The English poor laws, 1700-1930 / Anthony Brundage.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brundage, Anthony, 1938-

Series:

Social history in perspective

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Poor laws--England--History.

Poor laws.

Poor--England--History.

Poor.

Public welfare--England--History.

Public welfare.

History.

England.

Physical Description:

vii, 185 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York : Palgrave, 2002.

Summary:

The English Poor Laws examines the nature and operation of the English poor law system from the early eighteenth century to its termination in 1930. The book traces its development from a localized measure of poor relief designed primarily for rural communities to an increasingly centralized system attempting to grapple with the urgent crises of urban poverty. The deterrent workhouse, medical care, education, assisted emigration, family maintenance, vagrancy and the relationship of the poor laws to private charity are some of the topics covered. The perspectives and reactions of the poor to the workhouse system, as well as to changing relief policies, have also been highlighted. This includes the sometimes spirited opposition of the poor to oppressive features of the law. The relationship of the poor laws to economic development, in both the agrarian and industrial sectors, is also explored, as are the connections of changing relief policies to wider currents of intellectual and social life.

Contents:

1 Introduction: Approaching English Poor Law History 1

A Wealth of Approaches to Poor Law History 3

2 The Poor Laws in the Eighteenth Century: Changing Patterns of Relief in a Maturing Capitalist System 9

The Parochial Basis of the Old Poor Law 9

Poorhouses and Workhouses 10

'Farming Out' and Outdoor Relief 13

Childbirth and Child-rearing 15

Medical Care 17

Attempts to Broaden the Administrative Area 18

Thomas Gilbert's Reforms 21

Open and Close Parishes 22

The Effects of Quickening Economic Change 23

The 1790s: Dearth, War, and the Spectre of Revolution 25

The Allowance System 27

Economists, Philosophers, and Moralists 29

3 Debates, Experiments, and Reforms, 1800-1832 37

Evangelizing the Poor 37

Wartime Privations and the Slowing of Reform 38

The Poor Laws and Economic Development 42

Post-war Dislocations and Demands for Reform 44

Renewed Parliamentary Activity 48

Select Vestries 50

The Nottinghamshire Reformers 52

Poor Relief in the Final Years of the Old Poor Law 55

Captain Swing and the Poor Laws 57

4 The New Poor Law Takes Shape, 1832-1847 61

The Reform Ministry and Poor Relief 61

The Royal Commission on the Poor Laws 62

Passing the New Poor Law 67

The Poor Law Commissioners Assume Authority 69

Creating Poor Law Unions and Boards of Guardians 71

Workers' Resistance to the New Poor Law 74

The Workhouse and the Strategy of Deterrence 75

Anti-Poor Law Politics and Chartism 82

Poor Relief in the Hungry Forties 84

The Andover Scandal and the End of the Poor Law Commission 87

5 Mid-Victorian Poor Relief, 1847-1870 90

The Poor Law Board 90

Expanding Poor Law Services: Education 92

Expanding Poor Law Services: Medical Care 96

Treatment of the Insane 99

Migration, Emigration, and Vagrancy 100

Changes in Settlement and Rating 102

The Increasingly Urban Character of Poor Relief 104

The Growing Alarm over Outdoor Relief 107

6 The Revival of Deterrence and the Expansion of Services, 1870-1900 110

The Local Government Board and Poor Relief 110

Organized Charity, the Poor Law, and the Crusade against Outdoor Relief 112

The War on Vagrants 117

The Changing Nature and Uses of the Workhouse 120

Family Maintenance on Poor Relief 122

Democratizing the Boards of Guardians 124

Women Guardians and Poor Law Officials 127

New Definitions of Poverty 130

7 The Eclipsing and Transforming of the Poor Law, 1900-1930 133

Labour and Poor Relief: the first Phase of Poplarism 133

The Royal Commission on the Poor Laws, 1905-1909 135

The Liberal Government's New Array of Social Services 140

The Impact of the Great War on the Poor Law 143

Post-war Crises and the Revival of Poplarism 145

Neville Chamberlain and the Struggle with the Guardians 147

The End of the Boards of Guardians 150

The Persistence of the Poor Law 152.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 170-179) and index.

ISBN:

033368270X

0333682718

OCLC:

47074761