Impact And Effectiveness Of The Poor Law Amendment Act Flashcards
Provisions of the new poor law
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
Poor law commission
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
Who were the 3 commissioners
Thomas frankland Lewis, George Nichols and J.G slaw lefeure
Speenhamland systems
System of wages of a single male applicant being made up to the cost of three loafs of bread
Less eligibility
The workhouses was made to be less comfortable tan those who chose to stay outside
How many larger unions was there
Organised 15000 existing parishes into 600 larger unions
By 1839 how many workhouses were built
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
Conditions in the workhouses
Inmates typically worked a 10 hour day excluding breaks for meals and prayers and there was no spare time
The spike in Guildford
Inmates were made to break stones to use in road building
What were the inmates given in return
They would receive a bed and a basic diet of breads, cheese and gruel while to drink all they had was water
Uniform
Had to wear the same uniform so liek prisoners
Expense
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
Tories objection
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
The times
Came out publicly against the act of 30th April 1834 and ran an ongoing debate with the morning chronicle
William cobbett
Objected on the grounds that the act removed the ‘right’ to relief by making those recipients feel like criminals
Riots
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
Riot act
Result of the ampthill riot resulted in the riot being used to prosecute 4 men
Why did the riots fail
Weren’t well organised or united in their efforts
Northern reaction
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
Michael Sadler and Richard oastler
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
Yorkshire and Lancashire
Great support who campaigned through public speeches and printed articles which played on the emotive fears of people
Book of murder
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
Riots in the north
1837 in Bradford and then in 1838 dewsbury and todmorden following a trade depression.
How was the northern opposition more threatening
Due to the alliance between the middle and working class which encroached on the authority of the board of guardians
What did the poor law commission decide in 1838
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
