Poor Law Flashcards
What nickname were workhouses given and what influenced this name
Bastilles, French Revolution
Give 2 reasons why workhouses were repellent to the poor
Threatening strict regime, dehumanising
What rumours circulated about the workhouses
They had been built as extermination centres for the poor
What was Thomas Malthus’s proposal
The population growth would outstrip food production
What was the “book of murder”
Anti poor law propaganda based on 2 anonymous pamphlets which discussed the possibility the gassing pauper children to reduce the population
Why did the new workhouses make no distinction between deserving and undeserving poor?
Everyone was thrown together in the same workhouse
Why did Commission proposals to move unemployed labourers to the North of England 1835-37 create outrage?
Labourers argued it was part of a government plan to drive down wages
Why did Old Poor Law Overseers oppose the new system?
To protect their existing power, the believed they operated a successful and viable system in their own parish, cost of building the workhouse would be expensive and unsustainable
Why were urban areas a special case
Because industrial work put lots of workers out of work for shift periods of time and then the workhouses would stand empty
What was the problem in agricultural areas with the idea of workhouses
Because outdoor relief cost about half of what a workhouse would cost
Why did Richard Oastler oppose the new Poor law?
Because he said it would break up society
Why was John Walter singled out for critics M
He was Berkshire magistrate paying generous outdoor relief who opposed the new Poor Law in the Times
Why were influential landowners shocked
At the power of the new commission
How did opposition manifest itself in the rural areas of Britain? Give an example
Riot and disorder in the south e.g Amersham- Riot A t 1835, Kent 1835, East Anglia
How did opposition manifest itself in the industrial areas of Britain
More violent than rural areas e.g Huddersfield 1837 opposition 6-7 thousand riot, Oastler refused to read the riot Act violent protest also in Bradford 1837 and Dewsbury 1838
