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Why was The Old Poor Law under pressure?
Member rating: No Rating | Words: | Submitted: Mon Jun 19 2006
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Why was The Old Poor Law under pressure? Prior to 1834, England's method of dealing with the poor provided little relief for those who were poverty-stricken. A system of relief needed to be devised in order to assist the poor. Thus The Old Poor Law was born. The parish became the primary unit in administering relief. This relief could be received only by those poor individuals residing within parish boundaries. This put tremendous pressure on parishes to give paupers the correct amount of relief. As a result many parishes became overrun with too many poor people, and not enough assistance was administered. In 1776 the total expenditure on poor relief was £1.5 million. By 1818 it has risen to £7.8 million. This significant rise shows that the poor law was defiantly under pressure to provide adequate relief, but why was this the case? The Old Poor Law was set up in...
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