How Extensive Was The Opposition To The Poor Law? Flashcards
What nickname were workhouses given?
Bastilles
What influenced this name?
The French Revolution
Give 2 reasons why workhouses were repellent to the poor?
Situated at some distance from home
Impersonal
Threatening strict regime
What rumours circulated about the workhouse?
They had been built as extermination centres for the poor
What did Thomas Malthus propose?
That population growth would outstrip food production
What was the ‘Book of Murder’
Anti-poor law propaganda based on 2 anonymous pamphlets which discussed the possibility of gassing pauper children to reduce the population
Why did the new workhouse make no distinctions between deserving and undeserving poor?
Everyone was thrown together in the same workhouse
Why did Commission proposals to move unemployed labourers to the north of England 1835-37 create outrage?
Labourers argued it was part of a government plan to drive down wages
Why did Old Poor Law Overseers oppose the new system, 3 reasons ?
To protect their existing powers
They believed they operated a successful and viable system in their own parish
Cost of building the workhouse would be expensive and unsustainable
Why were urban areas a special case?
Because industrial work put lots of workers out of work for short periods of time and then the workhouses would stand empty.
What was the problem in agriculture areas with the idea of workhouses?
Because outdoor relief cost about half of what a workhouse would cost
Why did Richard Oastler oppose the new poor law?
Because he said it would break up society
Why was John Walter singled out for criticism?
He was Berkshire magistrate paying generous outdoor relief who opposed the new Poor Law in the Times
Why were the influential landowners shocked?
At the power of the new commissions powers
How did opposition manifest itself in the rural areas of Britain?
Riot and disorder in the south Ie:
Amersham riot act 1835
Kent 1835
East Anglia 1844
How did the opposition manifest itself in the industrial areas of Britain?
More violent that rural areas ie:
Huddersfield 1837
Oastler refused to read the riot act
Violent protest also in Bradford 1837
Violent protest in Dewsbury 1838
Why did John fielden help the Anti-poor law campaign?
Radical MP
Good factory owner
Closed down his factory in protest at guardian elections
Refusing to pay poor rates
What conclusion can you draw about the Anti-poor Law Campaign?
Spontaneous reaction to maintain traditional rights
Factory towns (Lancashire + West Riding) having strong anti-poor law
Movement short lived
Evangelical Tories
Working class radicals
Chartism
