How was the Old Poor Law weakened?
To what extent was the Old Poor Law
effective?
How did the Speenhamland System
1795 respond to local conditions?
What was the Old Poor Law?
Prestructural: The point or concept has not been understood. The
student may have a number of unconnected ideas but cannot
distinguish relevance.
Unistructural: One relevant idea is explained. Can separate relevant
from non-relevant ideas. May be a couple of simple and obvious
connections but their significance isn’t grasped.
Multistructural: Several relevant ideas on the topic. Several
connections may be made but their significance to the whole isn’t
grasped.
Relational: Understands and explains complex relationships related
to the idea or concept. Understands relationship of parts to the
whole.
Extended Abstract: Shows profound understanding. Transfer takes place.
Makes new connections. Can apply to wider contexts and new applications.
What was the
Old Poor Law?
How was the Old Poor Law weakened?
To what extent was the Old Poor Law
effective?
How did the Speenhamland System
1795 respond to local conditions?
What was the Old Poor Law?
Speenhamland: What was it?
• Parishes were responsible for looking after
their own paupers (deserving poor).
• This system would top up the wages of casual
labourers to subsistence level.
• Payments were in line with bread prices.
• It also depended on how many people were in
the family.
An example of the scales of relief
All sums of money are given in £.s.d. (pounds, shillings and pence)- predecimal currency.
Income
When a gallon loaf cost
for
1/-
1/1
1/2
1/3
1/4
1/5
1/6
Single
man
3/0
3/3
3/6
3/9
4/-
4/-
4/3
Husband
and wife
4/6
5/-
5/2
5/6
5/10
5/11
6/3
Husband,
wife and
one child
6/-
6/5
6/10
7/3
7/8
7/10
8/3
Husband,
wife and
two
children
7/6
8/0
8/6
9/-
9/6
9/9
10/3
Benefits and problems of the system?
Benefits and problems of the system
• Short term.
• Prevented riots like there had
been in France.
• Prevented starvation.
• Damaged personal pride and
self-respect
• Encouraged lazy workers.
• Encouraged high bread
prices.
• Encouraged low wages
• Encouraged large families.
• The Parish had little control
over rising costs.
The Old Poor Law: Industrialisation and
Poverty
This was the Poor Law which continues
to operate until 1834, by which time
Britain was undergoing a radical
transformation. Society was becoming
increasingly urbanised and the economy
industrialised. Various schemes were
introduced to supplement the
agriculture's labourer's wages such as
the Speenhamland system. These were
often based on the price of a gallon (4 lb)
loaf.
• What does this source
intimate about the
Speenhamdland system 1795?
• How typical was this view?
From various Historians on the
effectiveness of the Old Poor Law.
• “From the start, providing hospitality and healing the sick became
key responsibilities of European monasteries, ….Many were rural
peasants, legally free, possibly even owners of small plots who had
suffered hard times. As early as Merovingian times [roughly mid-5th
to mid-8th century], local bishops had been charged with assigning
one-fourth of their revenues for the needs of the poor, whose
names were kept on special lists, a third in rural parishes. Many
were fed, clothed and sheltered in the poorhouse or mansion
pauperum adjoining the church. Another frequent recipient of
Christian charity was the stranger, a rather broad category that
included jobless wanderers or drifters as well as errant knights,
devout pilgrims, traveling scholars, and merchants. . . .” (94)
Read your sheet carefully. Identify the important features. Write
them around the centre.
TASK
• To what extent was the Old Poor Law
effective?
Write a paragraph explaining how effective the Old Poor
Law was.
How was the Old Poor Law weakened?
To what extent was the Old Poor Law
effective?
How did the Speenhamland System
1795 respond to local conditions?
What was the Old Poor Law?
CONCEPT MAPS
These Concept maps have been developed to help
you with your learning.
The idea is that first – you add ways in which Old
Poor Law was weakened.
Second, draw arrows between connected words and
write on that line how the two things are connected
Improved grade
Knowing more in the exam
Gets you more marks!
timetable
Plenty of rest
Revising hard
How was the Old Poor
Law weakened?
How was the Old Poor Law weakened?
Pick a statement and defend it.
It's true because...
• The Old Poor Law was more effective then our 21st C welfare system
which provides free care.
• The problems of 18th C poverty are different, but as difficult to solve
as 21st C problems.
• The Government has Replaced the role of the Church in dealing
with poverty; the Government in the 21st C has obviously been more
successful.
Mention at least two of: change/ continuity/ effective / diet /
nutrition/ prevention / challenge / solutions