Pressure for change 1832-46: The anti-poor law league

Question 1

What happened after the poor law amendment act was passed in 1834?

Answer 1

There was a backlash of protest against the idea that outdoor relief would be replaced by a uniform system of indoor relief

Question 2

What prompted the anti poor law movement?

Answer 2

The tough conditions proposed for workhouse inmates, like hard labour and the splitting up of families, caused outcry from numerous sections of society

Question 3

Define ‘undeserving poor’

Answer 3

Those who were seen as bringing about their own poverty through laziness, carelessness or wickedness

Question 4

Define ‘deserving poor’

Answer 4

Those who found themselves enduring hardship through no fault of their own

Question 5

Why was the law regarded as oppressive?

Answer 5

Because the principle of less eligibility meant that the so called undeserving poor were deliberately subjected to inhumane conditions

Question 6

Why was the law regarded as unequal?

Answer 6

Because it gave the poor little chance to better their condition

Question 7

Why did the protests after the act have little impact?

Answer 7

Because they were mostly spontaneous and lacked direction and leadership

Question 8

Why did the system of indoor relief not take place instantly following the act?

Answer 8

Because it took a couple of years for the parishes to organise themselves into unions with a single workhouse

Question 9

Why do some people not see the act as being that detrimental in the years that followed?

Answer 9

• Harvests were good and there were new jobs available on the railways, meaning employment rose
• The numbers of those resorting to poor relief remained steady and this meant that outdoor relief remained available, especially in the industrial north
• Some of the poor law critics were silenced when the rates bill dropped

Question 10

What reinvigorated the anti poor law campaigners in 1837?

Answer 10

A recession

Question 11

What was the significance of the South Lancashire Anti Poor Law Association?

Answer 11

• Well organised
• Worked closely with Radical reformer John Fielden, supporting his motion for the immediate repeal of the act
• It held public meetings where claims were made about abuses of the system

Question 12

Why did the movement quickly fizzle out despite this?

Answer 12

• It faced competition from other pressure groups, especially the chartists, who had a stronger claim on the broader spectrum of the population
• The movement failed to monopolise public attention and support (Edsall)
• Strong opposition from the industrial north and the impracticality of setting up workhouses in densely populated areas during a recession meant that there was a loose enforcement of the act anyway

Question 13

What did Peel do to the act in 1842?

Answer 13

Extended it, with the unpopular less eligibility clause remaining

Question 14

When did chartism erode support for the abolition of the act according to Edsall?

Answer 14

The end of 1838