Q: Discuss the assertion that the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 was an attempt to deal with pauperism rather than poverty.

Poverty has always been in existence in Britain, but because of social and economic changes in society during the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, the number of poor people rose dramatically. Poverty means having too little for a comfortable life, which was the situation for many people. Pauperism however meant being destitute, meaning so poor that you could not survive without help and that you were too poor to feed yourself or your family.


The Poor Law system was set up in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It was legislated to help the poor people not to end up as paupers. Poverty had been largely due to an undeveloped economy in which famine and pestilence became recurring phenomena. A system of relief was needed in order to assist the poor. The parish became the primary unit in providing relief. The poor individuals residing within the parish boundaries could only receive this relief. This put tremendous pressure on parishes to give paupers the adequate amount of relief. As ...