Poverty and Pauperism, 1785-1870

Question 1

What was the Speenhamland System

Answer 1

An allowance to subsidise low wages, started in 1795

Wages were topped up to the value of 3 loaves of break (4 1/2 loaves if the worker had a family)

Question 2

Where was the Speenhamland system first implemented, and why

Answer 2

Berkshire

The Berkshire magistrates feared the impoverished conditions of workers (resulting from some being displaced due to enclosure and the French War in 1793 cutting off grain imports) could lead to revolution

Question 3

When was the Speenhamland System abolished

Answer 3

In 1834 by act of parliament

Question 4

What was the difference between ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor

Answer 4

‘Deserving’ poor were impoverished due to factors outside of their control, e.g. recession

‘Undeserving’ poor were impoverished due to factors under their control, e.g. laziness

Question 5

Who administered poor rates (prior to 1834), and when was this early system formalised

Answer 5

‘Overseers of the Poor’, under the authority of the local Justice of the Peace

This system was formalised with the 1818 Act for the Regulation of Parish Vestries, as well as the 1819 Act to Amend the Laws for Relief of the Poor, which created parish committees, elected by rate-payers, to distribute poor relief

Question 6

How much was spent on poor relief between 1814-1818

Answer 6

£6.4 million per year, on average

Question 7

What was the link between the Swing Riots (1830) and the Speenhamland system

Answer 7

The Swing riots were most prevalent in places where the Speenhamland System was widely used

This is as farmers were often given lower wages, since they were topped up by poor relief

Question 8

How much was poor relief expenditure between 1815 and 1834

Answer 8

2% of GNP

This amounted to over £5.7 million a year

Question 9

What was Ricardo’s ‘wage fund theory’

Answer 9

Suggested there was a fixed fund at any given time for wages so if workers wanted an increase in wages, it would come at the expense of other workers’ wages

This theory was popular amongst ratepayers and the middle class

Question 10

Between 1819 and 1823, how much did the cost of poor relief change per capita

Answer 10

From 11s 7d to 9s 2d after 1824.

The large number of low-paid workers meant the cost of poor relief was still high

Question 11

When was the Poor Employment Act, and what did it do

Answer 11

The Poor Employment Act in 1817 made public money available to employ able-bodied paupers in public works projects

Question 12

What did Malthus believe about poor relief

Answer 12

Malthus believed poor relief artificially increases the population without acting to increase the quantity of food

This would lead to price inflation and low wages, hurting those who work hard

What an arse.

Question 13

Summarise the arguments of individualism on poor-relief

Answer 13

Poverty may come from the poor’s short sighted nature

The Poor Laws kept the poor poor as they reduced incentives.

Abolition would lead to higher wages with less taxes for landlords

Otherwise, population would increase and starvation would follow

Question 14

What did Robert Owen argue about poor relief

Answer 14

Poverty comes from the market mechanism inadvertently keeping man poor.

Workers should work cooperatively, without ulterior incentive, and should get education

Mechanisation reduces the amount of Labour needed

Question 15

Summarise the arguments of Collectivism on poor relief

Answer 15

The economic system itself was responsible for impoverishment

The poor laws were inadequate in aid

Land Tax to help the poor (based)

A rudimentary social security system

Question 16

What did Jeremy Bentham argue about poor relief

Answer 16

Human action is determined by the pursuit of pleasure and escape from pain

As such, we should pursue to maximise total happiness for the greatest number

Policy must thusly be pragmatic at most, ruthlessly logical at best

Question 17

Summarise the arguments of Utilitarianism

Answer 17

A National Charity Company, entrusted with responsibility to the nations poor

Panopticon prison model which would bring in those who couldn’t care for themselves

Any assistance should be no greater than reasonable, so workers don’t stay and can leave with their own incentive to achieve

Utilitarianism was not cruel, but rather a logical response to the assertation of maximising utility

Question 18

What percentage of people in the North received poor relief compared to the South between 1802 and 1803

Answer 18

10% of the North received relief, compared to 23% of those in the South.

Main reason was low wages, roughly 12s per week

Question 19

Who led the Royal Commission into poor relief, when was this, and what did they do

Answer 19

Established in 1832, with nine commissioners including Nassau Senior and Edwin Chadwick

Aimed to find information about the workings of the Poor Law and make recommendations

Questionnaires sent to 15,000 parishes, but only 10% were returned

Question 20

What were Select Vestries and why were they corrupt

Answer 20

Groups of parishes which administered poor relief, and could be corrupt as relief went towards vested interests

This can be seen in Morpeth, which gave money to a local pub in the interest of beer sales

Question 21

What did the Poor Law Amendment Act (PLAA) of 1834 do

Answer 21

Workhouses were to be designed to be less appealing than those conditions enjoyed by the poorest labourers. Anyone who refused to accept workhouse life ‘failed the workhouse test’.

The practice of providing relief to able-bodied paupers outside the workhouse was to be restricted, and those who failed the workhouse test would not be entitled to any poor relief

Question 22

How was the PLAA administered

Answer 22

Run by the Poor Law Commission, which itself was run by 3 commissioners and 9 assistants whose job was to ensure all central decisions were carried out across the country. Chadwick was made secretary to the Commission, and was bitter he wasn’t in charge.

Question 23

How did the PLAA have local parishes give relief

Answer 23

The PLAA amalgamated parishes into groups of about 30, known as unions, each managed by a board of guardians

Each parish had at least one representative. The parish union was responsible for their workhouse

Question 24

How expensive was workhouse relief per week compared to outdoor relief by 1862

Answer 24

4s 8d to keep a pauper in an institution

2s 3d to provide outdoor relief

Question 25

How did the Poor Rate (the tax) operate when the economy was good

Answer 25

When the economy was strong, the Poor Rate was often lowered due to plentiful jobs being available

Question 26

How much did it cost to open a workhouse at Banbury, in the north

Answer 26

It cost £6200 to open a workhouse in Banbury, which was seen as excessive in many northern towns where it might be empty for much of the year when the economy was good

Question 27

When was the PLAA first reformed and why

Answer 27

Opposition to indoor relief in Yorkshire and Lancashire meant that by 1838, the Poor Law Commission allowed the use of old Poor Law methods should the need arise

Question 28

What were some positives for children in workhouses

Answer 28

• In some (emphasis on some) cases, children would be taught Geography and Maths at a level higher than some other schools
• Babies of mothers would be taken care of in specially made nurses, and kept clean and safe

Question 29

When was the Andover workhouse built and who was in charge

Answer 29

Built in 1836

A board of guardians was selected under the chairmanship of Reverend Dodson

The master of the workhouse was ex sergeant major Colin M’Dougal.

Question 30

When was the Andover Workhouse scandal, and how was it leaked

Answer 30

In 1845, one of the guardians, Hugh Mundy, informed Ralph Etwall, MP for Andover, of the conditions in the workhouse.

Etwall raised the issue in the House of Commons, the Times carried news of the scandal, and an investigation was ordered

Question 31

What was life like in the Andover Workhouse

Answer 31

• M’Dougal drank heavily and sexually assaulted female inmates. His 17 year old son was accused of sexual abuse too
• Inmates given reduced rations so M’Dougal could buy extra for his family
• Bone crushing used as a job, inmates scraped out the bone marrow because they were so hungry
• One punishment was to make inmates spend a night in the mortuary

Question 32

What was M’Dougal ‘s punishment for his actions

Answer 32

Following an investigation, M’Dougal was forced to resign but received no further punishment

Question 33

What happened in the case of the Amersham Union in Buckinghamshire, May 1835

Answer 33

Paupers were being moved from Chesham to a new workhouse in Amersham, seen as a Bastille

The paupers rioted, but this was broken by the yeomanry and police reading the riot act.

Similar cases in Kent, Spring 1835, and East Anglia, 1844, but they failed

Question 34

What happened in Bradford and Dewsbury

Answer 34

Violent protests in Bradford, October 1837, and Dewsbury, 1838.

The Bradford riot was quelled only by the aid of troops who opened fire on the protestors (no fatalities)

Question 35

What did John Fielden do in Todmorden

Answer 35

The radical MP closed his factory in protest of the election of the guardians and refused to pay his poor rates.

His workers rallied to his aid when the board attempted to enforce payment and they proceeded to attack the homes of the guardians. Troops called in.

Question 36

Who publicised the Andover workhouse scandal

Answer 36

Chief editor of the Times, John Walter

Question 37

How did the government reform following the Andover workhouse scandal

Answer 37

In 1847, the Poor Law Commission was abolished and replaced with the Poor Law Board.

Several cabinet ministers sat on the Board and the president of the board was also an MP

This shifted perception away from 1834, so instead of the focus being deterrence of laziness, there was a greater feeling of social responsibility

Question 38

Which workhouse scandal followed the Andover workhouse scandal

Answer 38

Huddersfield in 1848

Question 39

Which groups added to argument for better treatment for the poor after the Andover scandal

Answer 39

The scandal illustrated how different groups thought poverty should be dealt with differently; non-conformist churches promoted this view

The Workhouse Visiting Society, founded in 1858, carried out unofficial checks on workhouses and added to the argument for better treatment of the poor

Question 40

What did journalist Henry Mayhew do

Answer 40

Henry Mayhew published a four volume work called ‘London Labour and the London Poor’ in 1849, containing 2 million words, and detailing the experiences of the Britain’s poor.

Concluded that wages were too low for many to deal with fluctuations in the economy.

This challenged the belief that poverty was caused by idleness

Question 41

What book did Samuel Smiles publish

Answer 41

‘Self Help’, 1859, sold 250,000 copies

Detailed the importance of thrift and industry, placing individual determination to improve oneself as the single most important element in achieving success

Question 42

What did Elizabeth Gaskell publish

Answer 42

Her book “Mary Barton”, 1848, detailed the lives of working class people in a smog filled Manchester

Offered a realistic impression of the poor classes in Britain

Question 43

What did Thomas Carlyle publish

Answer 43

‘Past and Present’, 1843, drew attention to the growing class divide

He was most interested in the spiritual growth of the country, used the treatment of the poor as an example of how far removed from one another society had become

He was well read by middle class reformers

Question 44

Which periodical did Charles Dickens publish from 1837-1839

Answer 44

Oliver Twist, which showed the life of a boy in a workhouse and the conditions he lived in

Question 45

Which laws followed the Andover Workhouse scandal

Answer 45

1852 - Outdoor Relief Regulation Order imposed uniformity on the system, and the majority of unions were allowed to replace the workhouse with outdoor labour (this may be due to how Lord Palmerston did not want Ship builders to be displeased from their seasonal work seeing them in a workhouse)

1855 - Union Chargeability Act passed responsibility for funding poor relief on the Union instead of the Parish

Question 46

What did the Charity Organisation Society do

Answer 46

founded in the 1869, the society sought to distinguish deserving and undeserving poor

Born out of fear people too dependent on charity

Question 47

Who was Angelina Boudett-Couts and what did she do

Answer 47

Richest woman in Britain

Founded a home for poor woman called Urania Cottage

Question 48

What was the 1842 Outdoor Labour Test Order, and why was it ineffective

Answer 48

Sought to allow the continuation of outdoor relief

Many unions continued to ignore the orders

By 1844, the Outdoor Relief Prohibitory Order brought an end to this provision

Question 49

How many workhouses were built between 1851 and 1866

Answer 49

100 were built, to add to the 402 that had been built following the 1834 PLAA

Question 50

What hospital was set up in 1793, and who was it for

Answer 50

The first Foundling Hospital set up in 1793 to care for abandoned children

This fact technically comes from the slavery book but I don’t care, it’s good