Poor in the Nineteenth Century

Introduction the Poor in the Nineteenth Century

  1) Outline briefly Mayhew’s three main categorizations

  * ‘Those who will work’ –These were the able-bodied poor, who worked hard in various jobs.
  * ‘Those who cannot work’ – These were the poor who could physically work but there were no jobs available.
  * ‘Those who will not work’ – These were the people who chose not to work, such as, beggars.
  2) Outline Booth’s three concentric circles
In the inner circle of Booth’s concentric circle were people who led a life of crime. In the second were the people who lived by immoral or wicked behaviour and finally in the outer circle were ‘the starving and homeless, but honest, poor.’
  3) Define the following: a pauper, relief, parish
Pauper: A person in receipt of poor relief.
Relief: Support given to paupers to enable them to maintain a basic standard of living. This relief could be ‘outdoor’ (in their own homes) or ‘indoor’ (in a workhouse or poorhouse).
Parish: Originally an area served by a vicar a parish church. However, acts of parliament from sixteenth century used the parish as an area for secular administration.
  4) Why were people poor?

People were poor for many reasons such as, if the main wage-earner in a family died or become ill this would send the family into long term pauperism, unless one of the older children could find a job or there was a remarriage. Furthermore, the volatile economy (due to the industrial revolution) and fast growing population caused a fluctuation in wages and meant and meant that families had a very unstable income.

  5) Why was there an interest in categorising the poor?
It was important because if you were put into a category of pauperism then this would motivate people to not want to become indigent. Therefore, this would force them to work so that they could stand on their own two feet and not become dependent on the authorities for support. Furthermore, it allowed the government to determine...