The Poor Law
The Poor Law was the way that the poor were helped in 1815. The law said that each parish had to look after its own poor. If you were unable to work then you were given some money to help you survive. However, the cost of the Poor Law was increasing every year. By 1830 it cost about £7 million and criticism of the law was mounting.
The money was raised by taxes on middle and upper class people, causing resentment. They complained that money went to people who were lazy and did not want to work.
Critics also suggested that allowance systems made the situation worse because they encouraged poor people to have children that they could not afford to look after.
Another criticism of the old Poor Law was that it kept workers’ wages low because employers knew that wages would be supplemented by money provided by the Poor Law.
The 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act
In 1834 the Poor Law Amendment Act was passed by Parliament. This was designed to reduce the cost of looking after the poor as it stopped money going to poor people except in exceptional circumstances. Now if people wanted help they had to go into a workhouse to get it. The poor were given clothes and food in the workhouse in exchange for several hours of manual labour each day. Families were split up inside the workhouse. People had to wear a type of uniform, follow strict rules and were on a bad diet of bread and watery soup. Conditions were made so terrible that only those people who desperately needed help would go there.
Reactions to the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act
Landowners, including Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington, supported the Act.
James Kay-Shuttleworth (a progressive doctor and Poor Law Commissioner) supported the act because he believed that people were poor because of their own foolishness.
In Andover it was reported that people living in the workhouse were starving to death and were trying to eat the bones that they were crushing as part of their work. Because of this and similar reports the government introduced stricter rules about conditions in the workhouse as well making inspections.
People like Richard Oastler (a political campaigner) wrote pamphlets and letters to newspapers describing the Poor Law Amendment Act as cruel and unchristian. Oastler described the workhouses as “”prisons for the poor””.
The poor became scared of the threat of having to move into a workhouse for help. In north England they rioted and attacked workhouses.
Many people thought that the act was wrong as it seemed to punish people who were poor through no fault of their own, for example the sick or the old.
Many local officials felt that the old system worked well as it was. The taxes that people had to pay to look after the poor were low and the system was adapted to the local area. Many were also unhappy with what they saw as interference by people from London.
Anti-Poor Law committees were set up to fight against the Poor Law Amendment Act. They organised meetings and petitions calling for the act to be repealed.
Revision tip and answer preparation
Revision tip
Make a spider diagram using the notes in this Revision Bite to outline all the different reactions to the Poor Law Amendment Act. Include as much detail as you can.
Answer preparation
Think about the arguments and facts you would use to explain why different people have different reactions to the Poor Law Amendment Act.
— source bbc.co.uk