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The purpose of passing the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act was to reduce the poor rates in order to keep the new electors happy. The vote had been given to many of the middle classes by the 1832 Reform Act and these men were unhappy about the levels of the poor rates; it was thought that the existing poor laws encouraged idleness among the working classes. The following table shows how effective the PLAA was: however, it did nothing to alleviate the distress or the poverty that existed.
| UNIONS | in 1831 |
Expenditure £ |
Year ending 25 March 1838 £ |
Decrease £ |
| Alnwick | 17,263 |
6,888 |
6,452 |
436 |
| Belford | 6,422 |
2,326 |
1,994 |
332 |
| Bellingham | 6,530 |
3,195 |
2,619 |
576 |
| Berwick | 28,782 |
8,442 |
6,861 |
1581 |
| Castle Ward | 15,539 |
5,754 |
4,672 |
1,082 |
| Glendale | 13,856 |
5,683 |
4,367 |
1,316 |
| Haltwhistle | 5,634 |
1,977 |
1,576 |
401 |
| Hexham | 27,271 |
8,832 |
7,912 |
920 |
| Morpeth | 14,340 |
5,329 |
4,874 |
455 |
| Newcastle | 54,991 |
15,049 |
13,953 |
1,096 |
| Rothbury | 7,715 |
3,689 |
3,305 |
384 |
| Tynemouth | 47,715 |
13,140 |
11,787 |
1,353 |
from the Report of the Poor Law Commissioners. 1838.
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Last modified
4 March, 2016
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