Unit 3.5 The Government, Self Help & Charity 1847-80

Question 1

Who started the rumour surrounding the Andover Workhouse?

Answer 1

The Chartists - men who wanted the right to vote - they created 20 other stories

Question 2

When was the Andover Poor Law Union created? How many Guardians was it overseen by?

Answer 2

1835 - overseen by 36 Guardians

Question 3

Info about the Andover Union Workhouse?

Answer 3

-used as a model of post-1834 Poor Law administration, it was praised in the Poor Law Commissions annual reports
-union abolished all outdoor relief and had the strictest regulations such as the strictest dietary regulation in their workhouse
-1836 - Colin M’Dougal and his wife became master and matron of the Andover workhouse - very trusted so inspections were infrequent
-rumours circulated that the conditions of the workhouse were too bad - beyond less eligibility

Question 4

What was the Andover Workhouse Scandal?

Answer 4

When rumours circulated in 1845 that the master and matron of the Andover workhouse were treating the paupers very poorly, this was investigated and was proven to be true
Some of the mistreatment included not feeding them, being sexually assaulted by the master and his son, and having to crush bones all day long

Question 5

What year were the matron and master of the Andover workhouse appointed? Names?

Answer 5

1837 - Colin M’Dougal and his wife

Question 6

How did the master and the matron of the Andover Workhouse treat inmates?

Answer 6

-The master was an ex sergeant major - fought at Waterloo in 1815, his wife was a ‘violent lady’ according to the Guardians
-The workhouse was ran like a penal colony, keeping expenditure and food rations to a minimum which was approved by the guardians
-Inmates ate with their fingers, denied extra food and drink that was provided elsewhere at Christmas
-Any man who tried to talk to his wife at mealtime was put into a refractory cell
-Crushing bones into fertiliser was the main job done by men - it was strenuous

Question 7

What did rumours suggest was happening in the workhouse? When?

Answer 7

-1845 - rumours spread that men in the workhouse bone yard were so hungry that they ate tiny scrapes of marrow and gristle attached to old bones
-fighting almost broke out when a succulent bone came their way

Question 8

What action did one of the Guardians take? Who was it?

Answer 8

-Guardian Hugh Mundy was concerned so raised the issue at a board meeting
-Other guardians weren’t so concerned but they did suspend bone crushing during hot weather
-He took the matter to the local MP, Thomas Wakeley who in August 1845, asked a question in parliament concerning the paupers of Andover who were quarrelling about bones and gnawed at meat
-Home Secretary promised to instigate an enquiry

Question 9

Who was the assistant poor law commissioner responsible for Andover Union?

Answer 9

Henry Parker

Question 10

What did the Assistant Commissioner for the Andover Union do? Why were his action unpopular?

Answer 10

-Henry Parker was dispatched to establish facts of matter
-He said that the allegations were true, he discovered inmates regularly given less than their due ration of bread
-The investigation results in M’Dougal resigning as master on the 29th September
-M’Dougal was to be replaced by the unemployed former master of the Oxford workhouse but the man was dismissed for misconduct so wasnt chosen to be his replacement
-Parker was forced to resign by the poor law commissioners in October - he was the scapegoat for the affair, they faced pressure from parliament, press and public

Question 11

What were the results of the Andover Committees investigation?

Answer 11

-November 1845 - the commissioners acknowledge the outcry against bone crushing by forbidding it
-March 1846 - Parliament select committee was set up to enquire into the administration of the Andover union
-Andover Commitee began to work and they revealed what witnesses said
-Such as, bone crushing was heavy work and gory, it smelt bad, broke backs, blistered hands and boys of eight or ten were set to it
-It came out that M’Dougal seduced young women inmates, so did his son
-Came out that they made Hannah Joyce carry her 5 month old dead babies coffin for a mile for an unceremonious burial

Question 12

What happened to the Poor Law Commission because of the Andover Workhouse scandal?

Answer 12

-The poor law board was created after the select committees report was published in two volumes in 1846
-It replaced the poor law commission and was more accountable to parliament
-Poor Law Board oversaw the parliament not the workhouse like the commission did

Question 13

What was the Poor Law Board?

Answer 13

-1847 - created as a replacement for the Poor Law Commission by the government
-It aimed to overhaul the weaknesses of the Poor Law Commission and increased government involvement
-Several Cabinet members who sat on the board were ex officio, the president of the board was an MP - had experience but had a lot of work to do so couldn’t fully focus on the poor law
-Those who were responsible for the Poor Law administration were answerable to Parliament and to the public - established trust
-George Nicholls who was a Poor Law Commissioner was Secretary to the Board and most assistant commissioners stayed on - there wasnt a full reform
-Numbers of assistant commissioners rose from 9 to 13 which was important as they were understaffed beforehand

Question 14

Ex-officio

Answer 14

A member of a body (board, committee, council etc.) who hold another office

Question 15

When was the Poor Law Board created?

Answer 15

1847

Question 16

Why was the Poor Law Board successful?

Answer 16

-1850s - several Unions set up public dispensaries which dispensed medicines to paupers, 1852 - a poor person who could not pay for medical treatment or prescribed medicines automatically qualified for relief
-The connections between medicine and less eligibility were beginning to be broken
-The Forster’s Education Act 1870 set up Board schools - funded and managed by the Poor Law Board in areas where there were insufficient voluntary church schools
-Poor Law Schools Act - Unions could work together to provide district schools
-Instigated the setting up of pauper hospitals - separate from the Workhouse
-Union Chargeability Act in 1866 - financial burden on the Union as a whole, rather than each individual parish
-Poor Law Loans Act 1871, allowed guardians to borrow money from the Public Work Commission

Question 17

Why was the Poor Law Board a failure?

Answer 17

-popularity of outdoor relief continued to increase - cheaper in some cases e.g. in London in 1862 - against the basic principle of the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834
-1852 - attempted to issue a general order to forbid outdoor relief for the able bodied but it failed
-The change and development in Poor Law medical services happened not in response to any conscious and specific plan or ideology on behalf of the Board, but in response to need and public opinion
-Guardians, even with the offer of loans, were committed to keeping the spending on paupers as low as possible - claimed they couldn’t afford to build separate accommodation and the board did nothing to stop this
-The Union Chargeability Act still failed to create a uniform system and placed a financial burden on the union as a whole - unpopular and difficult to impose

Question 18

How long did the Poor Law Board last?

Answer 18

1847-71

Question 19

What was the Poor Law Board replaced by? When?

Answer 19

1871 - Poor Law Board replaced by Local Government Boards

Question 20

Why was the Poor Law Board replaced?

Answer 20

-By the 1870s, the government were becoming more and more aware, and concerned with, the welfare of the people
-New public health legislation relied increasingly on local authorities
-Therefore it made sense to ensure the Poor Law was also given to local authorities
-Therefore, in 1871, the Poor Law Board was replaced by the Local Government Board

Question 21

What did Local Government Boards do?

Answer 21

-Supported deterring able-bodied paupers from claiming relief.
-Authorised Boards of Guardians to help groups of paupers emigrate.
-Condemned outdoor relief. (However, the greatest number of paupers were still being relieved outside the workhouse)

Question 22

What are the 3 groups that were responsible for poverty from 1847-1880?

Answer 22

1. Charity Organisation Society
2. The Coop
3. Friendly societies & Trade Unions

Question 23

What were the successes of the charity organisation society (COS)?

Answer 23

-Founded in 1869 - aims of coordinating the work of the many private charities
-Charities could coordinate efforts and ensure charitable relief was appropriately given
-Benefits selected for reliefs had to be moral and material to reform behaviour and put food on the table
-Permanent benefit on the recipient
-Local branches were set up all over the country
-Got publicity and used propaganda
-Intellectuals supporters and their views were listened in official circles
-1880 - established practices and procedures it used when visiting poor families collecting info in a systematic way - basis of social work

Question 24

What were the failures of the charity organisation society (COS)?

Answer 24

-Members of the COS were opposed to giving freely as they believed relief was a gift not a right - should be temporary
-Should only be given to the deserving poor who would be offered limited charity to help them get back on their feet by using casework - many those who applied were turned down
-Manchester District Provident Society didn’t coordinate all the charities in the area - branches worked in an autonomous way, not coordinated and no national organisation
-Provincial branches often failed to recruit sufficient volunteers or raise enough funds
-Rigorous investigative methods resented by the poor
-Charities were alienated and preferred to raise their own funds
-Guardians had a strained relationships with their local COS branches as they interfered with the guardians ways of distributing relief

Question 25

What were the successes of friendly societies?

Answer 25

-friends, neighbours or workers provided for themselves in times of need
-Surge in the number of friendly societies at the beginning of the 19th century & after 1834 after more stricter Poor Law
-Created protects against the uncertainties of the Industrial Revolution
-1847 - friendly society movement had become an organisation with central bodies to which individual societies (lodges) could affiliate - spread over several branches
-received payment in times of sickness, death and unemployment
-1870 - biggest friendly society was the Oddfellows with over 430,000 members
-Membership topped 2.7million by 1877
-Burial societies saved paupers from a pauper funerals (flimsy wooden coffin and an unmarked mass grave) for as little as 1d a week
-the 3 biggest burial societies - e.g. the Royal London - by 1880 had over 4 million members

Question 26

What were the failures of friendly societies?

Answer 26

-Society fees were often too high for some paupers - usually 6d a week was the norm - beyond the means of the poorest workers, who regularly suffered from unemployment
-Some societies also fined paupers for late payments - added to the debt paupers faced
-Some paupers stopped from membership; over 40, ill, in dangerous occupations e.g. miners
-Therefore only suitable for skilled workers
-Fully paid up members were not always assured benefits when they needed them
-Some friendly societies were badly managed and collapsed - encouraged workers to join knowing they couldn’t keep up the weekly payments

Question 27

What were the successes of trade unions and cooperatives?

Answer 27

-Trade unions offered a range of benefits for a weekly fee of 1s e.g. ASE - offered pensions, benefits for sickness and death, other unions offered unemployment pay
-Trade unions rose rapidly in the mid to late 19th century - due to industrialisation
-Allowed workers to fight for better working conditions and higher pay
-Co-operative societies allowed paupers to have regular dividends (assured the food wasnt adulterer - spoiled or had something added to it like adding chalk to bread to make it white) - they were used to pay rent
-Co-operative sold good quality goods to working class families through people paying money to rent shops e.g. Toad Lane had one set up in 1844 funded by 28 weavers
-1851 - 130 shops spread in the North
-1880 - nearly a million coop shareholders

Question 28

What were the failures of the trade unions and cooperatives?

Answer 28

-Only skilled workers could afford the weekly subscription fee of the trade unions.
-Some unions couldn’t be as generous as the ASJC e.g. Brickmakers Society of London had no sickness fund
-Semi-skilled and skilled workers were the only ones who benefitted from co-operative shops - you had to pay in cash at the time of purchase and not in tokens or credit
-Co-op dividends were based on amount of money people spent so those who were the poorest had less money to spend so had thus less dividends

Question 29

Who were the 3 key individuals responsible for promoting ideas around poverty?

Answer 29

Charles Dickens
Samuel Smiles
Henry Mayhew

Question 30

Info about Charles Dickens?

Answer 30

-Emphasised two points: the poor were people who had hopes and desires like everyone else and the workhouse system was a mindless cruel institution that dehumanised
-He experienced poverty firsthand when his father John Dickens was thrown into Marshalsea prison for debt to a baker
-at 12 - he was sent to work in a blacking factory in poor conditions
-He contributed to the Mirror of Parliament before becoming a parliamentary journalist Morning Chronicle
-He ended all of his novels with a cliffhanger - eager for the next instalment - not just popular with the middle class and the illiterate poor gathered together to have episodes to read them
-Oliver Twist - damning indictment of the workhouse system
-Bleak House - paupers were excluded from normal human life and contact
-Inspired other novelists like Elizabeth Gaskell in Mary Barton (1848) that focused on poverty and problems faced by those living close to the edge
-provided a subtle pressure for change

Question 31

Info about Henry Mayhew?

Answer 31

-he was an investigative journalist
-he confounded a satirical magazine called ‘Punch’ - sold 6000 copies in a week in the 1840s
-1849 - he wrote a series of articles in the ‘Morning Chronicle’ in which he described the lives of the Poor in London - gathered together and published as a book called ‘London Labour and the London Poor’ which captured the imagination of the public
-visited the homes and workplaces of the poor and wrote about what he saw, heard and felt - investigative journalism revealed the extend of how Londons economy relied on the unskilled
-divided the labouring poor into: 1 - those who will work who undertook an enormous range of hobs such as carpenters or bricklayers, 2 - those who cannot work because there was no jobs for them to do, 3 - those who will not work because they choose not to such as vagrants

Question 32

Info about Samuel Smiles?

Answer 32

-he wrote articles on Parliamentary reforms whilst a medical student
-then, as the editor of the Leeds times he campaigned for reform of parliament, women’s suffrage and free trade and factory reform
-strong supporter of the cooperative movement such as the Leeds cooperative societies and the Leeds Railway society
-supported Chartism - became concerned with advocation of physical violence - distanced himself
-didnt think that parliamentary reform was enough to get people out of poverty
-thought individual reform (changing attitudes as an individual) would be the most successful
-wrote a book called ‘Self Help’ published in 1859
-thought it was important to accumulate wealth without concern for others and therefore the correct use of money is the basis of self help
-said there was no need to pay vast amounts in poor rates and that only the destitute need help

Question 33

What were the successes of all 3 individuals?

Answer 33

Smiles - called for parliamentary change
Mayhew - works became national
Dickens - subtle pressure for change in both the middle class and lower class, he was persuasive

Question 34

What were the failures of all 3 individuals?

Answer 34

Smiles - mostly worked in Leeds, favoured self help and some of his manuscripts weren’t published
Mayhew - categories not much better than deserving or underserving
Dickens - focused on just workhouses

Question 35

What was the parliamentary reform act 1867? What did it mean for the poor law?

Answer 35

-Parliamentary Reform Act 1867 extended the voting qualification to include householders, which doubled the electorate from one million to two million men so the respectable working class could now vote

-increased pressure from radicals to democratise the election of guardians, since 1834, the well to do ratepayers were able to have more votes in guardian elections based on the amount and value of their property - Impacted rural parishes the most where number of ratepayers was small so the gentry had a lot of control - tried to combine small parishes but only combined 580 small parishes out of 6,111 in 10 years
-increasing the electorate to the better off working class meant the government was aware of the welfare of the people. Legislation that was introduced to improve public health was enforced by the local authorities, allowing government to see how the Local Government Boards were doing compared to the Poor Law Board