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The New Poor Law, 14 August 1834
Taken from Norman Gash, The Age of Peel (London, Edward Arnold, 1973),
with the kind permission of Professor Gash. Copyright of this document, of
course, remains with him.
The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 was the classic
example of the Whig and Utilitarian
reforming legislation of the period 1831-41. It was framed after the production
of the report of a Royal Commission and received
general parliamentary support. It became law with very little discussion.
The new law introduced an administrative revolution since
- it was within the remit of a central commission not under direct ministerial
or parliamentary control
- it had wide powers to
- establish efficient local administrative units
- supervise the work of locally elected guardians
- prescribe the qualifications of local officials
- it was allowed to make regulations for the general administration of relief.
The Act followed from the recommendations of the earlier report:
- the principle of 'less eligibility' (that workhouse
conditions should be made less preferable than those of the lowest paid
labourer)
- the prohibition of outdoor relief ( relief outside the workhouse)
- the segregation of different classes of paupers (including the separation
of married couples)
- the abolition of the 'rate-in-aid' (grants to supplement
low wages).
In the short term it proved impossible to apply these principles in the northern
and midland industrial districts. As early as 1837 the commissioners modified
their instructions to permit outdoor relief at Nottingham,
where the building of the new workhouse coincided with a period of acute unemployment;
in 1841 a general order was issued to a number of northern unions prescribing
rules for the administration of outdoor relief to able-bodied men, half of
which was to be in foodstuffs such as bread and potatoes, in return for some
form of supervised work. In practice the local boards of guardians in both
town and country enjoyed great freedom
in the administration of relief and people were able to obtain relief outside
the workhouses.
In 1841, 1,300,000 people were in receipt of relief but only 192,000 were
in workhouses, the remaining 1,108,000 being given outdoor relief. Of the
£3,884,000 spent in poor relief from rates, only £892,000 was
used in the workhouses, while nearly £3 million was spent in outdoor
relief.
4 & 5 Will. IV cap. 76
It shall be lawful for His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, by Warrant under
the Royal Sign Manual, to appoint Three fit Persons to be Commissioners to carry
this Act into execution.…
- … the said Commissioners shall be styled 'The Poor
Law Commissioners for England and Wales'; and the said Commissioners,
or any Two of them, may sit, from Time to Time as they deem expedient, as
a Board of Commissioners for carrying this Act into execution.…
- … the said Commissioners shall once in every Year, submit to One of
the Principal Secretaries of State a general Report of their Proceedings;
and every such general Report shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament.…
- … from and after the passing of this Act the Administration of Relief
to the Poor throughout England and Wales, according to the existing
Laws, or such Laws as shall be in force at the Time being, shall be subject
to the Direction and Control of the said Commissioners; and for executing
the Powers given to them by this Act the said Commissioners shall and are
hereby authorized and required, from Time to Time as they shall see Occasion,
to make and issue all such Rules, Orders, and Regulations for the Management
of the Poor, for the Government of Workhouses and the Education of the Children
therein, and for the Management of Parish Poor Children.…
- … no General Rule of the said Commissioners shall operate or take effect
until the Expiration of Forty Days after the same, or a Copy thereof, shall
have been sent, signed and sealed by the said Commissioners, to One of His
Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State; and if... His Majesty, with the
Advice of His Privy Council, shall disallow the same or any Part thereof,
such General Rule, or the Part thereof so disallowed, shall not come into
operation.…
- … it shall be lawful for the said Commissioners… by and with the
Consent in Writing of a Majority of the Guardians of any Union, or with the
Consent of a Majority of the Rate-payers and Owners of Property… to order
and direct the Overseers or Guardians of any Parish or Union not having a
Workhouse or Workhouses to build a Workhouse or Workhouses…
- XXVI. … it shall be lawful for the said Commissioners, by Order under
their Hands and seal, to declare so many Parishes as they may think fit to
be united for the Administration of the Laws for the Relief of the Poor, and
such Parishes shall thereupon be deemed a Union for such Purpose, and thereupon
the Workhouse or Workhouses of such Parishes shall be for their common Use.…
- …where any Parishes shall be united by Order or with the Concurrence
of the said Commissioners… a Board of Guardians of the Poor for such
Union shall be constituted and chosen, and the Workhouse or Workhouses of
such Union shall be governed, and the Relief of the Poor in such Union shall
be administered, by such Board of Guardians; and the said Guardians shall
be elected by the Rate-payers, and by such Owners of Property in the Parishes
forming such Union as shall in manner herein-after mentioned require to have
their Names entered as entitled to vote as Owners in the Books of such Parishes
respectively; and the said Commissioners shall determine the Number and prescribe
the Duties of the Guardians to be elected in each Union, and also fix a Qualification
without which no Person shall be eligible as such Guardian.…
- … if the said Commissioners shall, by any Order under their Hands and
Seal, direct that the Administration of the Laws for the Relief of the Poor
of any single Parish should be governed and administered by a Board of Guardians,
then such Board shall be elected and constituted, and authorized and entitled
to act, for such single Parish, in like Manner.…
- … the said Commissioners may and are hereby authorized, by Writing
under their Hands and seal, to make Rules, Orders, and Regulations, to be
observed and enforced at every Workhouse already established.…
- … it shall be lawful for the said Commissioners… to direct the
Overseers or Guardians of any Parish or Union… to appoint such paid Officers
with such Qualifications as the said Commissioners shall think necessary for
superintending or assisting in the Administration of the Relief and Employment
of the Poor.…
- …the said Commissioners may… as and when they shall think proper,
by Order under their Hands and Seal, either upon or without any Suggestion
or Complaint in that Behalf from the Overseers or Guardians of any Parish
or Union, … remove any Master of any Workhouse, or Assistant Overseer,
or other paid Officer of any Parish or Union whom they shall deem unfit…
or incompetent.…
- And whereas a Practice has obtained of giving Relief to Persons or their
Families who, at the Time of applying for or receiving such Relief, were wholly
or partially in the Employment of Individuals, and the Relief of the able-bodied
and their Families is in many Places administered in Modes productive of Evil
in other respects: And whereas Difficulty may arise in case any immediate
and universal Remedy is attempted to be applied in the Matters aforesaid;
be it further enacted, That from and after the passing of this Act it shall
be lawful for the said Commissioners, by such Rules, Orders, or Regulations
as they may think fit, to declare to what Extent and for what Period the Relief
to be given to able-bodied Persons or to their Families in any particular
Parish or Union may be administered out of the Workhouse of such Parish or
Union, by Payments in Money, or with Food or Clothing in Kind, or partly in
Kind and partly in Money, and in what Proportions, to what Persons or Class
of Persons, at what Times and Places, on what Conditions, and in what Manner
such Outdoor Relief may be afforded....
- … in case any Person shall wilfully neglect or disobey any of the Rules,
Orders, or Regulations of the said Commissioners or Assistant Commissioners,
or be guilty of any Contempt of the said Commissioners sitting as a Board,
such Person shall, upon Conviction before any Two justices, forfeit and pay
for the First Offence any Sum not exceeding Five Pounds, for the Second Offence
any Sum not exceeding Twenty Pounds nor less than Five Pounds, and in the
event of such Person being convicted a Third Time, such Third and every subsequent
Offence shall be deemed a Misdemeanor, and such Offender shall be liable to
be indicted for the same Offence, and shall on Conviction pay such Fine, not
being less than Twenty Pounds, and suffer such Imprisonment, with or without
hard Labour, as may be awarded against him by the Court by or before which
he shall be tried and convicted.
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