3.4 Poor Law Amendment Act Flashcards
(124 cards)
1
Q
When was the Royal Commission of Enquiry set up? What could contribute to the reasons for the set up of this Commission?
A
Feb 1832, it was around the time when the passage of the Parliamentary Reform Act 1832 was contested (expansion of franchise), and also it could also have been due to the pressure of change
2
Q
How many commissioners were there in the Royal Commission of Enquiry? Who were the 2 most influential members?
A
9, Nassau Senior (professor of Political Economy at Oxford and disapproved of the allowance system) and Edwin Chadwick (Utilitarianism)
3
Q
How many assistant commissioners were there? What did they do?
A
26, they put in the leg-work, collecting and collating evidence, each commissioners were assigned a specific district in which to conduct their enquiries
4
Q
What was the first way in which data was collected?
A
the commissioners devised 3 questionnaires, 2 to parishes in rural areas and 1 to parishes in towns, around 10% of the parishes replied because there was no compulsion o do so
5
Q
Since the data collected was so hard to analyse, what did assistant commissioners do?
A
they talked to the poor, attended vestry meetings and magistrates’ sessions
6
Q
How many parishes did the assistant commissioners visit in total?
A
around 3000
7
Q
Why can it be argued that the Royal Commision reports were flawed?
A
because the questions were skewed in order to elicit the answers required, or at least were ambiguous and open to interpretation, the same was for interviews, the questions were sweked and witnesses were led along predetermined paths
8
Q
Why did the commissioners have to skew the questions?
A
because any challenge to the conclusions drawn from the ‘evidence’ would be time consuming and very difficult
9
Q
What is an example of the result of the report that is not reflective of the actual situation because of the wording?
A
the use of word ‘allowance’ - the final report made it appear that allowances to supplement wages (Speenhamland system) were commonplace, but in reality these systems had largely died out since the 1820s, in reality, most parishes did not increase relief until the birth of a third/ fourth child
10
Q
How can the flaws of the report be justified?
A
it was the first of its kind and it wold be unrealistic to expect a more systematic and sophisticated approach, also the enquiry was not intended to be impartial
11
Q
What was the core function of the reports by the Royal Commission
A
to focus specifically on how the old Poor Law worked with a view to reforming it
12
Q
What do historians, demographers, economists etc say about the link between the relief under the old Poor Law and population growth, low wages/ unemployment? How is this different from the Royal Commission’s findings?
A
they say that the relief under the old Poor Law was a response to population growth, low wages, unemployment etc,, the RC said increased relief was the cause of it
13
Q
When was the RC’s report published?
A
early 1834
14
Q
What was the conclusion of the RC report?
A
that the old Poor Law itself was the cause of poverty
15
Q
What was at the core of the commissioners’ analysis?
A
the belief that there was a need to keep the distinction between poverty (part of natural order) and indigence (inability to earn enough to live on)
16
Q
Which group of the poor was the main problem for the RC?
A
the able-bodied poor who either could not or would not earn sufficient income to keep themselves from grinding poverty
17
Q
What were the 4 recommendations made by RC to save money and improve efficiency?
A
1) separate workhouses to be provided for the aged and infirm, children, able-bodied women and men
2) parishes group into unions to provide these workhouses
3) outdoor relief should stop, and less eligibility test applied
4) a new, central authority to be established with powers to make and enforce regulations concerning the workhouse system
18
Q
What were the 3 main aims of the Poor Law policy?
A
1) reduce the cost of providing relief
2) ensure that only the genuinely destitute received relief
3) provide a national system of poor relief
19
Q
When was the Poor Law Amendment Act? What was it a response to?
A
1834 - it was a response to the report of the Royal Commission
20
Q
Were there any opposition to the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act (PLAA)?
A
no, there was litte opposition to the bill, partly because it did exactly what MPs and the Lords wanted- reduce the cost of providing for the poor by providing for them efficiently
21
Q
Why were there little opposition to the passing of PLAA?
A
the Tories, who might have stood out against it as an encroachment on traditional paternalism, were in a minority in the Commons and were overwhelmed by the utilitarian arguments of the Whigs
22
Q
Give an example of an individual that helped create the climate of change within Parliament.
A
Brougham, he contributed to the ‘Edinburgh Review’, a journal that throughout the 1820s published a stream of articles on social problems of the day
23
Q
What were the concerns of the people that opposed the bill?
A
the centralisation involved and the increased opportunities for patronage it would provide
24
Q
What were the 4 things that PLAA laid down?
A
1) a central authority should be set up to supervise the implementation and regulate the administration of the Poor Law
2) parishes were to be grouped together to form Poor Law Unions to increase efficiency
3) each Poor Law union was to establish workhouses with the less eligibility test applied
4) outdoor relief for the able-bodied was discouraged but not abolished
25
Was the actual programme of reform laid down by parliament?
no, they simply set down the administrative arrangements through which the three commissioners were to implement and interpret
26
What was set up to administer the PLAA throughout the country? Where did they work?
a central Poor Law Commission was set up, they worked in Somerset House, London
27
Who were the 3 commissioners?
Thomas Frankland Lewis (Tory MP), George Nicholls, John Shaw-Lefevre
28
Who was the secretary to the commission?
Edwin Chadwick
29
How many assistant commissioners were there? What were there roles?
they were 9 assistant commissioners (no. varied over time), their job was to make sure that decisions made centrally were implemented at local level in the parishes
30
What was a disadvantage of the commission being independent of parliament?
it did not have a spokesman in parliament to defend it against the criticisms levelled against it by MPs, the commissioners, parishes were almost universally hated
31
What were some powers for the commissioners?
they could issue directives, draw up regulations and monitor their implementation
32
Were the parishes obliged to do what they were told?
no
33
What were some negative powers that the commission have?
it could veto appointments it thought unsuitable, refuse to allow certain types of building, set dietaries for the workhouses, centralise accounting procedures - make life difficult for parishes who opposed it
34
What were the two priorities of the Poor Law Commission policy after 1834?
the transfer of out-of-work and unemployed workers in rural areas to urban areas where employment was plentiful
the protection of urban ratepayers from a sudden surge of demand from rural migrants prior to their obtaining regular employment
35
Which programme was the first priority of the PLC policy to transfer unemployed workers to urban areas?
the programme of workhouse construction- setting up deterrant workhouses to drive potential paupers to find work in towns and cities
36
Which Law tackled the second priority of the PLC policy? (protection of urban ratepayers from a sudden surge of demand from rural migrants prior to their obtaining regular employment )
the Settlement Laws - poor rates would be kept low, and would not fall disproportionately on the towns if the Settlement Laws were stringently applied, returning the seekers of relief back to their home parishes
37
What were built with the assumption that outdoor relief for the able-bodied poor would stop?
deterrant workhouses
38
Why did the building of deterrant workhouses progress slowly?
amalgamating unions/ building workhouses took time even with no opposition
39
What 3 things did the commission do to try to forbid outdoor relief for the able-bodied poor?
1) throughout the 1830s, the comission began issuing orders to specific unions in the rural south of England, prohibitng outdoor relief to the able-bodied poor
2) this was extended to the rural north in England in 1842
3) the 1944 General Outdoor Relief Prohibitory Order applied to all unions and forbade outdoor relief to the able-bodied poor
40
Were the orders prohibiting outdoor relief effective?
no, oudoor relief continued to be the most common form of relief given to paupers, particularly in industrial northern towns (who were subject to enormous swings of cyclic unemployment) - they were the cheapest alternative to building huge workhouses that would remain half empty for most of the working year
41
Why were the Settlement Laws necessary still in the mid-19th century?
to make sure that the cost of maintaing paupers was fairly spread between urban and rural parishes, and if workhouses were indeed to be true deterrants
42
By 1840, how many paupers had been removed from the parishes in which they were living and claiming relief, back of their parishes of settlement (theirs by virtue of birth/ marriage)?
40,000
43
Were the Settlement Laws costly?
yes, both in practical and adminsitrative terms, but the cost in terms of human suffering was incalculable
44
Which doctrine was Chadwick a firm believer of?
utilitarianism
45
How did Edwin Chadwick's role influence the policy of Poor Law?
his work permeated the Royal Commission Report, the Poor Law Amendment Act and the work of the commission in implementing the Act
46
What was Chadwick's object in the Royal Commission report?
deter applications for relief by making the relief itself, and the coniditons under which it was given, repugnant - principle of less eligibility
47
Who was the one that drafted the parliamentary bill? Who was he assisted by?
John Meadows White, assisted by Nassau Senior and William Sturges-Bourne
48
What report did Chadwick write before the Royal Commission report was finalised (but did not appear in the RC report), that also played a part in the bassing of the bill?
Notes for the Heads of a Bill'
49
In 'Notes for the Heads of a Bill', which two recommendations were implemneted in the bill?
1) that local control of poor relief should be vested in elected boards of guardians 2) magistrates could become ex officio Poor Law guardians
50
Since Chadwick was not appointed a commissioner, how did he use his influence instead?
he issues hundreds of notes, circulars, regulations and replies to queries from parishes in a determined attempt to impose his understanding of the doctrine of Utilitarianism on the operation of the new Poor Law
51
Depiste being deterrant workhouses, why couldn't conditions inside workhouses (e.g. cleaniness, food and clothing) be made deliberately worse than the poorest labourer living outside?
because the state could not be seen to institutionalise dirt, disease and starvation
52
What did the Poor Law commissioners do to the workhouses to make them deterrant if they couldn't promote dirt, disease and starvation?
by insisting on monotonous routine, strict discipline, building workhouses that looked like prison and by trying to dehumanise paupers in every possible way
53
How was the Y-shaped workhouse structured?
the boundary wall held workrooms; one wing held kitchen, dining hall, chapel) and the other two wings held dormitories and day rooms, the master's room was in the middle of the Y where we and his staff could watch the three exercise yards that were divided from each other by the wings of the Y
54
How many puapers could the Y-shaped workhouse accomodate?
300
55
How was the cruciform-shaped workhouse structured?
two storeys high, the wall held workrooms and the cruciform shape divided the space into 4 exercise yards, earch 'arm' of the yards held domitories and dining rooms, chapel, schoolrooms etc.
56
How many paupers could the cruciform-shaped workhouse accomodate?
200-500
57
What was the purpose of the design of the workhouse?
to divide and segregate paupers
58
What did segregation allow workhouse officers to do? How did this contribute to the deterrance factor?
it allowed officers to provide approximately for each class of pauper - added to the deterrance factor by splitting up families, and prevented the 'moral' contagion that would occur if the different categories mixed freely
59
What was the impact on paupers as soon as they enter workhouses?
they lose their individuality and were beginning to be treated as impersonal units
60
What happened to a pauper family once they enter a workhouse?
the family would be given a medical inspection and then split up, husbands were separated from their wives and children, but mothers could usually stay with their children until they were about 7 y/o
61
How were children treated in workhouses?
they were sent to the workhouse school and when they were 9/10 y/o, they will be apprenticed without their parents' consent and sometimes without their knowledge
62
What were taken away from paupers that prevented any expression of individuality?
personal possessions, there were no lockers or cupboards in which paupers could put clothes or shoes in
63
What were paupers allowed to do once a week in order to maintain the cleaniness in the workhouses? How did they add the deterrance factor to it?
men were allowed to shave once a week and paupers could have a weekly bath, but workhouse staff watched while this happened to prevent any attempt at self-mutilation or drowning - loss of personal privacy
64
Why was it essential that workhouse inmates worked?
the primary aim of workhouses was to rehabilitate the paupers and restore them to the workforce outside
65
What were 3 problems of providing work to workhouse inmates?
1) the work had to be available and possible to do within the workhouses
2) it could not diminish available employment outside the workhouse to the extent that able-bodied working poor became paupers
3) commissioners believed that work done inside the workhouse could not pay more than it cost the workouse to maintain the pauper (bc there would be no incentive for the pauper to return to the labour market if it did)
66
Due to the problems of providing work to workhouse inmates, what work did women and children (mainly) do?
they worked to help maintain the workhouse, e.g. working in the laundries, kithcens and sick rooms, they worked as cleaners, attendants, childminders and sloppers-out
67
If work that was economical and easy to perform within a workhouse could not be found, what work was given to the paupers? What were some examples of the work that they did?
they would be given dispiriting and monotonous work, e.g. they made sacks and unravelled ropes so that the fibres could be used again, they chopped wood and smashed limestone into small pieces to make roads/ ground animal bones for farmers as fertiliser
68
In terms of work, how were the paupers treated?
like convicts, with the same attendant degradation
69
How were food supplied to paupers also serve to degrade and discipline them?
The Poor Law commissioners issued 6 nodel diets from which boards of gaurdians could choose the one most suited for their pockets and inclinations - from these, food was to sustain and maintain life, but mealtimes were made boring and tedious (deterrance factor), paupers were to get no pleasure from the food they ate
70
How was the way in which meals were taken designed to instil represeive unifromity?
until 1842, all meals were to be eaten in silence, paupers had the right to have food weighed in front of them, and many workhouses used this regulation to delay the serving of food until they're cold
71
What were 3 other ways in which paupers were degraded (serving of foood)?
1) the meat, oatmeal, cheese and bread were often of poor quality and adulterated 2) the meals were poorly and carelessly prepared and cooked 3) in the 1830s, some paupers were forced to eat with their hands and drink from bowls
72
How was the discpline in workhouses?
they were often rowdy places, staff and paupers frequently hurled verbal and physical abuse at each other, there were full-scale riots, frequent outbreaks of bullying and blackmail, sometimes even sexual abuse
73
What system did workhouse staff use to maintain order?
a complicated system of rewards and punishment; they could be punished for being in wrong part of the building/ working too slowly, but they could be rewarded with food, 'clean' jobs and pocket money
74
How was the new system better than the old Poor Law system in terms of punishment?
under the old Poor Law, paupers were very much at the mercy of the overseer, who could and did, abuse paupers with impunity; but under the new system, specific punishments were laid down by the PLC, and a standard punishment book was kept in which all punishments were formally recorded - the guardians and staff knew there were limits to their power by the PLC
75
What are 2 examples of the limits to punishment under the new Poor Law?
girls and women could not be beaten, there was a minimum below which rations could not be reduced
76
How would some workhouse masters take punishment further?
even though most workhouses had punishment cells where paupers would go for minor dismeneanours, some workhouse masters would develop their own refinements (e.g. forcing reclcitrant paupers to spend the night in the workhouse mortuary)
77
What would happen to paupers if there were more serious crimes?
the usual process of the law would come into play
78
What was one of the problems of trying to manage an orderly workhouse?
the fact that a proportion of the population of the paupers were mobile, these transient and itinerant paupers would come and go, brining with them the tensions, stresses and petty crime of the outside world
79
Why was it easy for the paupers to just come and go to workhouses?
because they just needed 3 hours' notice if they wanted to leave, and workhouse staff could not prevent paupers from leaving and neither could they refuse to readmit them; many paupers exploited this to the full
80
In what year did the system of workhouse change which meant that paupers could not just come and go to workhouses as they pleased?
1871, an Act of Parliament gave guardians the power to limit the number of times a pauper could leave the workhouse
81
How were children treated better in workhouses?
they received a basic education in the workhouse, better medical attention than they could have hoped for outside and, when they were about 9 y/o the were apprenticed to a trade
82
How can it be argued that children were also treated badly in workhouses?
education was often rudimentary in the extreme (very basic), and they could be apprenticed to any passing tradespeopel and taken far away, they also could not leave a workhouse of their own free will- they quickly became institutionalised and unable to cope with life beyond the walls of the workhouse
83
Which act was passed later that improved the conditions for pauper children?
1870 Education Act (Foster's Act) that placed education of pauper children firmly within the elementary school system and so helped their integration into society
84
Why is it hard to determine which types of people were typical of the pauper population?
because outdoor relief contonued to be the main form of support for paupers, so the types of people opting for, or forced into indoor relief cannot be taken as typical of the pauper population as a whole
85
What were the 6 main types of people in the workhouses?
young people (workhouse provided a temporary shelter, they could move in and out depending on seasonality of employment/ epidemic...), vagrants (less deserving than the 'settled' poor, primary aim was to get rid of them), the elderrly, children (24-40% of all admissions), single women, the mentally ill (grew from 1 per 100 to 1 per 8 inmates as the century progressed)
86
What were 2 key posts that were unique to the workhouse?
the master and matron - master was responsible for the discipline and economy of the workhouse; the matron for the female paupers and the domestic side of life
87
Were the masters and matrons influential?
yes, they had tremendous power over staff and paupers, and had enormous influence on the way the workhouse was run and how it was perceived by the paupers inside and society outside - they had the power to either make the workhouse a place of terror or to give help to the most vulnerable
88
What is an example of a workhouse that was known for its efficiency and compassion?
a union workhouse at Ashford (Kent) run by a retired naval officer and his wife
89
What is an example of a workhouse master that inflicted terrror and cruelty wherever he went?
George Catcch, we moved from workhouses to workhouses in London, and inflicted terror wherever he went - he lost influence in the 1860s
90
What is an example of an incompetent workhouse master that could not cope with the work of workhouses?
the master of Cerne Abbas workhouse, he couldn't cope with the paperwork demanded by the commissioners
91
What rumours were there about the workhouses because of the location of them being far away from the homes of most of those seeking relief?
there was a belief that workhouses were extermination centres where paupers were helped effortlessly from life in an attempt to keep the poor rates low
92
What book circulated that was believed to be the work of Poor Law Commissioners that made people fear the Poor Law Amendment Act?
the 'Book of Murder', it contained suggestions that pauper children should be gassed
93
What rumours regarding bread were spread in Devon?
that bread (given as outdoor relief) was poisoned in order to reduce those claiming relief
94
What did many anti-Poo Law campaigners believed the new Poor Law was introduced specifically for?
they believed that it was introduced to lower the national wage bill - workhouses were supposed to force people onto the labour market, no matter how low the wages
95
What was another belief held by anti-PL campaigners regarding farmers and wages?
that owners in the North wanted unemployed agricultural workers from the South to work for them, so deliberately limiting rising wages and bringing about a workforce that lived at subsistence level
96
Why did people fear the new Poor Law? (based on individual perceptions of the way in which society should be organised)
1) they attacked the centralisation implicit in the new PL (seen as having no concern of ways of life outside London)
2) the replaced of the old PL would break the traditional, paternalistic bonds between rich and poor
3) Rural ratepayers were worried that workhouses would lead to higher poor rates (costly)
4) Ratepayers in northern industrial areas (prone to cyclic unemployment) worried that building workhouses would be unncessary and costly
97
When did the commissioners begin their work of implementing the new PL? Where did they start their work in?
1835, in the South - during a period of economic recovery but local magistrates were still angered at the centralisation and threat to tradition
98
What are 2 examples of protests in the South?
1) Buckinghamshire, people took to the streets when paupers from the old workhouse in Chalfont St Giles were transported to the new union workhouse in Amersham (Riot Act was read and ended protest)
2) East Anglia - the new workhouses were badly damaged by protestors and relieving officers were assaulted, richer citizens refused to apply the less eligibility rule strictly and continued to provide outdoor relief
99
What evet happened that depressed rural protest?
the fate of the Dorset labourers (tolpuddle Martyrs) who were sentenced to transportation for swearing illegal oaths
100
By and large, was the implementation of the Poor Law Amendment Act successful?
most farmers and landowners, aided by good harvests and a more or less quiescent workhouses enabled it to be put into practicce in the south of England
101
Around what period was the north of England give more attention by the PLC?
1837, attention given to industiral Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire
102
Why did most northern areas protest against the new Poor Law?
because they already adapted their relief provision to meet the cyclical depressions with which industry was beset. The guardians, magistrates, factory owners etc. resented interference from Londoners who had little knowledge of their industrial conditions and whose report was based on the South (irrelevant)
103
What was the Ten Hours' Movement?
a sustained campaign in the 1830s for the reduction of hours worked in textile mills to ten per day
104
What associations/ events happened to protest against the new PL?
Anti-Poor Law associations sprang up, there were huge public protest meetings
105
Who were some key individuals that the Anti-Poor Law associations used to protest?
Tory paternalists like Richard Oastler, John Fieldan, radical printers like R.J Richardson and socialists like Laurence Pitkeithly
106
What are 3 examples of insurrection in the north?
1) armed riots in Oldham, Rochdale, Todmorden, Huddersfield etc. were put down by the local militia
2) in Bradford in 1838, the assistant commissioner Alfred Power was threatened by the mob and pelted with stones and tin cans, troops were sent from London to quell the riots
3) the PLAA could not be implemented in Todmorden until 1877 because of fierce opposition
107
What happened as a result of Robert Oastler's involvement in the anti-PL agitation?
the withdrawl from Thomas Thornill's (absentee landlord) support and Oastler's downfall
108
Why did Oastler think that the Poor Law Commissioners were to powerful?
they had the ability to supply factories with cheap labour in the form of pauperised agricultural workers (he objected it), he believed that it would lead to a reduction in factory wages and lead to deterioration of worker's living conditions, which would increase pauperism
109
Why did Oastler have concerns about the amalgamation of parishes?
he believed it would do away with the personal interaction between the giver and the receiver of relief - lead to depersonalisation of the system
110
What did Oastler do to protest against the PLAA?
by 1838, he organised strikes and sabotage, violently resisted attempts to impose the new PL, even when he was dismissed by Thornhill, he continued urging people to protest
111
How did Oastler's downfall happen?
he didn't have an income and ended up in a debtor's prison, but his committees were able to raise money and released him 4 years later
112
What was John Fielden's job?
an MP in the HoC, he sat with the Whigs and voted against the PL Amendment Bill - he would also criticise the committee's positive report of the new PL
113
Except for his role as an MP, what was Fielden's role in his town?
he was a mill owners in Todmorden, Lancashire, where the cotton mills he owned with his brother were the largest employers in the area
114
When was the Yorkshire anti-Poor Law meeting at Hartshead Moor? Did Fielden attend?
yes he was the only MP that attendedn, held in May 1837
115
What did Fielden do to protest against the implementation of the new PL?
he threated to close down the family mills unless the guardians of the Poor Law union resigned - they refused, and threw nearly 3000 people out of work
116
In what ways did Fielden refuse to cooperate with the authorities?
he refused to identify the ringleaders of riots by the workers, and refused to pay poor rates
117
When was the new Poor Law finally implemented in Tormorden?
1877
118
Due to the protests, what did the government do in order to get the towns to comply with the new PL? Give an example
they made concessions, in 1838 the General Prohibitory Order was set aside for unions in Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire - the guardians were allowed to administer relief there according to the provisions of the Elizabethan Poor Law 1601 + a consdierable amount of discretion was permitted to guardians in negotiating local settlements
119
Were there many workhouses that were built until the 1850s and 60s?
very few
120
Was the new Poor Law established easily in other urban areas? Give two examples
yes, the Metropolitan Anti-Poor Law Association (founded in London) had little effect; there were few problems in the industrial north-east of England
121
Did people accept the new PL?
not entirely, some local baords of guardians would still ignore, adapt and amend directives from commisssioners
122
Were the opposition effective in the long run?
no they were short-lived, they were just spontaneous reaction to unwelcomed change, and they had less chance of success because they were unorganised
123
Even if oppositon was organised, why were they still ineffective?
because the unlikely combination of paternalistic Tories and working-class radiclas was bound to fall apart
124
Were the commission's priorities successfully met? - 2 ways
1) the Poor Law Amendment Act was not implemented universally and was implemented and interpreted differently across the country- due to local resistence, vested interests, long-established local customs and influence of parishes + persuasive skills of assistant commissioners
2) parishes were not insisting on the removal of paupers under the Settlement Laws, they continued to prefer paying 'resident relief' after 1834 for those for whom they were responsible but who lived elsewhere (saved costs)
