Opposition to the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834

Authors

Janae Lakey, Brigham Young University

Keywords

Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, opposition to, Anti-Poor Law Movement

Abstract

According to John Bull, "I repeat, I consider this New Poor Act a most cruel, a most unjust, and injurious enactment." John Bull expressed the frustration and injustice many Englishmen felt toward the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, or the new Poor Law. Before this statute, the Poor Law Act of 1601, otherwise known as the 43d Elizabeth or the Old Poor Law, governed poor relief. According to this law, parish guardians supported their own poor with funds extracted from parish residents. Their responsibilities included assigning pauper children to apprenticeships to learn skillful trades and giving relief to the sick and poor who could not work. By the early nineteenth century, many members of Parliament viewed pauperism as a curable disease. They considered the Old Poor Law a source of evil in England that perpetuated poverty at ever-increasing costs. On August 14, 1834, a new Poor Law transferred poor relief to a centralized government agency controlled by three commissioners. This law stipulated that if a man wanted poor relief, he had to enter a workhouse and submit to his family being separated. The introduction of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 met vast opposition from members of Parliament. The working class of England also opposed it, professing that the use of a centralized government agency and the use of workhouses violated paupers' rights to relief. After the Act passed, the anti-Poor Law movement continued to fight for the repeal of the Law, but ultimately failed in doing so.

Recommended Citation

Lakey, Janae (2006) "Opposition to the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834," The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing: Vol. 35: Iss. 1, Article 10.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thetean/vol35/iss1/10