The Leicester Poor Law Union, 1836-1871
Although there have been many studies of the operation of the new poor law in a variety of unions little research has been done on the East Midlands. This region shared features with both southern agricultural areas and northern urban ones and is interesting to study because unions were established there before the onset of the 1837 trade depression which contributed towards the difficulties encountered in establishing northern unions. The Leicester union adds a new dimension to poor law studies: it began fairly successfully but when the trade slump hit the town in 1837 its administration became overwhelmed with the problems facing it and appeared to lurch from one crisis to the next. After several years of poor employment prospects the town's improving economy from about 1850 led to a substantial reduction in the number of paupers. The pressure on the union decreased so that by the beginning of the 1860s it was able to maintain the workhouse test quite successfully. It is the intention of this thesis to show that the improving economy was the single most important reason for the success of the union. It affected many of its actions and was a prime factor in the amount of political activity generated by the
Thompson, Kathryn M.
Poor law studies, 1800's
The Leicester Poor Law Union, 1836-1871. Although there have been many studies of the operation of the new poor law in a variety of unions little research has been done on the East Midlands. This region shared features with both southern agricultural areas and northern urban ones and is interesting to study because unions were established there before the onset of the 1837 trade depression which contributed towards the difficulties encountered in establishing northern unions. The Leicester union adds a new dimension to poor law studies: it began fairly successfully but when the trade slump hit the town in 1837 its administration became overwhelmed with the problems facing it and appeared to lurch from one crisis to the next. After several years of poor employment prospects the town's improving economy from about 1850 led to a substantial reduction in the number of paupers. The pressure on the union decreased so that by the beginning of the 1860s it was able to maintain the workhouse test quite successfully. It is the intention of this thesis to show that the improving economy was the single most important reason for the success of the union. It affected many of its actions and was a prime factor in the amount of political activity generated by the
leicester poor law union although_many study operation new_poor law variety union little east_midlands region share_feature southern agricultural area northern urban interest study union establish onset trade depression contribute_towards difficulty_encounter establish northern union leicester union add_new dimension poor_law study_begin fairly successfully trade town administration become problem_face appear crisis next poor employment prospect town improve economy lead substantial reduction number pauper pressure union decrease begin able_maintain workhouse test quite successfully intention show improve economy single important reason success union affect many action prime factor amount political_activity generate