The New Poor Law
- Created by: Isabella
- Created on: 22-04-13 16:59
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- New Poor Law (Poor Law Amendment Act 1834
- Pressures for change
- Rising costs of the Old Poor Law
- Corrupt administrators(Overseers of the Poor)
- The impact of war (Napoleonic wars)
- Concerns about people having "the right to relief"
- Encouraging idleness
- Prevailing theories
- The Report (The Royal Commission)
- Edwin Chadwick and Nassau Senior lead it
- 27 Assistant Commissioners who went around the UK
- Problems with the report
- Written before all questionnaires were returned
- Report written with bias
- Predominately from the South
- 10% of parishes replied to the inquiries
- Recommendations of the Report
- Abolishing relief outside the Work house
- Separate workhouses for different classes of paupers
- Very bad conditions in WHs, so only the really needy would enter
- Unions of 30 parishes formed- Boards of Guardians set up to replace Overseers
- A central authority to administer the law
- The Poor Law Commission
- New central authority, temporary
- Based in London- did not know what was happening in rural areas
- INDEPENDENT from Parliament
- The Three Bashaws of Somerset House
- George Nicholls, former overseer of the poor
- John Shaw Levfevre,lawyer
- Thomas Frankland Lewis, Chairman and former Tory MP
- Implemented in the South first
- Used Assistant Commissioners to implement the law, as a result they became skilled negotiators
- Replaced by the Poor Law Board in 1847, then the Local Government Board in 1871
- The Andover Scandal
- At the Andover Scandal
- Discovered that there was pauper abuse going on, from sexual abuse by the Master (Colin M'Dougal) and his son, to starving paupers sucking bones because they are so hungry
- Bought down the PLC
- The PLC blamed Henry Parker, AC for the area
- This failed because the PLC had reduced the number of ACs from 21 to 9, making his job harder
- Lead to Poor Law Board, which had Government involvement
- The Act: The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834
- Hardly any Parliament opposition
- Stark contrast to the protests and riots when it was implemented
- Set up the Poor Law Commission
- Provisions of the Act
- Central authority to be set up to supervise and regulate the administering of the new law
- Parishes grouped together in unions
- Board s of Guardians for each union
- Outdoor relief discouraged
- Work houses established for each union, in which conditions will be worse then that of the lowest class of labourer living outside the WH
- KEY ELEMENT: LESS ELIGIBILTY
- Opposition
- In the South
- 1835- started implementation
- In the middle of economic recovery
- Still some opposition
- Magistrates/clergy/poor teamed up to oppose it
- Protests in Buckinghamshire when paupers were transported to the new WH
- New workhouses attacked in East Anglia
- Overall success, with good harvests and more or less content workforce
- Influential citizens used their positions to rebel against the implementation
- In the North
- Cyclical employment rife
- Started in 1837 in an economic meltdown against advice of EC
- Large opposition from all sides
- Anti- PL Associations sprung up
- Radicals and Tories joined together to oppose it
- Armed riots and mobs in many cities, Army was called in
- Outdoor relief continued
- In the South
- Pressures for change
- Bought down the PLC
- Opposition
- In the South
- 1835- started implementation
- In the middle of economic recovery
- Still some opposition
- Magistrates/clergy/poor teamed up to oppose it
- Protests in Buckinghamshire when paupers were transported to the new WH
- New workhouses attacked in East Anglia
- Overall success, with good harvests and more or less content workforce
- Influential citizens used their positions to rebel against the implementation
- In the North
- Cyclical employment rife
- Started in 1837 in an economic meltdown against advice of EC
- Large opposition from all sides
- Anti- PL Associations sprung up
- Radicals and Tories joined together to oppose it
- Armed riots and mobs in many cities, Army was called in
- Outdoor relief continued
- In the South
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