easily be manipulated by farmers, who would pay paupers the bare minimum whilst the parish would be obliged to make up for the rest.
When was the Labour Rate introduced and what did it do?
It was introduced in 1832 and overcame the fact that the Roundsman system could be easily manipulated by setting a labour rate, which was the minimum amount a farmer had to contribute towards the wage of the pauper. This would result in exemption from poor rate contributions, which the employer was forced to pay if they did not comply with the Labour Rate.
How popular was the Labour Rate?
It was used in 20% of parishes by 1832.
How were different types of pauper dealt with under the Elizabethan Poor Law?
Impotent poor - given indoor relief in a parish poorhouse or almshouse
Able-bodied poor - received relief via a workhouse but lived at home
Beggars/vagrants - punished in ‘houses of correction’.
Define the impotent poor.
People who could not look after themselves even when times were good so who were deserving of relief. Included children, the sick, the disabled and the elderly.
What was the issue with there being different systems in place for different types of pauper?
It was not cost efficient, especially as different places had different needs.
What were the two factors that motivated need for Poor Law reform?
Humanitarian motives: actual care for the poor.
Financial motives: cutting the cost of Poor Relief.
Which urban parishes pioneered urban amalgation?
Exeter, Hereford, Gloucester and Plymouth.
What percentage of parishes were amalgamated in Suffolk by 1780?
50%
