IN WHAT WAYS DID THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT SET ABOUT REFORMING THE POOR LAWS?

Question 1

What is the difference between the Royal Commission of Enquiry into the Poor Laws, the Poor Law Amendment Act and the Poor Law Commission?

Answer 1

• Royal Commission of Enquiry into the Poor Laws- (1832) investigated the operation of the Poor Laws across the country and made recommendations based on their findings.
• Poor Law Amendment Act- (1834) the actual bill passed by parliament reforming the poor relief system to make it more cost effective and efficient, reflecting the recommendations of the Royal Commission.
• Poor Law Commission- (1834) established the Act to implement and administer its reforms, but was independent of parliament.

Question 2

What was the main reason the government set about reforming the poor law?

Answer 2

• the rising costs of poor relief.

Question 3

When did Royal Commission on the Poor Laws begin its work?

Answer 3

• February 1832.

Question 4

How many Royal commissioners and assistant commissioners were there, what were their roles?

Answer 4

• 9 commissioners- compiled a report on the old Poor Law, consisting of recommendations.
• 26 assistant commissioners- collected and collated evidence.

Question 5

Who were the most influential Royal Commissioners and what were their views?

Answer 5

• Nassau Senior (Oxford Professor of Political Economy)- disapproved the allowance system.
• Edwin Chadwick (lawyer)- strong believer in utilitarianism.

Question 6

Why was the work of the Royal Commission flawed?

Answer 6

• questionnaires sent to parishes so commissioners could collect data- only 10% replied but this was still a large amount of information to sort through and was difficult to analyse.
• questions were ambiguous and open to interpretation, or skewed to lead parishes to give specific answers.
• findings were based on mass evidence which obscured the complexity of existing poor relief.
• the most influential commissioners had differing opinions so it would be difficult to make proposals.

Question 7

What area did most of the findings of the Royal Commission come from?

Answer 7

• southern England.

Question 8

What did the Royal Commission say about the old Poor Law?

Answer 8

• practices were corrupt.
• demoralised paupers.
• the old Poor Law was its self the cause of poverty.

Question 9

What were the views in the Royal Commission on poverty and indigene?

Answer 9

• poverty was necessary- it was part of the natural order.

* indigene- the inability to earn enough to live on was wrong.

Question 10

What were the Royal Commissioners feelings towards the impotent poor?

Answer 10

• (those who could not work) should be cared for in an appropriate way.

Question 11

What was the main problem faced by the Royal Commissioners in terms of able bodied paupers?

Answer 11

• the able bodied poor either could not or would not earn sufficient income to keep them selves from going into poverty.

Question 12

What did the Royal Commission recommend?

Answer 12

• separate workhouses for different pauper categories.
• parishes should be grouped into unions to provide workhouses.
• outdoor relief should stop.
• workhouses should run on the principle of less eligibility.
• a central authority should be established to enforce regulations on the workhouse system.

Question 13

What were the main aims of the new Poor Law policy?

Answer 13

• to reduce costs.
• improve efficiency.
• ensure only the genuinely destitute received relief.
• provide a national system of poor relief.

Question 14

When did the Poor Law Amendment Act come into force?

Answer 14

• 1834.

Question 15

What were the main terms of the Poor Law Amendment Act in 1834?

Answer 15

• a central authority was to supervise the administration of the Poor Law.
• parishes would be grouped into Poor Law unions to provide relief efficiently.
• each Poor Law union would make a workhouse following the less eligibility principle.
• outdoor relief for able-bodied paupers was discouraged, but not yet abolished.

Question 16

When was the Poor Law Commission made?

Answer 16

• 1834.

Question 17

How many Poor Law Commissioners were there and who were they?

Answer 17

• 3.
• Thomas Frankland Lewis- Tory MP was involved in Sturgess-Bourne Committee.
• George Nicholls- radical overseer from Nottinghamshire.
• John Shaw-Lefevre- lawyer and Whig MP.

Question 18

Who was the secretary of the Poor Law Commission?

Answer 18

• Edwin Chadwick- utilitarian lawyer.

Question 19

How many assistant Poor Law Commissioners were there and what was their role?

Answer 19

• 9 (number did vary over time.)

* made sure that decisions made centrally were implemented locally within the parishes.

Question 20

What were the problems that arose from the Poor Law Commission being independent of parliament?

Answer 20

• no one to represent it (and defend it) in parliament.
• it’s actions were answerable to no one.
• no backing from parliament to help enforce it.

Question 21

What were the priorities of the Poor Law Commission after 1834?

Answer 21

• transferring the out of work underemployed workers in rural areas to urban areas where employment was plentiful (industrial revolution.)
• protecting urban ratepayers from a sudden surge of demand from rural migrants when their regular employment stopped.

Question 22

What were the main ways of meeting the priorities of the Poor Law Commission?

Answer 22

• workhouses- intended to drive potential paupers to find work in towns and cities.
• settlement laws- poor rates would be kept low abs not call disproportionately on towns as seekers of relief would be returned to their home parish.

Question 23

What did the Poor Law Commissioners do to try to forbid outdoor relief for the able-bodied poor?

Answer 23

• 1830s- commission began issuing orders to specific unions in the rural south to stop outdoor relief.
• 1842- extended to rural north.
• 1844 General Outdoor Relief Prohibitory Order- applied to all unions forbidding outdoor relief to the able-bodied poor.

Question 24

Why was it difficult for the Poor Law Commissioners to completely forbid outdoor relief?

Answer 24

• creating unions and building/ adapting workhouses took time, so outdoor relief continued past 1834 where indoor relief wasn’t yet possible.
• outdoor relief was actually cheaper in most cases.
• Northern industrial towns- outdoor relief continued as the most common form of relief, as these areas were subject to cyclical unemployment, so workhouses would be half empty for most of the working year.

Question 25

What impact did the settlement laws have on the giving of relief after the Act?

Answer 25

• 1840- about 40,000 paupers had been removed from parishes they were living and claiming relief in, back to their parishes of settlement (by birth or marriage.)
• this was a costly process in both administrative terms, and in terms of human suffering.

Question 26

What theory was Edwin Chadwick a believer in?

Answer 26

• Utlitarianism.

Question 27

What roles did Chadwick uphold in reforming the poor laws?

Answer 27

• Royal Commission- started a an assistant commissioner, soon promoted to full commissioner. Wrote half of the final report, setting out recommendations with the principle of less eligibility being apparent throughout.
• Act- no direct involvement but some of his recommendations from his “Notes for the Heads of the Bill” were implemented.
• Poor Law Commission- appointed as secretary not commissioner, disappointed due to his efforts in previous aspects of the reforms. Lead to clashing with him and the commissioners, but was still influential and tried hard to endorse utilitarianism into the new Poor law.