poverty and pauperism

poor releif before 1834

• examples, → roundsman system, speedhamland system, controlled by JP’S and local parishes to distrobute outdoor relief

• the poor relief was ineffective due to a mulitude of reasons within the changing contextual factors within england

• ST relief became ineffective when faced with long term poverty due to high level of unemployment in the south

• urbansation ment that parishes were unequally distrobuted with people and overall had lead to an increase in poverty

• corns laws and economical failures made speedhamland system ineffective

the royal commision 1832

• chadwick and senoir

• a scientific approach to research used

• determing that the system was completely inaffiecent - proposed a complete change

• validity of this report however…?? possible already written before it was published

attitudes towards the poor

• increase in a hositle attuide towards poverty from the upper and middle classes

• possibly steaming more from their internalisation of fears of poverty

• dividing an ideology of those deemed ‘desrving’ poor whom had legitmate reasons for poverty compared to the ‘undeserving poor’ whom were lazy and exploiting the outdoor releif service

• led to the ideology of ‘less elgibilty’

• also a more ‘self help’ ideology amoung the middle classes

• but on a broader contextual scale it was the driver of the lassiez faire attitude

ideological pressures

• THOMAS PAINE → in support of helping the poor, rights of man, 1791. he had progressive views that it was the state which was failing the poor rather than it being the poors fault. signifacant amoungst working class and some radical mc, however not a widley held perpective

• BENTHAM → spread of the utiltirian ideology of maximsing pleasure and minmising pain for the greatest majoirty. so it would mean that the poor suffering at the expesnive for the dominant class

finacal pressures for poor law reform

• outdoor relief became increasingly more expensive to fund due to the increase of longer term unemployment

• post 1815, corn laws and general econmical depression ment increased poverty but also clinging onto money in order to protect oneself - riccardo wage fund theory

• the middle classes and upper classes did not view it as their moral obligation but instead a hinderance

• 1819 - 23 → outdoor releif costing 11s 7d per person

the features of the poor law ammendment act 1834

• poor law commision created in order to oversee and govern the poor, making a more organsised, symetical and controlled system of administration

• outdoor relief is banned

• creation of workhouses - 100 by 1839

• all under the ideology of ‘less eligibilitly’

expeirnces of the workhouses

• less eligibitly - made the condtions within the workhouse worse on the inside compared to outside to stop people claming releif acting as a detterant

• numintomus work such as unpicking rope, bone removal

• meals also plain, bread and gruel which were not nutrious

• depersonalsation through everything being made a punishment, e.g splitting up of families

• 1851 - 1866 → 100 workhouses built

the continuation of outdoor relief

• outdoor relief still countinued mainly due to the finical issues which they new system contained, depiste tryning to fix old issues it eneded up leading to the creation of more finncal issues within the system

• workhouses became cyciclar, where during times of econmonical hardship they would be full and times of prospering they would be empty

• which overall put more pressure upon poor rates

• 50-100% more expensive at times

• 1862 - indoor relief was 2x more expesnive

oppositions to the new poor laws

• although changes had been made, this was not similatnously well recived particuarrly amoungst the working class but also a growth of more sympathy from the middle + upper classes

• south → bedfordshire 1835 riots led to the riot act being called upon, this drastic reaction thus highlighting the poors complete distaste to the new reforms. the south however, was easily forceably subdued into submission because the mass employmenet needed indoor relief

• north → 1837 riots in bradford, the north was far more sucessful in its pressures agaisnt in door relief because the nature of industrial work ment brief unemploymement rather than long term. so they were far more hostile to this new delveration of poor releif

movement within government also began to occur highlightning the change to a later more overall moral approach to poverty

• torys → didnt want the government to have too much influnece on society and maintain a lassiez faire attuide

• radical mp - micheal salder and richard oastler, public speeches and formation of the anti poor law movmement

• overal these governmental opposition although small, did weigh into a high consideration both within society and government over the nature of poor relief

andover workhouse + signifcance

• 1845

• scandel emergies after being reported to a local mp over the conditions within the workhouses

• abuse from master and mistress, poor condtions generally, also hungry that they were picking meat of bones being smashed

• later → 1848 huddersfield workhouses scandel (led to reform for the medical faclities and the workhouses to be made seperate)

• reponse to 1845 → government reponse

• board law board set up in order to increase regulation within workhouses showing a shift to a more observable one to the poor

• societial shift → large publicity and cases as such reminded the upper classes of their place in society looking after the poor

the growth of charity and self help

• the chairty organsation 1869 investitgation into whom needed relief → can be said however to have occured due to the fears of the poor becoming too reliant and still pushed towards a differentation between the poor

• self help → ideology of the middle class whom where tryning to push this onto the working class as well

• role of individuals → e.g angela burdett couts and her philanprohy movement, although not the first person or perhaps the most impactful directly on the poor (since she was only helping the most vunraible e.g urnia cottage 1847 for ‘fallen women’). she created a more rational approach, creating a moral obligiation which those in society have to look after the poor

• however → cannot generalise and say that all of attuides towards poverty where chaning as there was still only a focus on those deemed as

• government →

• 1852 outdoor relief regulation order more proactive attuide towards poverty and understanding of regional differences as well

• metropolotian poor act 1867 → seperation of medical faclitlies

• overall a moderate shift began to occur fron government because of the growth of upper society changing their attuides towards the poor and being more compassionate which led the government to further reenforce this with acts to refeclt society

charles dickens

• 1837 wrote oliver twist which detalied the bleakness of life in the workhouses for many children

• he was a campaigner for the poor whom wrote from his own expriences of being in a workhouse when he was younger

• published serially leading to be both widely read and easitly accessible, meaning it had a larger impact upon society more generally. but also being published in the context of the ongoing deabtes with the issuses of the system, it helped to renforce the horros as to what was going on thus fixing a mindset of sympathy towards the poor by forcing people to think about ot

Elizabeth gaskell

• similar to chalres dickens in the fact that she was a writer and published in the same way

• mary barton 1848 which detialed the working condtions

• by writting with an underlying poltical agenda in fiction it helped to conceal this and get past sedtious writting laws leading to messages being more widely spread

samual smiles

• the emboyment of the middle class strive towards the support of the self help principle for the poor

• he was a self made man whom offered support with soultions on how to fix

• self help 1859 book published with 250,000 copies being sold which detialed a self determination to get oneself out of poverty

• well regarded by the upper classes → both the moral argument but also wanting to reform the fincal adminstation as his methods would be 50% more cheaper