ABSTRACT
Poverty remained a major social problem in Britain between 1815 and 1914. Population growth and industrialisation created problems by the end of the eighteenth century, especially in times of high food prices. The Speenhamland system supplemented wages from the parish poor rate when bread prices rose, but created heavier poor rates and discouraged farmers from paying realistic wages. The New Poor Law of 1834 reduced ‘outdoor’ relief and made workhouse conditions rather harsher so that only the most deserving would use them. Parishes were amalgamated into Poor Law Unions and the workhouse placed under guardians. Rural poverty remained an issue until the twentieth century and in the towns sickness, old age and unemployment were only slowly alleviated by the provision by central government of social welfare benefits.
