General knowledge

• Describe the role of the Parish in administering the Poor Law before 1834 (3 marks).


  -set the Poor Rate (a compulsory tax which was used to provide relief for the poor)

  -determined who was eligible for relief

  -decided how much relief to give

  -decided what sort of relief should be given, eg indoor or outdoor

  -categorised the poor.
• Describe who the ‘overseers of the poor’ typically were and explain how they were chosen (2

  marks).

  ▪ This work was often given to the churchwardens, local farmers and respectable homeowners.

  ▪ They were unpaid, non-professionals.

  ▪ 1-2 in each parish newly appointed each year

  ▪ Overseers were appointed by local Justices of the Peace.
• Summarise the Settlement Act of 1662


  • Settlement Act 1662 said that the parish responsible for administering poor relief was the one in which the individual was born, married, served an apprenticeship or married.
• Weaknesses of settlement act 1662


  • These laws were never employed consistently.

  • Difficult to introduce with as the population increased and were more likely to move around the

  country (eg after Industrial Revolution).

  • There was a huge amount of squabbling and litigation between parish overseers and the paupers.

  • Strangers could be removed from a parish if they tried to claim and weren’t eligible. Therefore

  removals were common.
• List 2 advantages of the Poor Law administration before 1834 


  • Poor Rates could be spent by parish on local needs (different poverty in countryside/city)

  • Someone you knew providing the relief

  • Local people would be able to distinguish genuine needy and not

  • Overseers frequently replaced
• List 2 disadvantages of the Poor Law administration before 1834


  • Class relationships – lower classes reliant on upper

  • Local crisis – eg. bad harvest – would effect relief given

  • Overseers frequently replaced

  • Overseers not skilled

  • Personal grievances could impact on relief

  • Others funding poor relief from tax – resentment

  • Settlement Laws were not applied consistently

  • Settlement Laws difficult to enforce
• Give 3 reasons why indoor relief was attractive to the Parish. 


  • They were cheaper to run/maintain for the parish then ‘outdoor relief’

  • Parishes could amalgamate their work with other parishes –‘Unions’.

  • Paupers were typically put off entering the workhouse. Knatchbull’s ‘Workhouse Test Act’ introduced in 1723 which enforced the principle of ‘less eligibility’
• Another 2 reasons why indoor relief was attractive to the parish


  • There were opportunities to privatise workhouses. Parishes paid private contractors or ‘farmers’ to run the workhouses. This bought down the cost of looking after the parish poor.

  • Some workhouses could also generate their own incomes by selling goods made by the inmates. The aim was to make poor relief self-supporting.
• Workhouse reforms Gilbert Unions

  • Parishes were allowed to combine to create ‘Unions’ if two-thirds of the poor ratepayers agreed.
  • Guardians were required to submit annual expenditure returns.
  • Ministers and churchwardens were required to provide information about local charities that also provided poor relief.
• Workhouse reforms under Sturges-Bourne Act

  • Set up a new voting system for those in the parish. When choosing the ‘overseers’ or ‘guardians, parishioners could vote, with their vote counting for more, if they had a higher status.
  • Added a resident clergyman to be a member of the vestry. This member of the clergy would decide, based on his knowledge of the parish, whether the poor were ‘deserving’ or ‘underserving’.
• 1 advantage of indoor relief before 1834


  Provided relief to approx. 90,000 paupers; had to also advise on charity support; economic

  benefits for parish therefore meaning the parish was likely to apply relief; opportunity to combine

  responsibility also meant parish more likely to do
• 1 disadvantage of paupers of indoor relief before 1834


  Cheap therefore conditions in workhouse deteriorate; poor relief often refused to the genuine needy; very few moral obligations became law; still not the most common type of relief
• 2 reasons why outdoor relief was not attractive to the Parish


  • Outdoor relief not as cost effective as indoor relief.

  • Outdoor relief requires the skilled work of professionals.

  • Parishes could not amalgamate their work with other parishes. Therefore had all the responsibility.

  • Numbers claiming relief was usually high.

  • No opportunity to generate own income.
• Roundsman

  • Able-bodied paupers were employed by farmers.
  • Some of the pauper’s wage would be paid by the employer (the farmer) and some would be paid by the parish.
• Speenhamland system

  • Established a clear criteria as to who was eligible, by making a link between the price of bread and the number of dependants.
  • Provided relief in the form on cash or goods, such as flour.
  • The system was never given legal backing.
• Labour rates

  • By 1832, about 1 in 5 parishes was operating this system.
  • The parish set a nominal labour rate for able-bodied paupers.
  • The system was corrupt as the farmers would pay whatever was cheaper: the poor rate or the wage.
  • Farmers who employed paupers and paid them the labour rate were exempt from paying the poor rate.
• List 1 advantage and 1 disadvantage of outdoor relief before 1834

  • Lots of able-bodied paupers helped; provides paupers with a skill which can help break the poverty cycle; some guidelines of eligibility; about 1 in 5 parishes operating the systems
  • Regional differences; very dependent on local economy; no legal backing/national consistency; farmers can take advantage of paupers
• Wars with France 


  • Many people resented the Corn Laws which they believed kept the price of bread

  artificially high. There were riots up and down the country.

  • Post-war distress meant that more people than ever claimed poor relief and some

  began to regard relief as a right. This was made worse by returning soldiers.

  • The Poor Laws were condemned as actually being the causes of poverty.

  Recommendations were made for change.
• Swing Riots


  • Petitions and threats signed ‘Captain Swing’ gave the impression of an organised

  revolt. In fact, there was no such thing. However, it was enough for the authorities to believe there was a revolution on their hands.

  • The Swing Riots created a climate where amending the Poor Law was seen as a necessity.
• Regional demands 


  • Parishes were starting to adopt aggressive policies in order to relieve the cost of their relief.

  • The regional differences were significant.

  • The government needed to unite and centralise the system – they should take on the role over local parishes
• Ideological arguements 


  • Claims that Poor Relief should be abolished to break the ‘poverty cycle’.

  • Arguments that Pensions would be better.

  • Factory communities could benefit the poor.
• Utilitarianism 


  • Any society, Bentham argued, should be organised to enable the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest amount of people. He therefore argued that

  poor relief was a public responsibility and there should be no discrimination between the deserving and underserving poor.
• Identify 2 long term and 2 short term concerns that led to the Whig government in 1832 setting up

  an enquiry into the Old Poor Law 


  Long Term Concerns:

  • The increasing cost of poor relief

  • Growing belief that those administrating the Poor Law were corrupt, or exploit the laws for their own benefit

  • Systems such as the Speenhamland, were actually encouraging large families and perpetuating a

  cycle of prosperity. Roundsman did nothing to encourage labourers.

  Short Term Concerns:

  • Swing Riots

  • Wars with France

  • Ideological arguments