Impact And Effectiveness Of The Poor Law Amendment Act

Question 1

Provisions of the new poor law

Answer 1

Setting up a central authority, the poor law commission to oversee the new legislation
Grouping parishes together and establishing a workhouse within each cluster that was to be the main source of relief
Less eligibility
Discouraging outdoor relief for able bodied poor

Question 2

Poor law commission

Answer 2

3 commissioners who were in charge of the management of the new poor law
Their remit included setting the new parish unions that were established the new workhouses and also appointing boards of guardians to help run the parishes

Question 3

Who were the 3 commissioners

Answer 3

Thomas frankland Lewis, George Nichols and J.G slaw lefeure

Question 4

Speenhamland systems

Answer 4

System of wages of a single male applicant being made up to the cost of three loafs of bread

Question 5

Less eligibility

Answer 5

The workhouses was made to be less comfortable tan those who chose to stay outside

Question 6

How many larger unions was there

Answer 6

Organised 15000 existing parishes into 600 larger unions

Question 7

By 1839 how many workhouses were built

Answer 7

350 workhouses - were very expensive such as the workhouse in Banbury which houses 300 people but costed £6200
Therefore there was a desire to keep the running cost low m

Question 8

Conditions in the workhouses

Answer 8

Inmates typically worked a 10 hour day excluding breaks for meals and prayers and there was no spare time

Question 9

The spike in Guildford

Answer 9

Inmates were made to break stones to use in road building

Question 10

What were the inmates given in return

Answer 10

They would receive a bed and a basic diet of breads, cheese and gruel while to drink all they had was water

Question 11

Uniform

Answer 11

Had to wear the same uniform so liek prisoners

Question 12

Expense

Answer 12

The expense of running a workhouse and maintaining those in it was far more expensive than giving relief to those on the outside
By 1862 it would cost 4s 8d to keep a pauper in an institution but only 2s 3d to maintain a pauper on outdoor relief

Question 13

Tories objection

Answer 13

Objected the centralised nature of this new system, particularly the co-ordination of the new legislation by the boards of guardians who felt it undermined the existing independence of the local magistrates - fearful of the increasing role of government in affairs

Question 14

The times

Answer 14

Came out publicly against the act of 30th April 1834 and ran an ongoing debate with the morning chronicle

Question 15

William cobbett

Answer 15

Objected on the grounds that the act removed the ‘right’ to relief by making those recipients feel like criminals

Question 16

Riots

Answer 16

Initial opposition came from rural areas such as east anglia which experienced a series of riots in 1835
In may the parish union of ampthill in Bedfordshire saw a particularly violent riot involving 300-500 people

Question 17

Riot act

Answer 17

Result of the ampthill riot resulted in the riot being used to prosecute 4 men

Question 18

Why did the riots fail

Answer 18

Weren’t well organised or united in their efforts

Question 19

Northern reaction

Answer 19

The act had no relevance or need as it didn’t suit the cyclical pattern of work: when in economic decline the workers would be temporarily layed off but this always recovered and therefore out door relief was better suited to the north and the expensive fo the workhouse wasn’t deemed necessary

Question 20

Michael Sadler and Richard oastler

Answer 20

Tory radical reformers who had been prominent campaigners for the ten hour act inthe 1830s - gave the campaign in the north a more organised means

Question 21

Yorkshire and Lancashire

Answer 21

Great support who campaigned through public speeches and printed articles which played on the emotive fears of people

Question 22

Book of murder

Answer 22

Circulated in the 1830’s and intended to incite opposition by suggesting that the poor law commission was considering infanticide to reduce the cost of poor relief - fictitious

Question 23

Riots in the north

Answer 23

1837 in Bradford and then in 1838 dewsbury and todmorden following a trade depression.

Question 24

How was the northern opposition more threatening

Answer 24

Due to the alliance between the middle and working class which encroached on the authority of the board of guardians

Question 25

What did the poor law commission decide in 1838

Answer 25

Allowed the board of guardians to continue giving outdoor relief in the traditional manner and so acknowledged the independence of the union in deciding upon their own circumstances