The Victorian Poor Law in Crisis and Change: Southampton, 1870–1895

Abstract

The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 signaled a revolution that was more apparent than real. Studies of the operation of the Act have shown that enforcement was neither complete nor uniform; local authorities failed to build the workhouses required by the Act and were therefore unable to make the invidious but (according to the Act) essential distinction between paupers (people destitute enough to qualify to enter these institutions), and the merely poor, who were supposed to fend for themselves. Instead, Guardians continued to give allowances from the poor rates without requiring that the recipients become paupers and enter the workhouse. While the English Poor Law between 1834 and 1860 was characterized by a situation of administrative variety and confusion as unions failed to comply with the 1834 Act, the economic crises of the 1860s produced important reforms: the Union Chargeability Act (1865) improved financing; many unions built modern workhouses; at the same time, collateral care for the needy such as the aged began to emerge within the Poor Law. Then in 1870 the central Poor Law authority announced a policy of strict enforcement, recommending the suspension of outdoor relief to the able-bodied, a far-reaching change in Poor Law practice.