Was the rising cost of the Poor Rate in the years 1815-33 the main reason for the reform of the old poor laws?

Question 1

What four factors need to be discussed?

Answer 1

1) rising cost of the poor rate
2) Ideological pressures
3) Failures of the old poor laws
4) Attitudes to poverty

Question 2

Between 1815 and 1816 how many soldiers returned from the napoleonic wars?

Answer 2

400 000

Question 3

During this time period what percentage of the country’s GNP had the poor rate risen to?

Answer 3

2%

Question 4

1815-33 how many million pounds was spent on poor relief?

Answer 4

5.7 million

Question 5

Who paid the highest rates for poor relief?

Answer 5

Those who were most influential

Question 6

Name two individualists

Answer 6

Thomas Malthus and Joseph Townsend

Question 7

Name two collectivists

Answer 7

Robert Owen and Thomas Paine

Question 8

Name two utilitarians

Answer 8

Jeremy Bentham and Edwin Chadwick

Question 9

When did Malthus writer his essay?

Answer 9

1798

Question 10

What was Malthus’ essay called?

Answer 10

An essay on the Principle of Population

Question 11

What did Malthus outline in his essay?

Answer 11

The Malthusian Catastrophe

Question 12

What can collectivism be thought of as a precursor to?

Answer 12

Socialism

Question 13

What phrase sums up utilitarianism?

Answer 13

Greatest happiness for the greatest number

Question 14

What happened to the cost of poor rate when the economy improved?

Answer 14

Cost of poor rate went down

Question 15

After 1824 and a period of better economic growth how much cheaper was poor rate per head?

Answer 15

2s 5d

Question 16

What mean that the old poor law’s problems remained?

Answer 16

They were never replaced, the symptoms were instead addressed with further legislation

Question 17

What did the fact that old poor laws were never replaced demonstrate?

Answer 17

That they were fundamentally flawed

Question 18

What did many people believe about the poor?

Answer 18

They were poor because they were lazy

Question 19

What were the two types of poor relief?

Answer 19

Indoor and outdoor

Question 20

What were the two categories of poor?

Answer 20

Deserving and Undeserving

Question 21

What was the movement that swept Europe that reduced christian values?

Answer 21

The Enlightenment

Question 22

What ideology rose up?

Answer 22

Fatalism

Question 23

Why was poverty viewed as essential?

Answer 23

It was viewed as an essential state to encourage hard work amongst the working classes.

Question 24

Why did the poor have ever-more children?

Answer 24

A way to get more poor relief and also to look after their parents

Question 25

What are the three different ideological pressures that need to be discussed?

Answer 25

Individualism, collectivism and utilitarianism

Question 26

What did Malthus, an individualist, argue about poverty?

Answer 26

That a certain proportion of the population will always have to feel poverty in order for society to progress

Question 27

Whose argument was very convenient to the ratepayers?

Answer 27

Malthus’s argument because it meant that they would have to pay less

Question 28

How did Malthus argue that society would progress if the poor laws were completely abolished?

Answer 28

Ratepayers would become relieved of the burden of them

Question 29

Why was Utilitarianism particularly influential?

Answer 29

its National Charity Company offered a clear blueprint for the reforms

Question 30

Extra knowledge for the growth of towns contributing to the breakdown of the old system:
When the first census was taken in what year, what was the population and how did this relate to the poor law?

Answer 30

1801, the population was 9 million, more than double what it was when the Elizabethan Poor Law was established

Question 31

Extra knowledge for the growth of towns contributing to the breakdown of the old system:
In urban areas, what were wages generally, quite a low figure?

Answer 31

12 shillings a week

Question 32

Extra knowledge for the growth of towns contributing to the breakdown of the old system:
Contrast the amount of relief given to the North compared to the amount of relief given to the south

Answer 32

Between 1802 and 1803, 10% of people in the North received poor relief in contrast with 23% in the South. The South was much more rural and yet its need was not less, suggesting that the poor law was not well equipped for the changing environment.