poverty and pauperism Flashcards
when was the last major change to poor laws
when elizabeth I was queen in 1601 the Old Poor Law was established
the 1601 PL placed responsibility onto who to distribute the money?
the parishes who did it all individually
when were poorhouses introduced?
1723
how was it decided where you got poor relief from?
either born there, lived there for a year and a day, or if you were a women if your husband is from there
what was indoor relief?
it was when poorhouses were set up when you had nowhere else to go, in 1782 gilberts law was passed which said only sick, infirm or age impacted could be admitted
what was outdoor relief?
outdoor relief is where you can claim, food money or clothes if you needed help but could afford a house, mostly for people with inconsistent work
what was the speenhamland system?
an attempt at a more uniform system for outdoor relief started in speenhamland in berkshire and was based off of how much a loaf of bread cost and created uniformity across many parishes
what was the roundsman system?
it sold labour to local farmers and other employers at a reduced cost with the difference being made up by the parish
what were the laws passed in 1818 and 1819?
the act of regulation of parish vestries and the act to amend the laws for relief of the poor which allowed overseers of the poor to scrutinise the poor and their incomes
how effective was the old system?
- there was no coordination
- the population doubled so the system was hard to keep
- due to lack of foreign competition bread prices rose massively
- after the war with france all the soldiers came back home to find work and since there was little work they needed relief
- after the war with france britain entered an economic depression
- corn law
how was urban poor relief working?
between 1802-1803 10% in north received relief but in south 23%
what was the royal commission in 1832 for?
it investigated the current poor relief system to see if it was working
it was established on 1/2/1832 and had 9 commissioners including edwin chadwick and nassau senior
they gathered evidence using questionnaires sent out to 15 000 parishes but only received 10% response rate
what did the royal commission find?
they found that it was an ineffective system and that was apparently due to the lack of uniformity and hence caused excessive cost
it recommended
- removal of outdoor relief
- more punishing work house to deter
- grouping of parishes for uniformity
- creation of central board to oversee
what was the growing belief of the poor just before the 1834 law?
that there were two types of poor person, deserving and undeserving
deserving were elderly or sick or young people
undeserving were able bodied men or women who couldnt find work, even if they were just seen to be lazy
thomas malthus
criticised current relief system believing it to be too soft and that the only thing would to make it better is since food production was increasing linearly and population increasing exponentially then it would sort itself out but needed to be harsher on poor
