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" The Poor Law and charity : "
Humphreys, Robert
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Latin Dissertation
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| Record Number
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1094843
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| Doc. No
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TLets361928
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| Main Entry
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Humphreys, Robert
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| Title & Author
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The Poor Law and charity :\ Humphreys, Robert
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| College
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London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)
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| Date
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1991
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| student score
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1991
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Abstract
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The thesis studies the response of provincial CharityOrganisation Societies (COS's), and similar institutions, tothe Poor Law crusade against outdoor relief, 1870-1890. TheSocieties investigated include those at Birkenhead,Birmingham, Brighton, Leainington, Liverpool, Manchester andSalford, Oxford, Reading, and Southampton.Powerful individualistic propaganda, and support frominfluential elites, created an aura of COS authority on socialaffairs which has persisted for more than a century. Theresearch exposes the reality of failure and contradiction inthe English provinces behind the facade of unrestrained COSpronouncements. It is shown that provincial COS's were shunnedby Poor Law guardians, philanthropists, the clergy, and by thepoor themselves. This left scant chance for the Government'sintended close working relationships between the officialrelief and organised voluntary sectors.The thesis examines the disappointing response to COSappeals for lady visitors, and discusses the financialdifficulties of many COS's. Within their economicconstraints, provincial organising Societies attempted amiscellany of relief methods, some contravening COSprinciples. The COS ridiculed Poor Law doles for theirinadequacy but the research shows that grants from theprovincial organised voluntary sector were generally of lessvalue. The ideological and financial advantages of loansincreased their popularity with COS's until defaultschallenged the efficacy of vaunted COS methodology. COSpensions for "special cases" are shown to have been classdivisiveand to possess characteristics the Society themselvescriticized about outdoor Poor Law relief.The objectives and provincial achievements of the COSmovement by 1890 are debated using criteria they may havechosen in 1870 and are found to be wanting. A number ofhypotheses are examined, each designed to explain why a fewamong the late Victorian provincial middle-class remainedcommitted to cos principles, obdurately indifferent to thechanging tide of peer-group opinion.
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| Added Entry
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London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)
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