WHY DID THE PRESSURE FOR CHANGE INTENSIFY IN THE YEARS 1780-1834?

Question 1

When was the war with France?

How did this impact poor relief?

Answer 1

• 1783-1815.

* greater demands for poor relief.

Question 2

How was the harvests of 1813 and 1814 linked to the end of the wars with France in terms of putting pressure on poor relief?

Answer 2

• 1813-14- good harvests across all of Europe, so cheap foreign corn could be imported driving down prices of English corn. Farmers has war time taxes and enclosure costs to cover so many went bankrupt, meaning farmers made redundancies and reduced wages= pauperism.

Question 3

How did the Tory government attempt to improve the corn situation in 1815?

Answer 3

• corn laws introduced to protect British farmers. Prevented the import of foreign corn until the price of British corn reached 80shillings a 1/4. Hoped to hold the price of corn steady and therefore the price of bread steady too. Landowners profits wouldn’t fluctuate widely, so neither would wages.

Question 4

In practice, why did people resent the Corn Laws?

Answer 4

• believed they kept the price of bread artificially high.
• violence across country as poor couldn’t afford to buy sufficient bread- their staple diet.
• systems pegging relief to the price of bread struggled to provide sufficient relief.

Question 5

After the wars with France, what were the main crisis years and why?

Answer 5

• 1817-19.

* returning soldiers, continuing dislocation of trade, appalling weather and poor harvests.

Question 6

What did poor law expenditure reach between 1817-19?

Answer 6

• £8million per year- 12-13 shillings per head of population.

Question 7

How did the government react to continuing radical protests after the wars with France? How did this effect poor relief?

Answer 7

• suspended habeas corpus (stopped imprisonment without trial) in 1817 and introduced the Six Acts in 1819- repressive action to curtail individual liberties in the face of protest.
• repressive government unlucky to ease legislation for the provision of poor relief.

Question 8

When were the swing riots?

Answer 8

• 1830.

Question 9

Where were the swing riots based?

Answer 9

• over 20 counties in southern abs eastern England.

Question 10

What were the swing rioters protesting for?

Answer 10

• higher wages.

* the removal of steam powered threshing machines which deprived them of autumn and winter employment.

Question 11

How did the swing rioters protest?

Answer 11

• arson attacks on property of overseers, poorhouses abs workhouses burnt down, smashed threshing machines and intimidated their employers.

Question 12

What specific examples of geographical areas are there of swing rioters protesting?

Answer 12

• Brede, Sussex- campaigned for higher allowances and the removal of an overseer who had been using the parish cart to remove paupers.
• Headley and Selbourne, Hampshire- broke threshing machines and pulled down workhouses.
• Wiltshire- violent demonstrations against the particularly harsh scale for poor relief.

Question 13

Why did the swing riots appear to be an organised revolt?

Answer 13

• petitions and threats signed ‘Captain Swing’- but there was no leader or organisation.

Question 14

Why did the authorities find the swing riots particularly threatening? What action did they take?

Answer 14

• believed it was organised, made them think there was a real threat of revolution, which was worsened as one had just happened in France.
• dealt with rioters harshly- special Commission appointed to try and find the rioters, 19 rioters sentenced to death, 400 sentenced to transportation, 650 imprisoned.

Question 15

How did the swing riots impact pressure for change?

Answer 15

• created a political climate where reforming the poor laws wasn’t just a possibility, but now abs urgent necessity.

Question 16

How had the average Poor Law expenditure increased between 1783 and 1829?

Answer 16

• 1783- average expenditure of £2,000,000.

* 1829- average expenditure of £6,800,000.

Question 17

Why was the cost of poor relief rising in the early 19th century?

Answer 17

• the population was becoming more mobile so people crowded into parishes industrial areas, then claiming poor relief that parishes couldn’t afford.

Question 18

What county was relatively prosperous and held up for its experimentation poor relief system? Why was this?

Answer 18

• Nottinghamshire- thriving framework knitting industry and industrial expansion provided work in times of downturn in rural employment.
• 1820-23- per capita relief was less than 11shillings, way bellow the national average.
• allowance system in operation, but it clearly didn’t impact heavily on the poor rates.
• amalgamation in 1823 of 49 parishes into a Gilbert Union, building 2 strict deterrent workhouses but kindness was shown to the aged, infirm and children.

Question 19

How was their success in a community in Gloucestershire with their relief system?

Answer 19

• JP reformed the poor law administration here due to little regular employment and a declining woollen industry.
• allowance system previously in place, but JP made rigorous reforms by abolishing outdoor relief and making workhouse conditions awful.
• within 2 years the number of paupers fell from 977 to 125.
• similar policies in Cornwall and Derbyshire.

Question 20

How did the authorities reduce to cost of poor relief in Cookham, Berkshire?

Answer 20

• when the able-bodied applied for relief, he offered them a wage lower than what was generally paid in the parish.
• 63 long term recipients immediately left the parish.
• similar approaches in London, Bristol and Norwich.

Question 21

Who was Thomas Malthus and what did he believe in?

Answer 21

• economist.
• population was rising and outstripping all available food supplies- the Poor Law was making this worse as it encouraged paupers to have more children so they could claim more relief.
• said the Poor Law should be abolished all together- families would stay small as there was no financial advantage to having more children, wages would rise as poor rates would no longer have to be paid by employees, everyone would prosper.

Question 22

Who was David Ricardo and what did he believe in?

Answer 22

• political economist.
• wrote On the Principles of the Political Economy and Taxation- put forward an iron law of wages (wage necessary to sustain life) instead, said the more that was paid out in poor relief, the less there was available for wages, so more people were being driven into pauperism.
• only way to break this cycle was to abolish the poor laws all together.

Question 23

Who was Thomas Paine and what did he believe in?

Answer 23

• writer and republican.
• criticised the Poor Law saying it was inadequate.
• proposed a property tax on the very rich to support systems for the poor- family allowances and old age pensions.
• had a problem was the able-bodied okie abs implied they had to go to workhouses before receiving relief.

Question 24

Who was Robert Owen and what did he believe in?

Answer 24

• radical factory owner.
• blamed the capitalist system and abuse of the factory system for creating poverty.
• New Lanark, Scotland factory- cotton spinning mill and mill workers village, he tried to build a new community.
• working hours of maximum 10 hours per day, sick pay provides at times of illness and accidents, children educated until 10 years old, shop with goods sold at their cost price.
• his mills ran at a profit.
• said if workers were employed in cooperative communities, everyone would share the profits fairly and therefore work harder, so there would be no need for poor relief apart from for the impotent poor.

Question 25

What philosophy had the most far reaching influence on the thinking of those who developed and administered the new poor law?

Answer 25

• utilitarianism- said society should be organised to secure the
greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.

Question 26

Who developed the theory of utilitarianism?

Answer 26

• Jeremy Bentham.

Question 27

What did Bentham believe in terms of the treatment of paupers?

Answer 27

• relief was a public responsibility that should be organised by the central government.
• there should be government ministers- eg ones responsible for inspecting workhouses.
• outdoor relief should be abolished.
• relief should only be given to those willing to enter workhouse, following the principle of less eligibility.
• no discrimination between the deserving and undeserving poor- should only be the destitute worthy of relief.

Question 28

Why did the government take action in 1832?

Answer 28

• 1831 election- change in government to the Whigs who were more open to reform.
• escalating cost of poor relief- causing concern amongst higher classes, which pushed government to do something.