Opposition To The Poor Law Flashcards
What nickname was given to the workhouses
Bastilles
What influenced the nickname bastilles
The french revoloution
Give two reasons the workhouses were repellant to the poor
Threatening and strict regime, situation some distance from the applicants home
What rumour’s circulated 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 workhouses make no distinction between the deserving and undeserving poor
Everyone was thrown together in the same workhouse
Why did commission proposals to move unemployed labourers to the north in 1835-7 create outrage
Labourers argued that it was part of a government plan to drive down wages
Why did the poor law overseers oppose the new system
To protect 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
Industrial work put many workers out of a job for short period of time and then workhouses would stand empty
Why did Richard Oastler oppose the new poor law
He believed that it would break up society
Why was John Walter singled out for criticism
He was a Berkshire magastraigte paying generous outdoor relief and he opposed the new poor law in the times.
Why were influential land owners shocked
At the power of the new commissioner
How did opposition manifest itself in the rural areas of Britain
Riot and disorder in the south e.g. Amersham riot act 1835, Kent 1835, East Anglia 1844
How did opposition manifest itself in urban areas of Britain
More violent than rural areas, Huddersfield 1837 opposion 6-7 thousand riot, Oastler refused to read the riot act, violent protests in Bradford 1837, and Dewsbury 1838
