Poor Law Amendment Act 1834

A British law that reorganized poor relief in England and Wales, centralizing administration and making workhouse admission the main route to assistance for able-bodied people.

New Poor Law: The system of poor relief established in England and Wales under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834. This name captures the administrative system created by the Act.
Old Poor Law: The system of English poor relief developed under the Elizabethan poor laws and administered mainly by local parishes. The 1834 reforms replaced this parish-based system with larger unions and central oversight.
Workhouse: An institution where people received lodging and maintenance in exchange for work under poor-relief systems. The Act made workhouse admission central to relief for many able-bodied applicants.
Speenhamland system: A system of parish relief in southern England that supplemented low wages according to bread prices and family size. Its wage supplements exemplified the outdoor relief that reformers sought to curtail.
Poor Law Commission: The central government body established to oversee implementation of the reformed poor laws. It directed local authorities and promoted uniform administration.
Poor Law Amendment Commission: The 1832–1834 inquiry that investigated poor relief and recommended reforms to its administration. Its report supplied the central arguments behind the legislation.
Andover workhouse scandal: An 1845–1846 scandal over hunger, abuse, and mismanagement at the Andover workhouse in Hampshire. The scandal exposed severe failures in institutions operating under the reformed system.
Gilbert's Act: A 1782 English statute that encouraged parishes to provide poor relief through workhouses for the elderly, sick, and children. It offered a different workhouse model, focused on people unable to work rather than deterrence.
Poor Law Union: A local administrative area formed by grouping parishes to manage poor relief. Unions replaced fragmented parish administration across much of England and Wales.
Edwin Chadwick: An English social reformer who helped draft the 1834 poor-law reforms and later led the Poor Law Commission. His administrative ideas shaped the inquiry’s recommendations and their implementation.

Linked from 6 pages