Poor Law Amendment Act, The New Poor Law

Historical Context Note

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The fruit of two years reflection and consultation by a Royal Commission, the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, often referred to as the New Poor Law, required parishes to combine into unions and establish workhouses where the poor would in effect be incarcerated. Workhouses had been in existence since 1601, but had been under the control of parishes, and the regime they applied was subject to many local inflections and reflected the close relations between those in charge of the institutions and the parishioners who might need to resort to Poor Law support. At times, or so it was believed by the uncharitable, workhouses were used to support the congenitally idle and lazy, rather than the “necessitous poor”, and it was certainly the case that at times they were used to prevent wages…

447 words

Citation: Clark, Robert. "Poor Law Amendment Act, The New Poor Law". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 December 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=2043, accessed 28 March 2024.]

2043 Poor Law Amendment Act, The New Poor Law 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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