ASPECTS IN DEATH: (POVERTY) CHAPTER 3.3 Flashcards
(37 cards)
What is destitution?
The state of having no money or possessions.
What is vagrancy?
A way of life where individuals have to keep moving as they are homeless and have no job.
How were the poor helped before the 1800s?
How did it work?
the old Poor Law.
1) The Parish would charge a “poor rate” (a compulsory tax to provide relief).
2) The parish would then appoint “overseers of the poor” and they would be approved by local magistrate.
3) The overseers of the poor would identify who was eligible for the help and what relief they would receive.
Who were the overseers of the poor? (3 reasons)
1) 1-2 were appointed per Parish and approved by the local magistrate.
2) they were typically local farmers, landowners and Churchwardens.
3) they were unqualified and not paid.
4) They levied the poor rate and supervised its distribution.
What were the positive aspects of the old Poor Law? (3 reasons)
1) The overseers of the poor knew the Parish members well so they could give more personalised relief.
2) the poor did not have to rely on self help.
3) the overseers of the poor were not paid so this saved money for the parish that could be redistributed.
What were the negative aspects of the old Poor Law? 4 reasons
1) the overseers of the poor were not paid or qualified to undertake the role.
2) The overseers of the poor could have bias towards certain members of the parish and give them help.
3) this system made the lower classes reliant on the upper classes.
4) During economic crisis where harvest was not abundant this decreased the relief collected through taxes.
How was it determined how much help the poor would get?
What was this method?
The pauper would be assessed by category and then given the relief
the categories were
impotent poor - pauper who had a disability
idle poor- able to get a job but didn’t work
underserved poor- People who had become poor from no fault of their own.
deserved poor- had become poor through their own fault eg prostitution,
what was the change to the old Poor Law?
When could they be removed?
The settlement act 1662
it suggested that the Parish was responsible for those,
born, married, worked or had an apprenticeship or inherited property in?
Strangers could be removed from the parish if they were not working within 40 days.
What would a deserving Pauper be given and what would an undeserving pauper be given?
A deserving pauper would be given food and a job by the church.
An underserving pauper would be given work in a workhouse.
What is indoor relief?
Indoor relief is help that is given inside a building or institution.
What are types of Indoor relief?
Almshouses
workhouses
orphanages
within church
Correction houses for criminals.
Why was indoor relief attractive to Parishes?
4 reasons.
- Parishes could amalgamate their work and create workhouses with other parishes. Called unions.
- Workhouses could be privatised, used for, profit so would be useful to businessmen.
3- Parish could create revenue from the goods created by the workers.
- in 1723 the “ workhouse test act was introduced’ which meant conditions should be worse inside than outside.
This meant workhouses less desirable which meant less people wanted to go.
What two people made workhouse administrative changes?
- Thomas Gilbert was an MP and sponsored the “the poor relief act”
- William Sturges Bourne in 1818 and 1819 chair of House of Commons supported two acts.
What did Thomas Gilbert propose?
What did he change?
( 4 things)
Negative or positive
in his “poor relief act”
- he replaced ‘overseers of the poor’ with ‘guardians’ who were fully employed and were payed. POSITIVE
- Parishes were given permission to join a union if 2/3 of the rate payers agreed. This gave the gentry more power.
POSITIVE and NEGATIVE - Guardians were required to produce “poor law expenditure” this ensured the right amount of relief was going to the poor. POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE
- Churchwardens were required to give information about other charities. POSITIVE.
What did William Sturges Bourne propose?
2 reasons?
Positive or negative?
Was he overall successful?
1808-He proposed a new voting system for selecting guardians in the parish.
Where those of a higher status had a higher weighted vote. (POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE)
1809- He added clergymen to the vestry.
They would determine if individuals were deserving on underserving of support.
(POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE)
He was overall successful because he decreased the cost of poor relief in 46 vestries.
What is outdoor relief?
Money, clothing, food, wage subsidies. (Any form of relief that did not happen inside an institution or building)
What were the different forms of outdoor relief each government could choose?
The Roundmans system.
The Speenhamland system.
Labour rate.
What did each form of outdoor relief entail?
The roundsman system- this was for Parishes that had many Paupers and not a lot of work.
They would be given work in rotation with other paupers.
The parish would pay half the wage and the employer would pay the other half. (ticket system)
The Speenhamland system (1795)
This was an allowance system that subsidised low wages and made a link between the price of bread and the dependents in a family. Gave relief for those who could not afford the price of bread. They were given either Money or flour.
Only increased relief if they were large families.
The Labour rate- This was an added tax on top of the poor rate that was made to support able bodied paupers.
The Paupers had their wages topped up.
by 1832 1 in 5 parishes were using this system
What is a positive and negative aspect of each type of outdoor relief?
The Roundsman system
Positive- it gave the able bodied paupers an opportunity to work outside a workhouse
Negative- some employers exploited this because half the wage would be paid by the parish.
The speenhamland system.
Positive- this was an alternative to going to workhouses.
Negative- Those eligible were only of large families.
Labour rate- allowed paupers to break free from the cycle of poverty
negative- it was unpopular with the general public as it was an added tax.
What are two positives and two negatives of outdoor relief?
Positives-
it gave the money and skills needed to break the cycle of poverty.
More pleasant than the workhouse.
Negatives-
it relied on taxes (bad in an economic depression)
It was exploited by employers making them have a pauper workforce as their wage was partly payed by parish.
BENEFITS OF INDOOR RELIEF. 4 reasons
BENEFITS:
Thomas Gilbert proposed that guardians should replace overseers of the poor. This was positive as the guardians were payed and fully employed so they had a higher incentive.
Parishes could amalgamate their workers to create a “union”. This meant workhouses were a cost effective method as Parishes could work together.
The workhouses could be used to create revenue for parishes. The workhouses could also be privatised so they were attractive of businessmen.
The workhouse test act in 1723 outlined that conditions should be worse on the inside than the outside. This decreased the application rate to workhouses. This was positive as workhouses were no longer overcrowded and could cope with the demand.
William Sturges Bourne proposed a voting system that gave the gentry a higher weighted vote when choosing the Parish guardian. This made the gentry feel more involved which may have made them more inclined to help.
NEGATIVES OF INDOOR RELIEF. 4
NEGATIVES.
Before the settlement act in 1662 there was confusion about which Parish you were eligible for. The settlement act outlined: place of birth, marriage work or apprenticeship.
These businessmen may have exploited workhouses purely for profit providing terrible working conditions for the workers.
workhouses were so overcrowded and were such poor working conditions that paupers wanted to avoid workhouses.
The voting system by William Sturges Bourne may have also have been negative as it gave the gentry too much power.
The poor law expenditure could have also been negative because if guardians were allocating too much money they could have been picked up on this.
What were the POSITIVES OF OUTDOOR RELIEF systems
POSTIVES
1-The roundsman system. This was positive as it allowed able-bodied paupers in parishes that did not have much opportunity to work, to work. The rotation system was fair and all paupers got a fair share of work.
2-The speenhamland system. Was an allowance
system for families who could not afford the price of bread.
They were given flour or money, this was successful as it allowed them to provide for their family. Also prevented -them from having to go to a workhouse.
3-Labour rate: this was a tax payed on top of the poor rate that was to support able bodied paupers. It allowed the paupers to break free from the cycle of poverty.
4-Outdoor relief gave the pauper an alternative to the workhouse as the workhouses were of very poor condition and unpleasent
NEGATIVES OF OUTDOOR RELIEF systems
NEGATIVES.
1-Roundsman system-Farmers would exploit this system and only employ paupers as the parish would pay 1/2 the wages.
2- speenhamland system- it was only really available for those with large families.
3-Labour rate- Negative as it was an additional on top of the poor rate which would have been unpopular with the parish.
4- in times of economic depression it was difficult accrue
the taxes needed.
