Poverty and Pauperism

Question 1

To carry out the poor law amendment act 1834, the central board had to included what?

Answer 1

any parishes they thought were suitable for recommendation concerning the management of workhouses

Question 2

New workhouses were only to be built?

Answer 2

if necessary

Question 3

Annually, commissioners had to do what?

Answer 3

give a report to relevant secretaries on how well the act is working

Question 4

Conditions in the workhouses were less appealing, why?

Answer 4

they were meant to discourage applicants

Question 5

Anyone who refused to accept the workhouse life was deemed to have what?

Answer 5

failed the workhouse test

Question 6

The central authority that was created by the act was known as what?

Answer 6

the poor law commissioners

Question 7

Who was made secretary of commission?

Answer 7

Edwin Chadwick

Question 8

How many commissioners were there, and how many assistance commissioners were there?

Answer 8

3 commissioners

9 assistance commissioners

Question 9

What did the commissioners do?

Answer 9

they ensured that all central decisions were carried out around the country

Question 10

Which practice before 1934 was to be restricted and eventually abolished?

Answer 10

the practice of providing self relief to able-bodied paupers outside the workhouse

Question 11

Why were they going to abolish self relief?

Answer 11

to ensure that those who failed the workhouse test would not be entitled to any poor relief.

Question 12

Under the old Poor law, how many parishes had been responsible for the relief of poverty in the area?

Answer 12

15,000 parishes

Question 13

The PLAA started to amalgamate parishes into groups of how many?

Answer 13

30

Question 14

What was intended to be banned?

Answer 14

outdoor relief

Question 15

Relief was handed out at the discretion of who?

Answer 15

the local guardians

Question 16

Relief was often granted, even to who?

Answer 16

people who had a house

Question 17

Why was providing outdoor relief the better option?

Answer 17

cheaper, workhouses were incredibly expensive to run

Question 18

By 1862, how much did it cost to keep a pauper?

Answer 18

4s 8d

Question 19

By 1862, how much did it cost to provide outdoor relief per week?

Answer 19

2s 3d

Question 20

Why was there significant employment opportunities in the north?

Answer 20

because of growing industries

Question 21

Why did guardians resist demands to build expensive workhouses?

Answer 21

because poverty works on a cycle based on seasonal employment, and fluctuations in the economy

Question 22

How much did it cost to pen a workhouse at Banbury?

Answer 22

£6200

Question 23

Where would the need for outdoor relief be needed the most?

Answer 23

in rural areas where poor rate had been consistently higher.

Question 24

How much is it believed that indoor relief costs more than out door relief?

Answer 24

50-100%

Question 25

Why did the PLAA not achieve success?

Answer 25

because there were such diverse attitudes across the country, it also didn’t reduce the issue of pauperism.

Question 26

What else caused the downfall of the PLAA?

Answer 26

significant loopholes which allowed local guardians to act contrary to the law

Question 27

The level of opposition in Yorkshire and Lancashire allowed what by 1838?

Answer 27

Allowed the poor law commission to use old methods should the need arise (i.e. allow outdoor relief)

Question 28

Why did many paupers feel that the law was not applicable to them, and why did they ignore it?

Answer 28

because the Lae was not applied consistently across the country?

Question 29

What did the board of Guardians rule that all unmarried mothers should wear?

Answer 29

a yellow stripe as a symbol of shame

Question 30

How were the workers of the Andover workhouse treated badly?

Answer 30

the inmates were systematically underfed, even children’s milk was watered down

Question 31

What did M’Dougal do to the women?

Answer 31

he drank heavily and assaulted the women, his 17 year old son was accused of sexual abuse too

Question 32

What was the punishment for children who had wet the bed?

Answer 32

they were flogged for bed wetting

Question 33

Why did M’Dougal give inmates reduced rations

Answer 33

so that he could buy extra food for his family

Question 34

Why was bone crushing a bad job?

Answer 34

it was unpleasant and unhygienic, workers were scraping out the bone marrow because they were so hungry

Question 35

What did children eat at Andover due to being so hungry?

Answer 35

raw potato scraps that had been thrown out for the pigs

Question 36

Where would M’Dougal make inmates spend the night as punishment?

Answer 36

in the mortuary

Question 37

Why was M’Dougal forced to resign and what was his punishment?

Answer 37

he was under investigation, he didn’t receive any punishment

Question 38

Who wrote Oliver Twist in 1837?

Answer 38

Charles Dickens

Question 39

Which magazine was Oliver Twist first published in?

Answer 39

Bentley’s Miscellany

Question 40

Who published a self help book in 1859 which talked about the importance of thrift and industry, placing individual determination to improve oneself as the single most important element in achieve success?

Answer 40

Samuel Smile

Question 41

Who’s work which was published in 1843, drew attention to the growing class divide within Britain by describing the workhouses as “Poor Law Prison”?

Answer 41

Thomas Carlyle

Question 42

What was the name of Thomas Carlyle’s work?

Answer 42

“Past and Present”

Question 43

What did Henry Mayhew’s empirical work produce?

Answer 43

a 4-volume work which catalogued in more than 2 million word the experiences of Britain poor

Question 44

What did Henry Mayhew’s work show?

Answer 44

it showed how insufficient wages made people dependent upon relief.

Question 45

What did meticulous research find?

Answer 45

showed that the poor wanted to earn their way out but were unable to do so

Question 46

What did the research force?

Answer 46

• Forced middle class Victorians to consider an alternative about how to treat the poor and led growth in charity work.

Question 47

Who’s book “Mary Barton, published in 1848, contributed to growing awareness of poverty and showed the lives of the working class and their difficult existence named the smokestacks of Manchester?

Answer 47

Elizabeth Gaskell

Question 48

What did Elizabeth Gaskell’s work offer?

Answer 48

offered a realistic impression of the poor classes in Britain