The Introduction and Operation of the New Poor Law in Suffolk 1834-70 Angela Miller A thesis submitted for the degree of PhD History Department University of Essex January 2020 Acknowledgements I gratefully acknowledge the help and patience of my supervisor, Peter Gurney, for his constant support, positive criticism and helpful suggestions in the production of this thesis. In addition, my former M.A. supervisor, and now friend, Dr. Jane Pearson, has shown a continued interest in the development of this work and I owe her a debt of gratitude I can never repay. 2 Abstract This thesis examines the introduction of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 into Suffolk between the years 1834-71. It looks at the poor law system as it was immediately prior to this time and the increasing difficulties it faced in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It also examines contemporary ideas on population growth, such as those popularised by Malthus, as well as those of Utilitarians and Noetics, all coalescing to bring about the change of 1834. It compares the situation in Suffolk with that in the rest of the country, looking specifically at the Houses of Industry and their adaptability to the new system and the particular impetus given by Dr. James Kay as Assistant Poor Law Commissioner in the county of Suffolk to achieving their conversion to Union workhouses. It examines the power structures surrounding the New Poor Law, particularly the relationship between the local Boards of Guardians and the central Poor Law Commission (and later Board.) It also looks at the power structures within the workhouse. In the early days of the workhouse, relations proved particularly volatile, as few real structures of policy had been included in either the Poor Law Commission’s report or the eventual act. The work goes on to examine how such issues as discipline, medical treatment and education therefore actually worked out in practice. 3 Contents Chapter 1 – Introduction Page 1 Chapter 2 – The poor law in transition nationally Page 29 Chapter 3 – The poor law in transition in Suffolk Page 58 Chapter 4 – Power and authority in the workhouse Page 102 Chapter 5 – Discipline in the workhouse Page 139 Chapter 6 – The development of a poor law medical service Page 165 Chapter 7 – Poor law policy on education Page 233 Chapter 8 – Conclusion Page 270 Bibliography Page 281 4 Chapter 1 Introduction The idea for this study was first born in 1992. At this time, I was Head of History at Orwell High School in Felixstowe teaching an A level course known as AEB 673. The syllabus consisted of an outline study and a methodology paper, in addition to a personal study of three thousand words, using both primary and secondary sources. Suffolk was enlightened enough to make provision for these A level students in its record offices at Ipswich and Bury St. Edmunds and through employing an extremely knowledgeable local historian, Clive Payne, to further facilitate the work of the students. It was through the weekly half day trips to the Ipswich Record Office with my students, that I became aware of the wealth of largely untouched material on Suffolk workhouses, which some of them made use of. I hoped, at some time in the future, to make fuller use of this wealth of material. This time has now come! The need for local studies to refine our view of national practice in relation to the New Poor Law has long been acknowledged and during the 1960s and 70s a large number were undertaken as student theses. 1 Only by such studies, are we able to gain a nuanced understanding of the ways in which the New Poor Law was interpreted, 1 D. Marshall, ‘Revisions in Economic History’: The Old Poor Law, Economic History Review, First series VIII 1937/8 cited in Alan Kidd, Economic History Review, Second series XL 3 1987. The Webbs also recognised the need for such studies to supplement their own monumental work. A comprehensive list of student theses exists in Derek Fraser, The New Poor Law in the Nineteenth Century (London, 1976), p.203-4. 1 confirming or denying generalisations. As Steven King has pointed out, such studies have shown that ‘those who sojourned (in?) the workhouse did not always find it crushing and isolating’ as scandals such as that at Andover might lead us to believe.2 Indeed, attesting to the work of Karen Rothery, Richard Talbot, Peter Jones and others, King goes on to state that the ‘most striking feature of the New Poor Law from 1834 …… was the variability of practice.’ Only by numerous local studies can that variability be discovered. In terms of modern studies, historians such as David Green have shown the importance of examining the local situation in terms of experience and agency of the poor.3 In addition Steven King also argues that there are important aspects such as that of personality of guardians and other personnel, which can best be reached by local studies. Concerns such as these have probably led to the large number of post graduate studies, though I also suspect that as in my own case, manageability and readiness of access to sources also proved attractive. A number of other factors can be used to make a strong case for a study of Suffolk. Much has been made of the opposition to the New Poor Law in the north of England and it seems important to highlight that in the east too.4 The county is also unusual in having a large number of incorporated Unions which as will be shown in this study had 2 Steven King, ‘The New Poor Law. Regional and Local Perspectives. Thinking and Rethinking the New Poor Law.’ Local Population Studies 99 (2017). 3 David Green, Pauper Capital (Farnham, 2010). 4 Felix Driver in Power and Pauperism examines opposition in Yorkshire and Lancashire with particular reference to Huddersfield whilst the works of Nicholas Edsall, The Anti-Poor Law Movement 1834-44 (Manchester, 1971) and John Knott, Popular Opposition to the 1834 Poor Law (London, 1986) are wholly devoted to looking at reaction to the New Poor Law throughout the country. 2 a considerable impact on the structure and nature of the new Unions.5 Suffolk, in its presence and influence of Dr. Kay as Assistant Poor Law Commissioner also fulfils Steven King’s view of the ‘importance of personality’ as being most accessible through local studies.6 Overwhelmingly however, the case exists for a study of Suffolk in that, although some references are made to Suffolk in existing literature, no comprehensive study of New Poor Law practice exists for the county. 7 This study now aims to fill these gaps. Though it relies to a large extent on local primary sources, it is no antiquarian study but one which sets Suffolk at the heart of the national situation, by first examining both the national and local context which gave rise to the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834.8 It goes on to look at the conflict between central and local government brought about by the shift in control of pauperism which this act theoretically entailed. This is indeed a central feature of the study, pervading as it does all aspects of lives of the paupers. The study then goes on to look at key aspects of life in the workhouse shown here through examination of such issues as, power and authority, discipline in the workhouse, education and medical services. It also aims to take up a more recent concern of historians, in looking at how inmates of the workhouses negotiated and 5 J.M. Shaw, The development of the Poor Law local acts1696-1833, with particular reference to the Incorporated Hundreds of East Anglia. (UEA 1989). Unpublished PhD thesis. 6 King, Local PopulationStudies 99 (2017). 7 Mainly Anne Digby, Pauper Palaces: The Economy of the Poor Law in Nineteenth Century Norfolk (London, 1978) but also Anthony Brundage, The Making of the New Poor Law 1832-1839 (New Brunswick, 1978) and Nicholas C.Edsall, The Anti-Poor Law Movement 1834-44, (Manchester, 1971) in reference to the riots in Suffolk. Peter Gurney, Wanting and Having: Politics and Liberal Consumerism in England 1830-70 (Manchester, 2014). 8 For the arguments surrounding antiquarianism and local history see J.D. Marshall, The Tyranny of the Discrete (Aldershot, 1997). 3 influenced their own treatment.9 Such issues have been chosen as being pre-eminently those which concerned the guardians as shown in their minute books, particularly in the terms of their financial cost. Any study based largely on the Guardians’ minute books must therefore necessarily involve a study of them. Though larger scale works exist for both the study of medicine and education, and discipline and authority figure in virtually all studies of workhouses, this study gives the more nuanced approach particular to local studies.10 The year 1870 provides a natural ending to the period in terms of the constraints of length and time of a PhD study and by the fact that the Poor Law Government Board, a new controlling body of the New Poor Law, exercised much greater control from 1871. The issues examined are largely dictated by the primary materials available, mainly Board of Guardians’ minute books, but also correspondence between Assistant Poor Law Commissioners, the Poor Law Commission (later Board) and Poor Law Unions held at the National Archives(M12 and M32). This is further supplemented by reference to local newspapers and parliamentary papers and reports as well as secondary literature on the issues of discipline in the workhouse, medical treatment and education, comparing and contrasting the situation in Suffolk, where possible, with that elsewhere.