Britain in 1900
• Problem of Poverty
in 1900
• Changing attitudes
• Liberal Reforms
• Assessment of
reforms
Britain in 1900
Huge slum tracts in the
big cities testified to the
social divide
• Rich and Powerful
country due to
industrial
revolution
• Politics dominated
by Conservative
and Liberal Parties
• wealth in the
hands of small
group
Working class housing in Liverpool in the
early 1900s
The Gorbals: Small children by midden in back court
Role of the government
• ‘laissez faire’- the
state should not
interfere in the lives
of the people or in the
economy
• Small role to:
• Provide limited
education, health, help
for the poor control of
Tenement housing in Whittle Street, Liverpool 1902
workplace
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1917452.stm
The Poor Law System
• Government did not
provide much help to
poor people
• Help for the poor was
called relief
• Outdoor relief:help
given in their home
• Indoor relief :help
given in the workhouse
or poorhouse
Tonbridge workhouse women's ward, c. 1897
Tonbridge workhouse female inmates 1897.
The Poor Law System
• You had to prove
you were poor
• Life was made
harsh so that it
was less likely to
be chosen over the
lowest paid job
• No help for able
bodied (fit)
Brighton Workhouse
Day
Breakfast
Dinner
Supper
Sunday
Milk Porridge
Boiled Beef or Pork
Cheese & Butter
Monday
Gruel
Soup of leftovers
Milk Porridge
Tuesday
Milk Porridge
Beef Pudding
Cheese & Butter
Wednesday
Gruel
Boiled Beef or Pork
Milk Porridge
Thursday
Milk Porridge
Soup of leftovers
Cheese & Butter
Friday
Gruel
Meat pudding
Milk Porridge
Saturday
Milk Porridge
Irish Stew
Gruel
Was the Poor House successful?
Workhouse near
Glasgow
• Could not cope with
the rising
unemployment or
poverty
• Hated by the poor
most shunned the poor
house (90%)
• Work inside was
boring, disciplined
• Families separated
Why was it so harsh?
• Should encourage
the poor to look
for work
• Forced to look
after themselves
• Those in poverty
must be idle,
spending to much
or drunk
•
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/
Close, No. 157 Bridgegate, Glasgow