poor law adement act

• when was a royal comission into the Poor Laws set up?

  Feb 1832
• who was the Royal Comission set up?

  Whig government
• what did the Royal Comission do?

  complied data across 2 years and recommended changes
• how many comissioners did the Royal Enquiry have? Who was the most important?

  Edwin Chadwick + Nassua Senior
• what did the 26 Assistants do?

  collected evidence

  • devised 3 questionaires , 2 = rural , 1 = city
• how many parishes did the Assistant comissioners go to?

  3000
• what did the Assistant Comissioner findings after visiting 3000 parishes?

  many parishes didn't want to increase poor relief until paupers had their 3rd or 4th child
• why was the Assistant Commisioners biased?

  interviews skewed , witnesses lead among predetermined paths , questions skewed to elicit required answers
• what did the Royal Comissions path recommend?

  • seperate workhouses into aged , infirm , kids , able-bodied men and women
  • parishes should group into unions for purpose of providing these workhouses
  • relief outside of workhouses should stop , conditions inside workhouse = so bad , nobody wants to go
• what was the aim of the Royal Comissions recommendations?

  • reduce cost of providing poor relief
  • ensure only destitute could get poor relief
  • provide national system of poor relief
• what were the main aims of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act?

  • central authority set up to surpervise implementation and regulation administration of poor law
  • parishes group together to form Poor Law unions
  • each Poor Law union was to establish a workhouse = conditions were worse than that of poorest pauper's conditions
• who were the New Poor Law commission? What was their role?

  • Thomas Frankland Lewis
  • George Nicholas
  • John Shaw-Letvre
  • their role was to administer Poor Law act throughout country
• how many Assistant Commissioners were there?

  9 - they made sure the act was implemented at local level in parishess
• what power did the Commissioners have?

  • could veto appointments they thought unsustainable
  • refuse to allow certain types of buildings
  • set dietarys for workhouses
  • centralise accounting procedures
• what was the aim work of the poor law commission between 1834 and 1847?

  • programme of workhouse construction
  • offered relief to able-bodied on less eligility programme , would drive potential paupers to find work in towns and cities
  • poor rates kept low to ensure protection of urban ratepayers from sudden demand from rural migrants prior to obtaining regular employment
• what role did Edwin Chadwick have on the Poor Law Commission?

  he was secretary to commissioners, still tried to improve his ultitarism ideology onto operation of Poor laws
• who designed the new workhouses?

  Sampson Kempthorne
• describe the two workhouse designs Kempthorne put forward

  • Y-shaped workhouse : hexagon shape , masters room in middle , 300 paupers
  • Cruciform-shaped workhouse : square building , 200-300 paupers
• why did Kempthorne workhouses designs include segregation / division of Paupers?


  segregation allowed deterrance by splitting up families

  • prevented moral contagion that would occur if different categories mixed freely
• what was the effect of segregation in the workhouses?

  paupers lost individuality + treated like impersonal units
• describe the rules of workhouses

  • paupers had to wear uniform
  • weekly bath (watched while doing this)
  • no personal items allowed
  • families seperated
• what work did paupers do?

  • maintance of workhouse
  • women worked as cleaners , childminders and they made sacks and unravelled ropes
• what was pauper's diet like in the workhouse?

  food was stale , mouldy and was very small
• what were the rules around meal-time in workhouse?

  food was eaten in silence

  • paupers had the right to have their food weighed in front of them
• describe discipline and punishments in the workhouses?

  • physical and verbal abuse , bullying , blackmail , sexual abuse
  • punishments for working too slowly , making too many noise
  • paupers recieved different punishments , women = not beaten but rationed
• why did transient paupers present workhouses with a problem?

  could leave workhouse whenever they wanted and only needed to gie 3 hours notice
• describe the treatment of children in the workhouse

  • recieved better education than those outside of workhouse , better medical care and were apprenticed to trade
  • couldn't leave workhouse whenever they wanted
• who were the main types of people who ended up in workhouses?

  young people , vagrants , elderly , children , single women and mentally ill
• who were the master and matron of the workhouse?

  master = responsible for disicipline and economy of workhouse

  matron = responsible for female paupers + domestic side of life
• an example of a cruel master

  George Catch , ex-policeman. Inflicted terror in London workhouses.

  • Boards of Guardians gave him excellent testimonials to get rid of him
  • 1860 - killed himself
• an example of a kind master

  Kent Ashford workhouse master

  • ran by retired naval officer
  • renowned for compassion and Paupers wept when he retired
• 3 rumors that spread about the Poor law

  • all children after the first 3 in a family = killed
  • workhouses = extermination centers , keep poor rates down
  • Book of Murder = believed to be work of Poor Law Commissioners, contained suggestions that Pauper children should be gassed
• 3 genuine fears about the Poor Law

  • replacement of Old Poor Law , new poor law would break traditional paternalistic bonds between rich and poor
  • rural ratepayers worried that programme of workhouse building would lead to higher poor rates
  • ratepayers in northern industrial areas , realised how expensive building workhouses to support all paupers would be
• 2 reasons there was opposition to new poor law in the South of England

  • local magistrates + clergy angered at un needed centralisation
  • also removal of traditonal master-servent relationship with its attendant responsibilities
  • poor = fearful
• an example of opposition in the south

  Buckinghamshire - people rioted when Paupers from Old Workhouses in Chalfont St Giles were transported to new workhouse in Amersham

  • special constables had to be sworn in , armed yeomany put on street
• why was there opposition to new poor Law in the North of England

  • resented interference from London , new Act only bore understanding of rural south
  • law was another attack on working class people
  • people needed short-term relief to help with unemployment period , not being sent to workhouses
• 3 examples of opposition in the North to the poor law?

  • Armed riots in Oldham, Rochdale , Todmorden , Huddersfield - put down by the militia
  • commissioners of Somerset house and their bastiles (rule over people) were denounced
  • Anti-poor law commission set up
  • Stockport 1842 workhouses attacked
• who was Richard Oastler?

  steward of Fixby , a large estate outside Huddersfield , played large role in anti Poor-law movement
• why did Rihcard Oastler oppose the new Poor Law?

  • believed Poor Law commissions were too powerful
  • concerned about parishes grouping into larger units , would do away with personal interaction between giver and reciever of system = depersonalisation of system
  • Commissioners ability to supply factories with cheap agriculture workers would lead to reduction in factory wages and deteration of working class living conditions = more poverty in north
• who was John Fielden?

  A politician - represented northern industrial town of Oldham alongside William Cobbett.