Theme 2 Less eligibility: The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834-47

What are the strengths of the Royal Commission's Enquiry 1832?

- The different questionnaires recognised the differing needs of rural vs urban parishes
- They had a lot of people to help gather evidence
- Questionnaires and interviews are good techniques to find out information
-It sets a precedent for future nationwide inquiries as it was the first of its kind

Who was involved in the Royal Commission of Enquiry 1832-34?

There were 9 commissioners: Edwin Chadwick being one of the most significant
Edwin Chadwick was a Bethamite
26 assistant commissioners were appointed to collect and collate the data

How was the data for the Royal Commission collected?

3 questionnaires were devised with 2 going to rural areas and 1 going to parish towns
Assistant commissioners were then sent out to a district each to talk to the poor, attend vestry meetings and magistrate's sessions
The questions were skewed to be open to interpretation and elicit the answers required
Many of the interviews were similarly skewed to get predetermined answers
All the information they collected was published by commissioners in 13 volumes of appendices to their report

What was the purpose of the royal commission of enquiry 1832-34?

Its function was to focus on how the Poor Law worked with the intention of reforming it

What were the main aims of the Poor Law policy in 1832?

Reduce the cost of providing relief for the poor
Ensure that only the genuinely destitute received relief
Provide a national system for poor relief

What were the recommendations of the Royal Commission of Enquiry ?

There were radical changes intended to save money and improve efficiency

* Separate workhouses should be provided for the aged and inform, children, able bodied women and able-bodied men


* Parishes should group into unions for the purpose of providing these workhouses
* All relief outside workhouses should stop and conditions inside workhouses should be that no one would willingly enter them (less eligibility)
* A new, central authority should be established, with powers to make and enforce regulations concerning the workhouse system.

What are the weaknesses of Royal Commission's Enquiry 1832?

* It was not likely to the survey and the reports would be unbiased due to their own beliefs


* They visited 3000 parishes which is only 1/5 of the Poor Law districts
* The skewing made it possible to hide the complexity of the Poor Law in order to change it the way they want
* There were limited responses to limited questionnaires
* The complex nature of the evidence would make it difficult to make a challenge to these ideas
\-The inquiry was never meant to be impartial
\-The inquiry won't change the attitudes towards the poor

What influenced the final terms of the 1834 Amendment Act?

They closely reflected the recommendations from the Royal commission
They also followed the recommendations of Parliament

What were the main terms of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act?

1. A central authority should be set up to supervise the implementation and regulate the administration of the Poor Law
2. Parishes were to be grouped together to form Poor Law unions in order to provide relief efficiently
3. Each Poor Law union was to establish a workhouse in which inmates would live in conditions that were worse than those of the poorest independent labourer
4. Outdoor relief for the able bodied was to be discouraged but wasn't abolished

Who actually laid down the programme of reform?

It was not laid down by parliament
Parliament simply set down the administrative arrangements through which the three commissioners were to implement and interpret the act

Who were the commissioners of the Poor Law commission?

Thomas Frankland Lewis
George Nicholls
John Shaw-Leferre
Edwin Chadwich was their secretary and there were 9 assistant commissioners whose job was to ensure decisions made centrally were implemented locally

What were the 2 priorities of the Poor Law commission 1834-47?

Transferring out of work workers in rural areas to urban areas
To protect urban ratepayers from a surge in demand from rural migrants prior to them gaining regular employment

How were the 2 priorities of the Poor Law commission met?

A programme of workhouse construction
The settlement Laws

What happened with the Commission's programme of workhouse construction?

- The setting up of a string of workhouses offering relief to the able-bodied poor would drive potential paupers to find work in towns and cities
- The programme of building deterrent workhouses worked on the assumption that outside relief would be stopped
- The commissioners then tried to forbid outdoor relief by issuing specific parishes in the rural south with orders

What was the 1844 General Outdoor Relief Prohibitory Order?

It applied to all unions and forbade outdoor relief
Implementation was slow particularly in the north where outdoor relief was best for cyclical employment

What happened with the Settlement Laws after 1834?

* The poor rates would be kept low and would not fall disproportionately on the towns in the settlement laws were stringently applied, returning seekers of relief to their home parish
* The settlement laws were seen as necessary to ensure that the cost of maintaining paupers was equal and for workhouses to be true deterrents
* By 1840, 40000 paupers had been removed from the parishes in which they were living and claiming relief back to their parishes of settlement
* They wanted to avoid uproar from urban ratepayers from moving rural paupers into their areas

What are the strengths of the power of the Poor Law commission?

* They can enforce the law by sending directives
* They had a series of negative powers to make reluctant parishes do what they want

What are the limitations of the power of the Poor Law commission?

* The fact that the commission was independent of parliament meant that no one could defend it in the Commons were it was initially attacked


* The settlement laws are even more strict than the Old Poor Law which created more upheaval
* There aren’t many officials to properly enforce and deal with all the issues and they were not respected in the public eye

What were the rules and routines of the workhouses?

* The routine was designed to be unpleasant to deter people from claiming relief
* Upon entry, the pauper family was given a radical inspection and then split up
* Paupers had to wear the workhouse uniform and bathed once a week
* No personal possessions were allowed
* Each day started and ended with prayers

What was the purpose of work in the workhouses?

* To rehabilitate the paupers and restore them to the workforce outside

What was wrong with the purpose of work in the workhouses in practice?

* It had to be local and completed within the workhouse
* It could not diminish the work available for able bodied paupers
* The work done inside the workhouse could not pay more than it cost the workhouse to maintain the pauper

What work did people do within the workhouse?

* Made sacks
* Unravelled rope
* Chopped wood
* Smashed limestone
* Ground animal bones to be used as fertiliser

What was the food and mealtime routine like in the workhouses?

* The supply of food was designed to be just enough to keep them alive while degrading them
* The Poor Law commissioners issued model diets for guardians to choose
* Until 1842 all meals were to be eaten in silence
* The food was of poor quality and was often served stone cold
* Some didn’t even initially allow paupers to use cutlery and they had to use their hands further perpetuating less eligibility

What was discipline like in the workhouses?

* There were frequent records of both verbal and physical abuse as well as instances of sexual abuse
* Some systems of punishments and rewards were set by the Poor Law commissioners with a standard punishment book
* However, a lot more had their own system with no legal backing
* The issue that they had was that the paupers were mobile and could drift in and out of workhouses as they pleased
* This led to random influxes of crime

What happened to children in the workhouses?

* As soon as a child entered the workhouse, their parents had relinquished all responsibility for them
* Attitudes towards children meant they could not be held responsible for their own poverty so the principle of less eligibility did not apply
* They did recieve a better education and healthcare than on the outside
* They were apprenticed to a trade aged 9
* They often became institutionalised and could not cope with the outside world

What was the Great Reform Act (1832)?

* It redistributed the seats to change for the industrialisation of some areas
* The franchise was widened to include small landowners, tenant farmers and shopkeepers
* A uniform franchise was also created

What was the impact of the Great Reform Act (1832) on the Poor Laws?

* This was a reform o f Parliament and more diverse views would have to be represented
* This would have worried those who were concerned about an English revolution like the one in France as more people became politicised

How were the workhouses designed to hold up less eligibility?

* They were designed as a deterrent and to instil discipline
* Splitting up families would have acted as a deterrent to many paupers
* There was a Y form and cruciform which was centrally designed
* They both felt quite prison like and dehumanising

Example of a cruel workhouse master

* George Catch who was a former policeman
* He went from prison to prison inflicting terror
* Boards of guardians gave him excellent testimonials to get rid of him

Example of a kind workhouse master

At a union workhouse in Ashford Kent, it was renowned for its efficiency and compassion and was held up as a model by the commissioners

When he retired, paupers wept as his treatment was unusual

What was opposition to the Poor Law implementation like in the south?

* The Poor Law commissioners began reform here
* There were small outbursts of opposition especially from local officials who saw the centralisation of the Poor Law as unneccessary and disliked the removal of the master-servant relationship
* There was also opposition to the regime and institutionalisation of the workhouse

How did East Anglia disrupt the implementation of the Poor Law?

* Newly built workhouses were attacked
* Influential and wealthy citizens refused to apply the less elgibility rule strictly and instead continued with outdoor relief for able bodied poor

How did Buckinghamshire disrupt the implementation of the Poor Law?

* People protested against the transportation of paupers from St Giles to a new union workhouse in Amersham
* The Riot Act was read and supported with armed Yeomanry and special constables to aid the transportation

Why did Edwin Chadwick urge the Poor Law commissioners to unionise the north early on?

* Because while the economy was stable, there would be less need for relief so they could build the workhouses
* It would also force less opposition if done in prosperous times and so when more people fell into poverty, they would already have the system

Why was 1837 too late to start implementing the new Poor Law in the North?

* They were in a trade depression and so were not perceptive to new systems of relief
* The local commissioners knew what worked in their region: short term outdoor relief and were not anxious to change this

What was the Ten Hours Movement?

The Ten Hours Movement started in the 1830s and advocated for maximum 10 hour days in textile mills

As part of the campaigns, short term committees were set up to press for factory reform

Examples of local uprisings in the North against the new poor law

In Stockport in 1842, the workhouse was attacked and bread was distributed

London troops had to be sent to dispell riots in 1838 in Dewsbury

Armed riots in Oldham, Bradford and Rochdale had to be put down with local militia

The Act wasn’t implemented in Todmorden until 1877 due to the opposition to mill owners