The Poor Law Commission
A New Digital Resource for Nineteenth-century Domestic Historians
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4494879 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Paul Carter (0000-0003-1884-9988, National Archives), Natalie Whistance (National Archives) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 71 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 29-48 |
| Publication date | 2011-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History Workshop Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1363-3554 • E-ISSN: 1477-4569 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/hwj/dbq052 |
| OpenAlex | W2003477308 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 1 |
Throughout the opening decades of the nineteenth century central govern-ment was bombarded with pamphlets, speeches and general political pres-sures to investigate and reform the operation of the poor laws.1 Yet root and branch national poor law reform was never attempted. It was from the widespread violence in much of southern England (and elsewhere in the country) in 1830-31 that renewed concern developed about how poor relief was administered. The ‘Swing Riots ’ and the coming to power of a new Whig government precipitated the Commission of Enquiry into the Poor Laws in 1832, although a disposition to reform was already detect-able.2 The resulting investigation was the largest and most detailed socio-logical investigation at that time. Twenty-six investigators visited around 3,000 parishes and townships (out of 15,000) throughout England and Wales, mainly in late 1832. These assistant commissioners were aided by an elaborate questionnaire referring to, amongst other things, pauper costs, population size, number of labourers required, the presence of Scottish and
Commission · Political science · Resource (disambiguation) · Computer Science · Cultural History and Identity Formation · History · Law
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,14 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2020 (9) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |