Labourers are Revolting
Penalising the Poor and a Political Reaction in the Brixworth Union, Northamptonshire, 1875–1885
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12243259 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Elizabeth T Hurren (0000-0002-2691-3081, Northampton College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2000 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 37-55 |
| Publication date | 2000-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Rural History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0956-7933 • E-ISSN: 1474-0656 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0956793300001898 |
| OpenAlex | W2029380847 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 24 |
Throughout the nineteenth century one of the main issues that preoccupied central government policy-makers was how poverty should be dealt with, in order to reduce poor relief expenditure. The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, as Karel Williams argues, aimed to introduce a general rule against out-door relief by substituting instead a workhouse test that sought to deter paupers with its axiom of ‘less eligibility’. In practice, as Williams explains, regulations only stipulated that a workhouse test was to be strictly applied in the case of able-bodied male applicants and this gave unions the discretion to award out-door relief to other types of pauper. For example a number of unions continued to grant small out-door relief allowances to the aged, widows and infirm on medical out-door relief orders. Others found that it was not possible to follow poor relief guide-lines because they did not have the workhouse capacity to relieve all pauper applicants before the 1860s. This was because a comprehensive administrative infrastructure was not put in place in most unions until after the passing of the Union Chargeability Act of 1865. Once workhouse capacity had been improved with the creation of dispensaries and new medical wards, central government expected out-door poor relief expenditure to decrease. Consequently, in 1870 concern was expressed when they calculated that only 15 per cent of paupers were relieved within workhouses. A new discourse on the causes of poverty, as outlined by organisations such as the Charity Organisation Society, demanded that stricter poor relief regulations should be implemented
Bureaucracy · Discretion · Economics · Government (linguistics · Political science · Politics · Poor law · Poor relief · Poorhouse · Poverty · Sociology · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Public Administration · Social Issues and Policies
Citizen, State, and Social Welfare in Britain 1830–1990
The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy
The Relief of Poverty, 1834–1914
The Foundations of the Welfare State
The Emergence of the Welfare State in Britain and Germany 1850–1950
The Evolution of the British Welfare State
The Evolution of the British Welfare State
The Origins of British Social Policy
Rethinking the Debates on the Poor Law in Early Nineteenth-Century England
I Am Not My Father's Keeper
The Decline of Social Welfare
Workhouse to Nursing Home
Poor law policy, unemployment, and pauperism
The landed interest and the New Poor Law
Social History, Political History And Political Science
The Working Class and State ‘Welfare’ in Britain, 1880–1914
Parties, Members and Voters after 1867
English Poor Law Policy and the Crusade Against Outrelief
Leadership and Power in Victorian Industrial Towns, 1830-80
Life, Death and the Elderly
"The "Revolt of the Field
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,08 |
| Citation span | 2001 - 2006 (6) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |