Poor Law

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The Poor Law was an early form of social welfare in Great Britain which sought to stamp out rural poverty from 1601 to the early twentieth century.

The Poor Law defined the poor as belonging to one of three groups: the impotent poor - the sick, the elderly and orphaned children; the able-bodied poor - those temporarily out of work; and vagabonds - those assumed capable of work but who wouldn't. Many people thought that the Poor Law encouraged vagrancy and thought relief should only be for the first two groups, the indigent and destitute, and beggars were often ignored or punished for vagrancy.

The Origins of the Poor Law

A 1601 statute enabled a parish overseer to determine in conjunction with magistrates, Justices of the Peace and the local landed gentry who was deserving of relief. In 1662 the Act of Settlement forced the poor to return to their parish of origin to qualify for relief. Gilbert's Act of 1782 incorporated parishes so there wouldn't be a separate system in each parish, and only gave assistance to the indigent poor. Some parishes gave the poor money, others food, clothing and coal. Each different system was well-intentioned but all were misused and criticised.

Problems with the 'Old' Poor Law

After the end of the French Wars of 1793 - 1815 grain prices rose and the economy fell. Men were returning from war and there were no jobs available. There was a reduced market for goods - no more uniforms or armaments were being made, the government was no longer buying food to feed the army, and the French blockade on imports ended. The number of dependents of the Poor Law grew as legitimate or illegitimate children were also covered, leading to 'unmoral' behaviour and the lessening of social stigma on illegitimate children. This led to the Speenhamland system1 of 'outdoor relief', which allowed for the poor to receive food or clothing without being forced into institutions or workhouses. The amount of relief offered rose or fell depending on number of children and the price of bread. Some parishes excluded the poor, which forced them to neighbouring parishes, which subsequently went bankrupt. The poor population was growing and the capacity for small towns and villages to deal with the numbers was diminishing.

Impetus to change

Many people wanted to see the system of poor relief changed. The people paying for the Poor Law generally came from the areas worst affected, and they were barely above the poverty line themselves. Moral reformers also wanted a change, as they thought the Poor Law encouraged 'bastardy'. Adherents of the Malthusian doctrine believed that that the Poor Law artificially supported the poor against what was seen as a 'natural' check on population. Thomas Malthus believed that the population would increase exponentially while food production could only increase gradually, and population would eventually be checked by natural disaster (specifically famine). Jeremy Bentham, a humanitarian known as a supporter of equal rights for women, animal rights, abolition of slavery and decriminalisation of homosexuality, also campaigned for reforms to the Poor Law. He wanted 'the greatest good for the greatest number', a rationally organised, centrally controlled and punitive administrative system to support those in need while discouraging people from accepting assistance unless they were in dire need. Edwin Chadwick and Nassau William Senior led the 1832 Royal Commission into the Operation of the Poor Laws which concluded that the Poor Law was one of the causes of poverty, and suggested that outdoor relief be discontinued, so applicants would be required to enter workhouses in order to qualify for help. William Cobbett and Lord Winford were opposed, but the majority of the parliament was in favour of the amendment and the bill quickly became law.

New Poor Law

The parishes were united into larger 'Poor Law units', in which local magistrates, JPs and the gentry had far less power. The Poor Law Commission was based in London and the parishes were administered equally. 'Least eligible assistance' was established, which based the rate of poor relief at a lower level than what the poorest worker could earn on his own. This kept many people close to starvation. To receive poor relief families were broken up, and children, men and women were each sent to different workhouses, which were made deliberately unpleasant in order to discourage people from depending on the Poor Law.

In the north of England the Poor Law system did not work as well as in the south. There were more factories, and therefore more sickness, and in bad times up to 80% of the population of a city or village could be unemployed. This naturally curtailed the effectiveness of workhouses. The same applied in Ireland after the Famine struck. Prior to 1838 there had been no Poor Law in Ireland. Charity was considered to be a private and personal business. The government supplanted the English system in Ireland, but when the famine caused widespread hunger and unemployment, the workhouses could not cope, and crowded conditions caused typhus and cholera.

The Poor Law was slowly replaced by old-age pensions and social security, and was finally abolished in its entirety in 1948.

1The Speenhamland system is named after the village of Speenhamland near Newbury, Berkshire, where the system was adopted by the magistrates in 1795.

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