Entrance Exams: Poor Relief After 1834 Flashcards
By 1862 how much did indoor relief cost in comparison to outdoor relief
Costs 4s 8d to keep a pauper in an institution
2s 3D to maintain a pauper on outdoor relief
When was outdoor relief ended
1844 led to opposition in the north as the workhouses didn’t fit the cyclical structure of their poverty
Andover workhouse scandal
1846
Inmates were kept on the edge of starvation so resorted to eating meat left on the bones they had to crush
Those who entered the workhouse were treated like criminals
Led to the poor law commission being dissolved and replaced by a poor law board in 1847
Utilitarianism: Jeremy Bentham
Wanted a national charity organisation to deal with the poor and create industry houses
His ideas were fed through Edwin Chadwick who was opposing Ed as poor law commission secretary
Robert Owen
Advocated for treating people and then they would help themselves
Self help
In response to high levels of pauperism and a desire to replace responsibility to the paupers themselves
Samuel smiles - publication of self help in 1859
Growth of charity
A result of the end of outdoor relief and philanthropic enterprises
Charity organisation 1869 - distinguished between the ‘deserving and ‘undeserving’ poor.
Gave a chance for affluent women to participate in public affairs
Ideas of less eligibility
Made poor relief so harsh that only the most destitute and those truly unable to help themselves would apply for it
Sepearted families
In return for 10hour work day they would receive a bed and a basic diet
Example of less eligibility
The spike in Guildford where inmates were made to break stones all day
How did less eligibility change
Attitudes towards the poor changed so by the end of the period they were treated better then at the start
Thomas Carlyle
‘Past and Present’ published in 1843 referred to workhouses as ‘poor law prison
The Lancet
In 1865 the medical journal undertook a medical investigation of London workhouses
Impacts of the Andover workhouse scandal
Led to the poor law commission being dissolved and replaced by a poor law board in 1847
Reported by the editor of the times so exposed the realities
Poor law commission
Organised 15000 existing parishes into 600 larger unions to allow for larger workhouses to be built
Guardians of the poor law
Responsible for finding funds to build new workhouses : funds were raised through the poor rate: by 1839 330 workhouses had been built .
Evaluation of the growth of charity
Appeals to the middle class as a way to help the poor without paying as much poor rate Helps affluent women move into the public sphere
Political party opposition to the poor law
Tories objected to the centralised nature of this new system particularly the co-ordination of the new legislation by boards of guardians.
How did The Times oppose the act
30th April 1834 ran an ongoing debate on the legislation with the morning chronicle
Money or blood riots
May 1835 in Bedfordshire rioters demanded ‘money or blood’
Which resulted in 4 men being arrested
Another similar event in Suffolk
Were prompted by the removal of outdoor relief
Reaction in the south
By 1836 the workhouses were well established as the riots that took place weren’t well organised and lack of co-ordination between riots
Reaction in the north
MP’s Michael Sadler and Richard Oastler were prominent in the earlier factory reform and gave the north a more organised means
The new poor law didn’t address the norths needs
After 1837 economic depression the north reacted aggressively when they were denied the relief they needed -riots in Bradford and Dewsbury
Middle class reaction in the north
Outraged by the more interventionist act
And formed an alliance with the w/c
Lead to the board of guardians being allowing to continue giving outdoor relief in 1838 .
Cost of poor relief
Speenhamland system encouraged landowners to make money out of the low wages that were supplemented by poor relief
Dependence on poor relief grew from industrialisation
Scandals were a consequence of cost saving that was written into the act e.g Andover workhouse scandal
