LAST MINITE POOR LAW INFO: Flashcards

1
Q

Figured- population of U.K. 1801, 1851,1901

A

-In 1801 the population of England, Wales and Scotland was around 10.5 million. By 1851 it had doubled to 20 million, 1901 doubled again to 45 million

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2
Q

What could you argue about the settlement laws?

A

-the fact that the government passed the settlement laws suggests they wouldn’t create something which would combat their own system of relief- old poor law

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3
Q

What did MP William Cobbett say about the swing riots? How many riots? What were the consequences?

A
  • openly spoke about violence in towns like Rye and Hastings
  • there was riots in 20 counties across southern and Eastern England
  • harsh- 400 transported to Australia, 644 imprisoned
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4
Q

-Parliamentary response to the swing riots:

A
  • Home Secretary Lord Melbourne demonstrated fear ordering them to be dealt with harshly- 19 rioters sentenced to death
  • attacks specifically against MPs eg: John Bennett who had a harsh allowance system for poor relief. Felt threatened as local farmers were invited to a vestry meeting where grievance was discussed and resolved- demonstrates a big parliamentary influence- power with the people
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5
Q

What was issue with Elizabethan poor law?

A

-“nobody could come up with an answer to the question of how to deter the idle without penalising the defenceless”

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6
Q

Insanity in the Workhouse:

A
  • ‘The Workhouse Howl’
  • 45,000 moved from workhouses to asylums- didn’t know what to do with them
  • mentally ill grew from 1 per 100 in the Workhouse to 1 per 8 as century progressed
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7
Q

What was the impact of the First World War on indoor and outdoor relief?

A

1914-1919:

  • indoor paupers dropped 100,000
  • outdoor relief decreased 285,000-lowest figure for 2 centuries
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8
Q

What was the Anatomy Act 1832?

A

The Anatomy Act provided for the needs of physicians, surgeons, and students by giving them legal access to corpses that were unclaimed after death – in particular, corpses of those who had died in hospital, prison, or a workhouse.
-‘crime’ of poverty made their bodies permitted to be dissected

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9
Q

Goodlad’s argument:

A
  • as attitudes in 20th century changed, proved impossible to craft modern welfare state on the structures of the 19th century
  • Benthamite ideal of bureaucratic centralism remained a ideal rather than a reality
  • Workhouse characterised by an all-pervading psychological harshness
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10
Q

What was Dr Banardo’s school for children?

A
  • In 1870, Barnardo opened his first home for boys. As well as putting a roof over their heads, the home trained the boys in carpentry, metalwork and shoemaking, and found apprenticeships for them.
  • To begin with, there was a limit to the number of boys who could stay there. But when an 11-year-old boy was found dead — of malnutrition and exposure — two days after being told the shelter was full, Barnardo vowed never to turn another child away.

-Barnardo’s work was radical. The Victorians saw poverty as shameful, and the result of laziness or vice. But Barnardo refused to discriminate between the ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor. He accepted all children, regardless of race, disability or circumstance.
Barnardo believed that every child deserved the best possible start in life, whatever their background. This philosophy still guides the charity today

  • By the time he died in 1905, the charity had 96 homes caring for more than 8,500 vulnerable children. This included children with physical and learning difficulties. Barnardo’s experience of caring for his daughter Marjorie, who had Down’s syndrome, strongly influenced his approach to the care of disabled children.
  • As early as 1887 he introduced the practice of ‘boarding out’ children to host families – an early form of fostering. By 1905 more than 4000 children were boarded out. This paved the way for our pioneering work in foster care and adoption in the twentieth century.
  • Barnardo’s was one of many children’s charities that sent some children to start a new life in Australia or Canada
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11
Q
  1. 6- ‘fighters for the poor’:

- Who was Martha Loane? Olive Malvery? Mrs Mary Higgs?

A
  • By 1914 women became social investigators of their own also seeking to alleviate the plight of Britain’s Edwardian underclass
  • before 1900 women had been largely in represented such as Beatrice Webb, Octavia Hill or Clara Collett who assisted Booth in his survey- “Life and Labour of the people of London”
  • all 3 of these women raised awareness of social deprivation in Edwardian Britain and were held in high regard at the time

1) Martha Loane (1852-1933):
- Queen’s nurse
- published 5 nursing handbooks and commentaries and 6 books between 1905-1911 eg: “The Queen’s poor”
- focused on all aspects of working class life but particularly women and children
- raises awareness on the complexities of poverty
- produces authentic, anecdotal evidence which spoke frankly, had privileged access to poor and unique access to poor- trust developed

2) Olive Malvery (1877-1914):
- also focused on women and children and their need for protection
- co-wrote “The White Slave Market” which campaigned against the procurement of women for foreign prostitution
- wrote many books eg: “The Soul Market” which became one of the most popular Edwardian work of social investigators- reprinted 11 times in 4 years
- took many low class jobs eg: factory, shop worker, barmaid…- able to convey what it felt like to be a low-paid, exploited woman in dangerous trades
- helped in Salvation Army Shelter and lodging houses
- gave some book proceeds to “Girls Guild of Good Life”

3) Mrs Mary Higgs (1854-1937):
- well educated
- earned an OBE
- Wrote books eg: 1905 “Five Days and Five Nights” and 1906 “Glimpses into the Abyss”
- set up woman hostels in Oldham which became widespread being replicated in many cities
- campaigned against vagrancy laws
- visited wards, lodging houses and disguised as a tramp
- lectured on social issues
- “cast iron system administered in a cast iron way”

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12
Q

How many parishes- Elizabethan poor law?

A

15,000 parishes in England and Wales

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13
Q

-When was the outbreak of the French Revolution?

A

-1789

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14
Q

What was other issues in Elizabethan poor law?

A
  • agrarian depression- reduced farm employment and increased in able-bodied applicants
  • American cotton crop failing
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15
Q

When was Knatchbull’s General Workhouse Act introduced?

A

-1723

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16
Q

How much higher was costs of indoor relief?

A

-4x higher than those of outdoor relief

17
Q

How much did poor rates increase 1802-1833?

A

-62%

18
Q

What was the decline in shipbuilding 1930-33? How many unemployed in 1932?

A
  • Reduced from 1.4 million tonnes to 133,000 tonnes

- 1932-3 million unemployed

19
Q

Where does Gregory suggest the connection of immoral behaviour and poverty is rooted?

A
  • religious beliefs

- 1907 eugenics society proposed voluntary sterilisation

20
Q

How many labour exchanges by 1914?

A

-450

21
Q

What does longmate suggest about the workhouses?

A
  • “in all the affairs of life there is no substitute for compassion”
  • human suffering is a high price for well managed administration
  • poverty is misfortune not a crime
  • authority in enclosed communities should always be surveyed
22
Q

How many friendly societies?

A

-Membership topped 2.7million by 1877.

23
Q

-statistic- indoor relief before 1834:

A

Provided relief to approx. 90,000 paupers;

24
Q

3.7- decline in other industries:

A

In 1929, British production of steel fell by 45%
and pig iron by 54%,
By 1938, the number of people employed in
Britain’s cotton industry had fallen by 50%.

25
Q

3.7- statistic - withdrawal of foreign investors:

A

Foreign investors had begun making withdrawals from London banks. (Between 15th July and 7th August 1931, £33 million in gold was withdrawn).

26
Q

Unemployment

Act 1934

A

Standardised unemployment payments by saying that
when a person’s 26 weeks entitlement had run out, they
would be means tested. Rates were set nationally and
could not be adjusted for local circumstances. Protests
meant this was not introduced until 1936.

27
Q

Iron and Steel
Federation
1932

A

Supervised the demolition of old, unprofitable works and

built new ones, this creating jobs.

28
Q

Special Areas

Act 1934

A

Applied to certain regions where unemployment was
high. The government financed projects in these areas.
This went some way towards creating new jobs. However,
by 1939 only 8500 were employed in this way.

29
Q

Shipowners’

Loans

A

Shipowners could apply for government loans that would
allow them to scrap old ships and build new ones. This
created work for unemployed shipyard workers.

30
Q

Gilbert 1782:

A
  • Parishes were allowed to combine to create ‘Unions’ if two-thirds of the poor ratepayers agreed.
  • Guardians were required to submit annual expenditure returns.
  • Ministers and churchwardens were required to provide information about local charities that also provided poor relief.
31
Q

Sturges-Bourne:

A
  • Set up a new voting system for those in the parish. When choosing the ‘overseers’ or ‘guardians, parishioners could vote, with their vote counting for more, if they had a higher status.
  • Added a resident clergyman to be a member of the vestry. This member of the clergy would decide, based on his knowledge of the parish, whether the poor were ‘deserving’ or ‘underserving’.
32
Q

-Parliamentary Reform Act 1867?

A
  • doubled electorate from 1 million to 2 million men
  • extended voting qualification to ‘respectable’ working class
  • pressure from radicals to democratise the election of guardians of the poor-favoured well to do ratepayers by allowing plural voting
  • increase franchise to working class- more aware of social welfare- new legislation eg: housing and public health
33
Q

Until what date were all meals in the Workhouse to be eaten in silence?

A

1842

34
Q

How much of the admissions did children take up of the Workhouse?

A

-25-40% of all admissions

35
Q

Give an example of a well run Workhouse:

A
  • Ashford, Kent
  • run by retired naval officer and wife
  • renowned for efficiency and compassion
  • commissioners used as a model of which to aspire
  • when master retired, paupers wept
36
Q

Name a cruel Workhouse master:

A
  • George Catch
  • went from Workhouse to Workhouse in London
  • ex-police
  • inflicted terror and cruelty
  • Boards of Guardians deliberately gave him good testimonials just to get rid of him
  • not until 1860s after life of corruption, murder and depravity did he take suicide under Great Western Railway
37
Q

What was the 1838 General Prohibitory Order?

A
  • government made concessions
  • set aside for Lancashire and West Riding Yorkshire
  • guardians allowed to administer relief to provisions of Elizabethan Poor Law 1601
  • discretion permitted to guardians negotiating local settlements
38
Q

What association was founded in London by Earl Stanhope?

A
  • The Metropolitan Anti-Poor Law Association

- little effect as few problems in industrial north east of England

39
Q

Were commissions priorities met successfully?

A

No

1) implemented unevenly
2) no insisting of removal of paupers under settlement laws preferred paying the ‘resident relief’ for whom they were responsible but lived elsewhere