Depth 1: Paupers and Pauperism, 1780-1834 Flashcards
1
Q
What did the Elizabethan Poor Law provide?
A
A philosophical and practical basis for providing assistance to the needy.
2
Q
How was the Elizabethan Poor Law structured?
A
It was not one law, but a collection of laws passed between the late 16th and 18th centuries.
3
Q
What was the Poor Rate and who set it?
A
The Poor Rate refers to the particular tax which would be levied on a local basis to fund poor relief payments.
4
Q
What was the problem with Poor Law administrators before the mid-to-late 18th century?
A
They were unpaid and unprofessional.
5
Q
Which specific individuals dealt with local administration and what was their typical background.
A
Churchwardens and overseers of the poor.
Local farmers and respectable householders.
6
Q
Who appointed churchwardens and overseers of the poor, and how often?
A
Justices of the peace (JPs)
Annually
7
Q
What was good about poor relief being managed by an administrative unit as small as the parish?
A
Local administrators knew the local people so could show them greater sympathy and more accurately distinguish between the deserving and the undeserving poor.
8
Q
What was bad about poor relief being managed by an administrative unit as small as the parish?
A
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.
9
Q
Around how many parishes were there in England and Wales?
A
c.1500
10
Q
How did social writers and reformers generally view poverty in the late 1700s/1800s?
A
As both inevitable and necessary.
11
Q
Why was poverty seen as necessary for society?
A
It gave people the incentive to work, therefore provide for themselves and contribute towards the economy.
12
Q
What was indigence and what was the attitude towards it?
A
One’s inability to provide for themselves and their family.
It was seen as evitable and unacceptable within society.
13
Q
What was the aim of poor relief?
A
To prevent the indigent from starving whilst forcing people to work to prevent their dependency upon the state.
14
Q
Who were seen as the deserving poor?
A
The old, the sick and children: those who were poor through no fault of their own.
15
Q
Who were seen as the undeserving poor?
A
People who had found themselves poor due to perceived moral failure, e.g. prostitution or alcoholism.
16
Q
Why were commissioners reluctant to give too much support to the poor?
A
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.
17
Q
What was the settlement legislation of the 1601 Poor Law?
A
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.
18
Q
When was the Settlement Act and what did it do?
A
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.
19
Q
What modification was made to the Settlement Act in 1697?
A
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.
20
Q
When was the Removal Act and what did it do?
A
1795; it prevented parishes from removing people until they tried to access poor relief.
21
Q
What was an issue with settlement legislation?
A
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.
22
Q
What was good about settlement legislation?
A
People knew their rights surrounding poor relief. It also aimed to reduce pressure upon parishes in having to deal with significant populations.
23
Q
What was cyclical unemployment?
A
Short term unemployment that sprung up as a result of trade cycles.
24
Q
Why were existing poor relief systems ineffective in the face of the industrialising economy?
A
They were geared to a pre-industrialised economy; less disease, smaller populations.
New issues: bad harvests and the Napoleonic Wars.
25
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.
26
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.
27
When and where was the Speenhamland System introduced?
1795 in Speenhamland, Berkshire
28
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.
29
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.
30
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.
31
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.
32
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.
33
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.
34
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.
35
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.
36
How popular was the Labour Rate?
It was used in 20% of parishes by 1832.
37
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'.
38
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.
39
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.
40
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.
41
Which urban parishes pioneered urban amalgation?
Exeter, Hereford, Gloucester and Plymouth.
42
What percentage of parishes were amalgamated in Suffolk by 1780?
50%
43
How many workhouses were in existence in 1780 and what was their collective capacity?
2,000; 90,000.
44
What was the significant change in leadership that came with the amalgamation of parishes, and why did it happen?
Control was shifted from parish overseers to guardians of the poor, who would be elected by ratepayers.
This was because parishes would now be responsible for larger populations and it was felt that those in charge of administering poor relief should therefore be more qualified. They tended to be magistrates, gentry men or of the upper ranks of tenant farmers.
45
Why was there appreciation of the need for reform of the poor law system towards the end of the 18th century?
There was lots of pressure on jobs with which the parishes currently couldn't cope. This was because many soldiers were demobilised after the 1782 American War of Independence, and because the fencing and ditching of great open fields limited the agricultural work of paupers, even if short-term work was accordingly found.
Extensive rural to urban migration (1801: 33% in urban areas) put pressure on urban workhouses whilst reducing pressure upon rural workhouses.
46
Who was responsible for proposing the Gilbert's Act in 1782?
Thomas Gilbert, M for Lichfield
47
What was the Gilbert's Act of 1782, in essence?
A piece of legislation which sought to overhaul the local administrative system of relief.
48
What were the provisions of the Gilbert's Act of 1782?
If 2/3 of major landowners and ratepayers agreed, parishes could amalgamate within Gilbert Unions. They would be headed by paid guardians, chosen from a list of magistrates supplied by ratepayers. These Gilbert Unions would provide for the impotent poor, and guardians would have to provide paupers with outdoor relief if work couldn't be found for them.
49
In what year did Thomas Gilbert fail to make the Gilbert's Act mandatory?
1786
50
What two further pieces of legislation did Gilbert pass to supplement the original Gilbert's Act?
Overseers would have to submit annual returns of relief expenditure to provide solid evidence of the cost of relief.
Ministers and churchwardens had to offer information about local charities that offered the same help.
51
By 1834, how many parishes had combined into how many Gilbert Unions?
924 parishes had combined into 67 Gilbert Unions: not a lot, many had already done so at their own accord.
52
Give another name for the Sturges-Bourne Acts of 1818-19.
The Select Vestries Acts.
53
Who/what brought about the Sturges-Bourne Acts of 1818-19?
House of Commons' Select Committee on the Poor Laws, chaired by William-Sturges Bourne.
54
What was the aim of the Sturges-Bourne Acts of 1818-19?
To tie landowners, gentry and the bourgeoisie more firmly into poor law administration.
55
What were the provisions of the Sturges-Bourne Acts of 1818-19?
1818 - Local administration of the poor law was to be managed by select vestries, voted for by ratepayers. You received 1 vote for land worth less than £50 and an extra vote for every additional £25 of value up to 6.
1819 - A resident clergyman would be added to select vestries to distinguish between the 'deserving' and the 'undeserving' poor on the grounds of their character and circumstances.
56
Under what circumstances could the decision of a select vestry to refuse relief be overturned?
If two JPs opposed it.
57
How many select vestries were in place in 1825?
46
58
What cost reductions were seen in the Berkshire parishes of Bray and White Waltham
33% in first year, 9% thereafter.
59
Why is it the case that the cost reductions that proved subsequent to the Sturges-Bourne Acts not that great at all?
It was allowed at the expense of the pauper, as many were wrongly refused relief for the sake of cost effectiveness.
60
Who introduced the policy of less eligibility?
Reverend Robert Lowe of Bingham.
61
What was the policy of less eligibility?
This was the principle that the conditions inside a workhouse had to be less eligible/desirable than those found on the outside. This would give people the incentive to find work.
62
What was the workhouse test?
The criteria upon which it was decided whether a pauper was genuinely destitute as - with the principle of less eligibility in full swing - they wouldn't enter unless they were truly desperate.
63
Who was exempt from the principle of less eligibility?
Those that formed the impotent poor.
64
What did Isaac Wiseman outline about the Norwich workhouse in Norwich Mercury on 7th March 1829?
It was "a scene of filth, wretchedness and indecency".
People had "neither knife, fork or plate".
65
When did the wars with France that increased demands for poor relief take place?
1783-1815
66
Why did many farmers go bankrupt in 1813-14?
Harvests were good across the continent and so British prices had to remain low so that foreign competition didn't get in the way. This meant they couldn't pay their wartime taxes or for the loans used to fund enclosure. They would cut the wages of their employees before potentially facing pauperism.
67
How did the government respond to farmer bankruptcy in 1815?
The Corn Laws
68
What did the Corn Laws do?
Banned the import of foreign corn until the price of British corn reached 80 shillings a quarter. This was to protect British farmers from foreign competition whilst keeping the price of bread steady too.
69
Why did people riot against the Corn Laws?
It was seen to keep the price of bread artifically high and so some paupers couldn't afford to buy bread anymore. This was significant as it had been their staple diet.
It also meant that many allowance systems struggled because the amount of relief given was pegged to the price per gallon loaf.
70
What was the value of poor relief expenditure during the crisis years of 1817-19?
£8 million per year, or 12-13 shillings per head of the population.
71
How did the government respond to the increasing number of radical protests from 1817-19?
1817 - Suspension of the Habeas Corpus of 1679, which had prevented people from being imprisoned in secret for indefinite periods.
1819 - Six Acts -
1) . no meetings of more than 50 people.
2) . greater stamp duties on newspapers.
3) . you'd face transportation if you published anything blasphemous or seditious.
4) . no military training by civilians.
5) . trials couldn't be suspended so that people had time to prepare a defence.
6) . magistrates can search homes for arms.
72
What did the 1817 Report of the Select Committee on the Poor Laws outline and what law(s) did it lead to?
The Sturges-Bourne Act of 1818-19.
73
Why did the 1817 Report of the Select Committee on the Poor Laws only lead to the Sturges-Bourne Acts and not the removal of the 1601 Poor Law?
There was too much crisis and instability to remove the system at this stage.
74
Who supported the Corn Laws?
Landowners
75
Who founded the Anti-Corn Law League and what did it do?
Richard Cobden; they campaigned for the repeal of the Corn Law, and succeeded in 1846, largely because of the impact of the Irish Potato Famine.
76
When did the Swing Riots take place and where?
1830 in over 20 counties, though mainly in the south and the east of England.
77
What happened in the village of Brede, Sussex?
Labourers rioted against low allowances, local overseers of the poor and demanded that Mr. Abel, assistant overseer, be removed because he was constantly removing paupers via the parish cart.
The gentry was scared enough into providing higher allowances and the removal of Mr. Abel.
78
What is believed to have influenced the riots of the village of Brede, Sussex?
Similar riots took place in the nearby village of Rye in early 1830 after an unpopular Tory MP was elected.
William Cobbett's lectures across Sussex are likely have encouraged action. Cobbett was a famous pamphleteer and MP, and the author of Rural Rides (1830) in opposition to the Corn Law.
79
What happened in the villages of Headley and Selbourne in Hampshire?
There were swing riots against the use of threshing machines, the work of overseers of the poor and the existence of tithes (10% tax from income given to Church).
2 vicars produced written assurances that tithes would be reduced.
Paupers pulled down workhouses in the parishes of Headley and Selbourne and broke a thresing machine. No paupers were harmed due to pre-warning.
80
What happened with the swing riots in Wiltshire?
It was a response to the harsh poor relief scale that had been drawn up by John Bennett in 1817. He was a major landowner and MP.
Bennett responded to the violent demonstrations with a troop of yeomanry (people who cultivated small landed estates), and discusses/resolved grievances with them at a vestry meeting.
81
How did central government respond to the Swing Riots?
Lord Melbourne (home secretary) ordered that rioters shouldn't be treated leniently.
Commission of 3 judges set up to try rioters. 19 people were executed, 400 were transported to Australia, 644 went to prison, 7 were fined, 1 was whipped and 800 were acquitted/bound to keep the peace.
82
What was a positive outcome of the Swing Riots?
It created a political climate from which there might be poor law reform.
83
What international event exacerbated government fears surrounding the Swing Riots?
The French Revolution (1789-99)
84
How much did poor relief expenditure go up? 1785; 1813; 1833
1735 - £2,004,000
1813 - £6,656,000
1833 - £6,758,000
85
How much did the amount that the average pauper received change? 1785; 1813; 1833
1785 - 5s 2d
1813 - 12s 5d
1833 - 9s 8d
86
What regional differences could be seen as regards to poor relief?
How poor relief was administered and the type of pauper that was receiving it varied from place to place.
The average rate of pauperism in the south was double the national average of 11.4%, whilst the average within industrial areas was 7.7%. Meanwhile, whilst the national average for the number of paupers living in a workhouse or poorhouse was 8%, the number for London was 24% whilst the number for Wiltshire was 3.8%.
87
What was the situation as regards to poor relief in Nottinghamshire in the 1820s?
Nottinghamshire was quite radical. 11 shillings was the per capita relief expenditure 1820-23, and this was 2 shillings below national average.
5th most industrialised county in Britain: knitting industry thrived and offered jobs.
88
What did Reverend J.T. Becher do in Southwell, Nottinghamshire?
Reverend J.T. Becher was Chairman of Quarter Sessions for the Newark Division.
1823 - he had 49 parishes amalgamated into a Gilbert Union and saw 2 new deterrent workhouses being set up at Upton and Southwell. Yet he ensured that the deserving poor were treated with dignity, and that workhouse schools were open to families on the outside with 4+ children.
89
What did Reverend Robert Lowe of Bingham, Nottinghamshire do?
He was a magistrate who agreed with Becher when he suggested that deterrence would be needed to keep people independent of poor relief.
1818 - he said that workhouses should be made a place of fear so that poor relief would eventually be abolished, with indigence.
90
What did George Nicholls do after he moved to Southwell, Nottinghamshire, in 1819?
He was the overseer of the poor at Becher's new workhouse in Southwell.
He blamed allowance systems for the continuation of poverty and wrote the 'Eight Letters on the Management of the Poor' in 1822, claiming he'd ended poor relief in Southwell through his management of a well-regulated workhouse.
In 1834, he was made a Poor Law Commissioner after giving evidence to the Select Committee enquiring into the Poor Laws in 1824.
91
What did J.H. Lloyd Baker do in Gloucestershire?
He was a Justice of the Peace there who reformed poor law administration in Uley.
First had an allowance system: £3,185 per year.
1830-32, he was able to reduce the rate of pauperism from 37% to 4.7% by removing outdoor relief and upholding Lowe's principle of less eligibility.
92
Which counties followed in J.H. Lloyd Baker's example?
Cornwall and Derbyshire
93
What was Reverend Thomas Whately's approach?
Reverend Thomas Whately of Cookham, Berkshire, offered lowly paid work to able-bodied paupers as they applied for relief. 63 paupers left immediately.
94
Which cities adopted similar policies to Reverend Thomas Whately in Cookham?
London, Bristol, and Norwich.
95
Were schemes like those initiated by J.T. Becher, Robert Lowe, George Nicholls, J.H. Lloyd Baker and Reverend Thomas Whately in place across the country?
No, these were just regional attempts to minimise the cost of poor rates. Other parishes continued to offer poor relief in a paternalistic way.
96
What was the ideology of Thomas Malthus?
Malthus was an economist and demographics specialist who wrote 'An Essay on the Principle of Population' (1798). He argued that the Poor Law should be abolished so that people would stop reproducing for the sake of receiving more relief. This would allow for an influx in wages because employers would no longer have to fund poor rates.
97
What was the ideology of David Ricardo?
An economist who wrote 'On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation' (1817). He argued that an iron law of wages stood whereby poor relief and wages were sourced from the same fund, so if too much was spent on poor relief, too little was available for wages so poverty was an endless cycle. Poor laws ought therefore be abolished to leave enough money to pay workers.
98
What was the ideology of Thomas Paine?
He was a republican writer who wrote 'The Rights of Man' (1791).
He thought that a property tax should be imposed upon the affluent to fund support systems for the deserving poor. He thought able-bodied paupers should go to workhouses to receive relief.
99
What was the ideology of Robert Owen?
He was a radical factory owner in New Lanark, Scotland. He blamed capitalist economics for poverty and the abuse of the factory system.
He thought fair co-operative communities should be established to give workers the incentive to work. This would allow the abolishment of the Poor Law and provision for solely the impotent poor.
He presented an example of this at his New Lanark cotton mill and model village. He imposed a 10.5 hour working day, accident/illness pay, free compulsory education to age 10, subsidied goods through a local shop and the banning of corporal punishment. His profits grew as a result.
100
Define utilitarianism.
This was the idea that society should be organised so that policies bring about the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people.
101
What was Bentham's attitude to poor relief?
It was a central government responsibility, so a government minister should be appointed to inspect and monitor workhouses.
Outdoor relief should be abolished and people would have to source relief within workhouses, where Lowe's principle of less eligibility would be upheld.
No distinction between the 'deserving' and the 'undeserving' poor as all paupers were destitute so automatically worthy of relief.
102
What was the name of the group of men that Bentham's ideology inspired and what was their aim?
The Philosophical Radicals, whose aim it was to overhaul all of Britain's laws and institutions.
103
Why did Bentham's utilitarian ideology follow that a reform of the Poor Law system would be necessary?
A starving underclass would lead to revolution, which would threaten the wealth and property of the majority, causing their unhappiness. It was therefore necessary that the poor relief system be reformed to make as many people as possible happy.
104
Who was Jeremy Bentham?
Jeremy Bentham was a philosopher and social reformer who developed the theory of utilitarianism.
He later proved an influence to John Stewart Mill and Edwin Chadwick.
105
Why did the government take action in 1832?
1831 - new government: Whig majority.
Lord Chancellor, Lord Brougham, was a Benthamite who responded to a general consensus among the propertied classes for poor relief in outlining that the issue was to be discussed in parliament.
February 1832 - Lord Althorpe (chancellor of the exchequer) claimed that a Royal Commission was to be set up to look into poor law administration.
