In the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, politicians made the workhouse the centrepiece of the New Poor Law, a more ‘efficient’ and cheaper way to relieve the poor in England, Wales and Cornwall. Workhouses were intended to discipline the poor by forcing idlers to work and shirkers to become strivers. But in practice, they … Continue reading The Old Poor Law in Gwennap
Tag: poor law
The poor law in Poldark’s days
The following is an extract from Chapter 10 (The Prison) of my The Real World of Poldark: Cornwall 1783-1820. If the gastronomic delights of the free soup were not enough and charities insufficient, the poor could always turn to the official poor relief provided by the state since Elizabethan times .... From the late 1600s, … Continue reading The poor law in Poldark’s days
Cornish studies resources 