WHAT IMPACT DID THE PROVISION OF PARISH INDOOR RELIEF HAVE UPON PAUPERISM? Flashcards
(32 cards)
Where were the impotent poor looked after under the Elizabethan Poor Law?
• sick, old, infirm and mentally ill- looked after in poorhouses.
Where were the able-bodied poor to receive relief under the Elizabethan Poor Law?
• sent to work in a workhouse while they continued to live at home.
Where were those who refused work/ beggars/ vagrants sent to under the Elizabethan Poor Law?
• house of correction to be punished.
What was to happen to pauper children under the Elizabethan Poor Law?
• they were apprenticed to a trade so they could support themselves when they grew up.
Why did they system of dividing the poor to separate institutions not really work in practice?
• wasn’t cost effective for each parish to provide for paupers in this way.
Which were the first urban parishes to combine for the purpose of workhouse building?
• Exeter, Hereford, Gloucester and Plymouth.
By 1780, what areas parishes had significantly amalgamated for workhouse building?
• Suffolk- about half of their parishes combined.
By 1780, how many workhouses were there across England and Wales and how many paupers could they hold?
• 2000 workhouses, providing 90,000 places for paupers.
What was the most common form of relief under the Elizabethan Poor Law?
• outdoor relief.
Why did parishes begin grouping together to form workhouses?
• they were at their maximum capacity as far as indoor relief was concerned.
How did the amalgamation of parishes effect those in authoritative positions enforcing the Poor Law?
- transfer of authority away from parish overseers to elected guardians of the poor.
- larger areas to administer- guardians and overseers should have experience.
- overseers- tended to be local farmers abs tradesmen.
- guardians- magistrates, gentry, higher ranking tenant farmers.
When was the Gilbert’s Act?
• 1782.
By the end of the 18th century, why was the attention of parliament drawn to more formally reforming the poor laws?
- end of the American War of independence (1872)- demobilised soldiers flooding the labour market and not all could find work.
- enclosure- long term rural unemployment.
- early stages of industrialisation- attracted people to towns, increasing the pressure on parishes here to provide relief.
What were the terms of the 1782 Gilbert’s Act?
- parishes were to combine into unions to build abs maintain workhouses if 2/3 landowners and ratepayers voted in favour (voting weighted according to value of property).
- overseers to be replaced by paid guardians, appointed by local magistrates chosen from a list of ratepayers.
- Gilbert unions were solely for the aged, sick and children.
- parish guardian to find work for able bodied workers- of this wasn’t found they could receive outdoor relief.
What type of Act was the Gilbert’s Act?
- permissive act- parishes didn’t have to follow it.
* 1786- Gilbert attempted, but failed, to make it a mandatory Act.
What further two pieces of legislation did Thomas Gilbert manage to pass through parliament?
- overseers required to submit annual returns of poor law expenditure- evidence on the cost of poor relief to be used by later reformers.
- ministers and church wardens required to provide information on charities which services mirrored that of the Poor Law.
Why were parishes slow to adopt the Gilbert’s Act at first?
• they were under no compulsion to adopt the Act (permissive).
By 1834, how many parishes had combined into Gilbert Unions?
• 924 parishes into 67 Gilbert Unions.
By the end of the 18th century, in what way was it clear that there were 2 sets of largely rural Poor Law Unions in existence?
- one set created by local initiatives to amalgamate parishes.
- other set created under the stricter terms of the Gilbert’s Act.
- both of these in rural areas of the Midlands, south-east and east of England.
When were the Sturges-Bourne Acts?
• 1818 and 1819.
What are the Sturgess-Bourne Acts also known as?
• the Select Vestries Acts- direct outcome of the House of Commons Select Committee on the poor laws.
What was the nature of the Sturges-Bourne Acts?
• permissive Act- only applied to those parishes who’s vestries voted to adopt it.
What was the aim of the Sturges-Bourne Acts?
• tie the landowners, gentry and well respected people more firmly into the administration of the poor laws.
What did the 1st Sturges-Bourne Act do?
- established how the voting of of men to the parish select vestries who were responsible for local administration of the poor laws was to work.
- land owners with land worth less than £50 had 1 vote, for every further £25 a man had another vote up to 6 votes maximum.
