3.3 Paupers and pauperism Flashcards
(133 cards)
1
Q
What were the roles of the parishes and why were they critical to the administration of the old Poor Law?
A
They were the ones who set the Poor Rate and determined whether the poor were eligible for relief, how much relief should be given, and whether this should be provided as indoor/ outdoor relief - there were uncertainties regarding who to provide relief to
2
Q
At the start of the administration of the Elizabethan Poor Law, were the parish paid? Did this change later on?
A
No, they were unpaid, non-professional administrators, it was not until the mid-to-late 18th century that rapidly growing towns began to employ paid officials
3
Q
What did the parishes do? (relief)
A
they would administer relief to its own poor and collect taxes in order to provide appropriate relief
4
Q
Who were in charge of setting work to the poor under the Elizabethan poor law?
A
churchwardens and overseers of the poor who were appointed annually by the local justices of the peace (JPs)
5
Q
In practice, who were usually in charge of setting work the poor?
A
local farmers and respectable householder- those liable for the poor rates
6
Q
In theory, how were the administrations more sensitive to the poor and needy and show greater humanity?
A
since those seeking relief and those dispensing it would be known to one another (small parish units), local people would be better able to distinguish between those who genuinely needed help and those who did not
7
Q
In practice, how was the administration system open to exploitation?
A
- there were opportunities for tyrannical behaviours among local overseers of the poor, and for the settling of old scores and the perpetuating of grievances
- local class relationship and the habit of deference to one’s ‘betters’ tended to prevail
8
Q
What was a factor that affected locally raised finances?
A
local crisis such as poor harvests
9
Q
How was poverty viewed by the people?
A
necessary bc it was only the fear of poverty that motivated ppl to work
10
Q
meaning of indigence
A
inability of individuals to support themselves
11
Q
How did ppl view ‘indigence’?
A
that it was wrong and they wanted to force the poor to able able to stand on their own feet and participate in a healthy economy
12
Q
What was the point of the poor laws? Did they try to bring an end to poverty?
A
no, they just tried to prevent the ‘indigent’ from starving while at the same time forcing the poor to work rather than to have them become dependent upon the authorities for support
13
Q
Who were the ‘deserving poor’? + examples?
A
those who were poor through no fault of their own and were therefore deemed worthy of help and support-e.g. old, the sick and children
14
Q
Who were the ‘undeserving poor’? + examples?
A
those whose poverty was the result of some sort of perceived moral failures, e.g. drunkenness/ prostituion
15
Q
What was the treatment towards the undeserving poor?
A
they would still provide help but they would involve elements of both punishment and improvement
16
Q
What were some problems of the current system? (3)
A
- the undeserving poor taking advantage of the system and become more dependent on it
- parishes didn’t know who they should be responsible for
- e.g. people who weren’t born in that area but currently lives there, married couples, family where children were born in diff parishes
17
Q
What did the Elizabethan Poor Law state? (regarding the person claiming relief)
A
- that they had to be returned to the place of their birth in order to receive relief
- if birthplace was unknown – a place where they have lived for a year or more/ the last parish they passed without getting trouble w the law
18
Q
What did the Settlement Act 1662 do?
A
legal settlement was by birth, marriage, apprenticeship or inheritance, so if an individual wanted to claim relief, the responsible parish would be based on their legal settlement
19
Q
How were strangers staying in a parish treated under the Settlement Act 1662?
A
they could be removed (if they weren’t working) within 40 days/ if overseers considered they were likely to end up claiming poor relief
20
Q
In practice, how were strangers staying in a parish treated?
A
they would just be left alone until they tried to claim relief then they would be removed
21
Q
What were the changes made to the Settlement legislation in 1697?
A
strangers could be barred from entering a parish and finding work there unless they could produce a settlement certificate issued by their home parish which stated that they would be taken back and given relief there should they become needy
22
Q
What did the Removal Act 1795 do?
A
prevented strangers from being removed unless they tried to apply for relief
23
Q
Except for controlling a migrant population, what did the Settlement Laws also do?
A
they intended to ensure that the burden of providing for the poor did not overwhelm some parishes
24
Q
Why did parishes need to keep Poor Rates low?
A
because there was a burden of Poor Rate on parish property owners, who had elected them at first place, so they needed to ensure that Poor Rates are low
25
What was done in attempt to keep Poor Rates low? (Settlement Act)
local vestry minutes would record the fortunes of pauper families and the manoeuvrings of overseers as paupers were brought back and forth across parish boundaries
26
Were the Settlement Laws effective?
No, there was a mobile population that created growing cities of the late 18th and early 19th century, which made it hard for overseers and local magistrates to issue and carry out settlement orders, also the laws were hated by the poor and manipulated by the administrators
27
What was outdoor relief?
assistance in the form of money, food or goods to alleviate povery
28
Why did parishes generally provide outdoor relief?
it was easy to administer and could be applied flexibly, e.g. families can ask for relief is their principle breadwinner was ill or during cyclical unemployment
29
Why had the system of outdoor relief start to become less effective from 1750?
industrialisation and a growing, mobile population began to test to the limits of ingenuity of magistrates and vestries in devising effective ways of meeting the needs of the able-bodies poor
30
What happened in the 18th century that brought the Poor Law almost to the breaking point?
The Napoleonic Wars and a series of bad harvests meant that there were lagging wages and increasing food prices, this means that even when the main breadwinners were in full-time work, thousands of families struggles on the edge of starvation
31
Did the central governmnet do anything to aid the increase food wages and lagging wages?
no, it was the parishes themselves that had to look for solutions themselves
32
Why didn't the Commons agree to the proposal (by Samuel Whitbread and PM William Pritt) to raise the wages and create a national poor law budget?
because the Commons were dominated by employers and wage-paying landowners, they all favoured a flexible allowance system, where low wages would be topped up by the parishes
33
When was the Speenhamland system introduced?
1795
34
What did the Speenhamland system do?
it estalished a formal relationship between the price of rbead and the number of dependants in a family
35
Why was the Speenhamland system more widely adopted in the south and east of Britain at the start of the 19th century?
seasonal unemployment was more common there, especially after harvests, and this was exacerbated by the loss of cottage industries and the lack of availability of allotments on which villagers could grow their own vegetables + the loss of land due to enclosures
36
Was the Speenhamland system used in the north?
rarely, they have livestock farming that usually provides full employment throughout the year
37
What was a weakness of the Speenhamland system?
it didn't have legal backing, and it was often abandoned or modified out of all recognition as overseers struggled to cope with changing economic conditions particularly after 1815
38
What does the Roundsman system do?
in parishes where there were too many paupers for the work available, at least some work was found for each able-bodied pauper
39
How does the Roundsman system provide work of all able-bodies paupers?
they were sent in rotation to local farmers who would provide them with work that either genuinely needed doing, or that had been invented for the purpose
40
How were the Roudsman's wages paid?
they were paid partly by parishes and partly by farmers, there was a 'ticket' which the pauper would bring to the potential employer, after the work was done, the 'ticket' would be signed by the employer to show that work had been done and a wage paid
41
What was a problem with the Roundsman system?
over time, the proportion of a Roundsman's wage paid by the parish increased as farmers took advantage of a system that did not require them to pay a set proportion of the wages of the paupers they employed
42
What was the Labour Rate?
it involved an agreement between parishioners to establish a labour rate in addition to the usual Poor Rate, the total parish labour bill was worked out according to what was assumed to be the going market rate
43
How did the Labour Rate work?
those who did not pay the going rate had to pay the difference between the wages they were paying and the going rate into the Poor Rate 'pot', whilst employers who paid paupers at the rate set by the parish would be eempt from paying poor rates
44
Was the Labour Rate popular?
can't be determined, but by 1832, about one parish in five were operating some sort of Labour Rate
45
Under the Elizabethan Poor Law, how was the impotent poor looked after?
they were looked after in poorhouses or almshouses - indoor relief
46
Who were the impotent poor?
sick, old, infirm and mentally ill
47
Under the Elizabethan Poor Law, how did the able-bodied poor receive relief?
they were set to work in a workhouses while the continued to live at home
48
Under the Elizabethan Poor Law, how were the poor people who refused to work treated?
they were punished in 'house of correction'
49
Under the Elizabethan Poor Law, where were the children sent?
they were sent to be apprenticed to a trade so that they could support themselves when they grew up
50
Why was the division of the 'poorhouses', 'workhouses' and 'houses of correction' not effective?
it was not cost effective
51
What was a solution to the high costs of the division of institutions?
amalgamation of workhouses
52
Which few areas' workhouses were combined at first?
Exeter, Hereford, Gloucester and Plymouth
53
By1780, about how many workhouses were there throughout England and Wales?
about 2000 providing around 90,000 places for paupers
54
What was one significant feature of the amalgamation of the workhouses?
authority was transferred away from parish overseers to elected and appointed guardians of the poor
55
What was the advantage of having authority being transferred to guardians?
they have the required judgement and experience, and they were drawn from the ranks of magistrates, gentry and upper ranks of tenant farmers (while overseers were just local farmers and tradesmen)
56
Towards the end of the 18th century, what were the 3 reasons why the attention of parliament was drawn to a more formal reform of the poor laws?
1) the end of the American War of Independence in 1782 led to demobilised and unemployed soldiers and sailors flooding the labour market
2) enclosure resulted in generalised long-term rural unemployment (even though it created some immediate employment opportunities)
3) early stages of industrialisation meant that there were more people in growing towns, which led to an increased pressure on urban parishes to provide relief
57
Under Gilbert's Act 1782, how could parishes combine in Poor Law unions for the purpose of building and maintaing a workhouse?
if two-thirds of the major landowners and ratepayers voted in favour, voting was weighted according to the rateable value of the voters' property
58
In the Gilber Unions, who were overseers replaced by?
paid guardians, appointed by local magistrates chosen from a list supplied by ratepayers
59
Who were the Gilber Union workhouses only for? Who were excluded?
they were solely for the aged, the sick and the children, able-bodied workers were excluded
60
How could the parish guardian help able-bodied workers?
they were to find work for able-bodied workers, only if this could not be found could outdoor relief be provided
61
Was the Gilbert Act permissive or mandatory?
permissive
62
When was the Gilbert Act introduced?
1782
63
What were the 2 further pieces of legislation Gilbert passed throguh parliament?
1) overseers had to submit annual returns of Poor Law expenditure, which provides hard evidence of the cost of poor relief that was to be used by later reformers
2) ministers and churchwardens were required to provide information about local charities that mirrored, or supplemented, the support given by the Poor Law
64
What was a problem of the Gilbert Act being permissive?
parishes were slow initially to adopt Gilbert's Act and were under no compulsion to do so
65
by 1834, when a new Poor Law was introduced, how many parishes were combined into Gilbert Union?
924 parishes combined into 67 Gilbert Unions
66
By the end of 18th century, what were the 2 main sets of largely rural Poor Law unions in existence?
one was the ones created by local initiatives, another was the Gilbert Unions created under stricter terms - all were in the rural areas of the Midlands, south and the east
67
When were the two Sturges-Bourne Acts introduced?
1818 and 1819
68
Why were the intentions of the two Acts similar?
they both intended to tie the landowners, gentry and well-to-do more firmly into the administration of the poor laws
69
How did the first Act help bring the landowners etc. more firmly into the administration of the poor laws?
it laid down how voting was to be managed when electing men to the parish select vestries that were responsible for the local administration of the poor laws, those occupying land worth less than 50pounds had one vote, for ever further 25 pounds, a man had another vote up to max six
70
What is a drawback of the first Sturges-Bourne Act?
major landowners would have 6 times the power and influence of smallholders
71
What was a select vestry?
a group of parishioners who met in the vestry of a church, members were selected according to a specific criteria
72
What did the second Sturges-Bourne Act do?
it added a resident clergyman to the members of vestry, it also instructed vestries to take account of an applicant's character and circumstances, distinguishing between 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor when considering who should receive relief
73
Was destitution a sufficient reason to obtain relief?
no
74
Could decisions of select vestries be overturned?
yes, it could be overturned if 2 JPs agreed that it was wrong
75
What was a success of the Sturges-Bourne Acts?
by 1825, 46 select vestries had been formed and many experienced a remarkable drop in the cost of relief
76
Give an example of a parish who had a significant drop in the cost of relief
2 parishes in Berkshire saw a reduction of 33% during the first year of the operation of their select vestries, they used the Speenhamland system of outdoor relief
77
Nationally, how many % of costs was reduced after the first year of adminsitering relief?
9%
78
What was the reduction of the costs at the expense of?
the destitue, not all of those who were refused relief were scroungers, thousands were genuinely destitute and remained so
79
What was the policy of 'less eligibility'?
that order within the Poor Law system could only be restotred and then maintained if potential paupers were forced to provide for themselves because they feared the workhouse, they had to make conditions of the workhouses less desirable than conditions outside
80
What was the workhosue test?
that only the genuinely needy would accept relief on the terms that workhoues were 'less eligible', children, the sick, the disabled and the elderly were exempy from the this policy
81
What happened to the provision of relief since children, elderly, disabled etc. were usually part of a family?
it usually resulted in families being split up or remaining destitution
82
When were the wars with France?
1783-1815
83
How did the end of wars with France increase pressure for change?
it led to greater demands of poor relief
84
How did the good harvests in 1813 and 1814 negatively impact English farmers?
since harvests were good, cheap foreign corn could be imported from Europe, which forced English farmers to keep their prices low, this created problems for many as they had wartime taxes to pay and some had interest to pay on loans to cover the cost of enclosure
85
How did the wartime taxes, loans etc. lead to increased demand for relief?
since many went bankrupt, which meant unemployment for their labourers, many were forced to ask for relief with the little work that could be provided, farmers who survived were forced to reduce the wages, which pushes more ppl into pauperism
86
What Law was introduced in 1815 in repsonse to the stiutation created by cheap foreign corns?
the Corn Laws
87
In theory, what did the Corn Laws intend to do?
they wouldn't allow the import of foreign corns until the price of British corn reached 80 shillings a quarter in order to keep the price of corn and bread steady, and since the landowner's profits would not fluctuate wildly, wages would remain stable as well
88
Why did people resent the Corn Laws?
they believed they kept the price of bread artificially high, and the poor could not afford to buy sufficient bread, which was their staple diet, and the systems fixing relief to the price of bread struggled to provide sufficient relief
89
What did the post-war distress result in?
more people than ever before claimed relief
90
When were the crisis years after war? What happened to expenditure on poor relief?
in 1817-1819, returning soldiers, the continuing dislocation of trade, appalling weather and poor harvests led to expenditure reaching 8m pounds per year
91
How was the situation exacerbated which caused more financial pressure for change in the Poor Law?
the continuing radical protests, they forced governments to suspend habeas corpus in 1817 and introduce the Six Acts, which confirmed its policy of repression and the curtailing of individual liberties
92
What were the problems created by the suspension of habeas corpus and the Six Acts?
the government appeared repressive, which means they were unlikely to legislate for any easement in the provision of relief
93
What did the 1817 report of the Select Committee reveal? How did it exacerbate public dissatisfication of the Poor Law?
It condemned the evils of the Poor Law as being the creators of poverty
94
When did urban protests (that was matched by rural discontent) came to a head? (aka Swing Riots)
1830
95
What did the rioters in the protests want?
higher wages, removal of threshing machines that deprived them of autumn and winter employment, increase relief (later on) as the threshing machines were forcing farmers into pauperism
96
In the villagers of Brede, Sussex, a group of laboureres launched a local movement against who and what did they demand?
the overseers of the poor, they demanded higher allowances and the removal of an assistant overseers who constantly used parish cart to remove paupers
97
What did the rioters in Headly and Selbourne riot against?
threshing machines, tithes and overseers of the poor
98
As the rioting spread, what did the rioters do?
repeated arson attacks against the propoerty of overseers of the poor and their assistants
99
Did the Swing Riots have revolutionary intent?
no, but it was enough for the authorities to think that the revolt was organised and to believe they had to face up to a very real threat of revolution
100
How did the central government react to the swing riots?
a special commission of three judges was appointed to try the rioters, 19 rioters were sentenced to deaths, others were given harsh treatments like imprisonment, exile, fine
101
How did the Swing Riots pressure the government into taking action?
they created a political climate where reform of the poor laws was becoming more than a possibility, it was an urgent necessity
102
How much had the cost of poor relief rise from 1783-1833?
in 1783-85, tbe average expenditure was 2004 pounds and in 1829-33 it was at around 6800
103
Traditionally, how did parishes raise money for poor relief?
through tax on property
104
In the early 19th century, why did the cost of poor relief rise by a lot?
thousands were crossing the line that divided poor from pauperism and enlarging the exisiting underclass, and also because of industrialisation, where hundreds of people crowded into parishes in industrialising areas and claimed relief that parishes could barely afford to pay
105
Except for the issue of increasing poor rates, what were other factors that pressured governments to change?
the perception among the rate-paying classes that the poor were increasingly idle (so they'd invest less to poor relief) and the fear of revolutionary potential
106
Why was Nottinghamshire the fifth-most industrialised country in Britain?
it had a thiriving framework knitting industry, and industrial expansion provided alternative work when there was a downturn in rural employment
107
Why was the Revered JT Becher of Southwell significant in Nottinghamshire?
he was the driving force behind the amalgamation in 1823 of 49 parishes into a large Gilbert Act Union and the building of two new workhouses at Upton and Southwell - even though they were deterrent workhouses with strict segregation and classification, Becher still insisted on kindness being shown to the aged and infirm
108
Under Becher, what were the workhouse schools that were established?
they were for children and were also open to children 'outside' if there were more than 4 children in a family
109
Although Reverend Robert Lowe of Bingham also agreed that there was a need for deterrance, what did he insist upon? (workhouses)
in 1818, he said that outdoor relief should be abolished and the way to do that was by making the workhouse a place of fear
110
What was George Nicholls's view on workhouses/ outdoor relief?
that there was a need for deterrance and reached a conclusion that allowance systems were themselves responsible for the continuation of poverty
111
When did George Nicholls write the book 'Eight Letters on the Management of the Poor', what did he claim?
1822, he claimed to have ended outdoor relief through the creation of well-regulated workhouse
112
In 1830, which JP from Gloucestershire started reforming poor law administration?
J.H Lloyd Baker
113
What reforms did Lloyd Baker introduce to reform the poor law administration?
to abolish outdoor relief and to make the workhouse so dreadful that only the desperate would seek admission
114
Was Baker's reforms to poor law administration successful?
yes, within 2 years, the numbers of paupers fell from 977 to 125
115
Except for Gloucestershire, which two counties also introduced rigorous reforms to poor law administration?
Cornwall and Derbyshire
116
What approach did Reverend Thomas Whately of Cookham in Berkshire take towards the allowance ssytem (poor law admin.)?
when the able-bodied applied for relief, he offered them work at a lower rate than that which was generally paid in the parish
117
What did the approach by Whately reveal?
that the 63 long-term recipients immediately left the parish (so it suggests that the able-bodied poor were claiming relief from parishes just because they paid higher)
118
Was the adoption of aggressive policies in attempt to lower the costs of poor rates and reduce pauperism a universal approach?
no, there were still areas where local magistrates and local overseers took a paternalistic approach towards the poor
119
What was the economist Thomas Malthus's argument and the link to Poor Law?
he argued that population had an inbuilt propensity to rise and outstrip all available food supplies, and the Poor Law made this worse because it encouraged the poor to have more children so that they could claim more relief
120
Why did Malthus favour the abolition of Poor Law?
so that the poor would have to keep their families small because there would be no financial advantage to having more children, this will allow wages to rise bc the Poor Rate would not longer be levied and employers could afford to pay their employees more
121
Why did David Ricardo argue for the abolition of the Poor Laws?
he put forward the idea of an iron law of wages, believing that there was a wages fund from which money for wages and poor relief was paid, therefore, the more that was paid out in poor relief, the less there was available for wages, and due to less money available for wages, more people would be draw to pauperism- endless cycle, the only way to break this is by abolishing the Poor Laws
122
What did Thomas Paine propose?
a property tax on the very rich to be used for a variety of support systems for the poor, among these being family allowances and old age pensions
123
What did Paine imply about the able-bodied poor?
that they had to go into workhouses before they could receive relief
124
What did Robert Owen do in the early 19th century?
At his New Lanark site, there was a mill worker's village, and in this community, no adult was allowed to work for more than 10 hours, sick pay was provided when illnesses or accidents occured, children were educated until they were 10 and later work in the mills, corporal punishment were forbidden
125
Did Owen's community work?
yes, his mills ran at a profit
126
What did Owen suggest about co-operative communities?
everyone would share in the profits of whatever organisation they worked for, so the harder they worked, the greater their income would be, and there would be no need for poor relief, care would only need to be taken of the impotent poor
127
What is utilitarianism?
the theory that society shold be organised so as to secure the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people, so legislatures should be guided only by a desire to maximise happiness and minimise misery
128
How did Bentham view relief?
that it was a public responsibilit that should be organised by central government
129
Who did Bentham believe should be responsible for keeping statistics, inspecting workhouses etc.?
an additional government minister
130
Did Bentham support the retention of outdoor relief?
no, he believed all outdoor relief should be abolished, relief should only be given to those prepared to enter a workhouse, where conditions would be no better than those enjoyed by the poorest labourer outside the workhoue
131
According to Bentham's beliefs, should therer be discrimination between 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor?
no, there were only the destitute, without the means of support and so worthy of relief
132
When did government finally take action in the early 19th century? What did they do?
1832, the Royal Commission was appointed to conduct an investigation into the operation of the poor laws
133
Why did the government take action in 1832?
there was a general election in 1831 that brought about a change of government, the increasing costs of poor relief pushed the government into taking action
