Sickness in the Workhouse: Poor Law Medical Care in Provincial England, 1834–1914 by Alistair Ritch

This chapter is concerned with a rich vein of poor law spending: on cash allowances, drugs, payments in kind and head such as apprenticeship. In most county communities, cash allowances grew in importance over time, both because it was more convenient for officials to give such allowances and then let the poor buy their own medical care and because the poor increasingly requested such allowances. Nonetheless, there is a clear sense that many officers continued to be active in purchasing drugs, devices, false limbs and food for the sick.

Download Full-text

New Poor Law Medical Care in the Local Health Economy

Local Population Studies ◽

10.35488/lps99.2017.42 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 42-55

Author(s):

Alistair Ritch

Keyword(s):

Medical Care ◽

Local Community ◽

Medical Services ◽

Health Economy ◽

Institutional Setting ◽

Late Nineteenth Century ◽

Local Health ◽

Poor Law ◽

The Poor ◽

Sanitary Authority

The Poor Law Amendment Act (1834) failed to address sickness as a major reason for the increasing levels of pauperism and yet has been credited with setting the scene for the development of the National Health Service in 1948. This investigation analysing the poor law medical services of Birmingham and Wolverhampton demonstrates that the influence of the New Poor Law in their development was significant in the latter, but had little immediate effect in the former. However, in both towns the medical service played a crucial part in the control of infectious disease, particularly at times of local outbreaks or national epidemics. This role within the local community involved close collaboration with the relevant sanitary authority, in some cases with the provision of joint isolation facilities and policies. Overall, the poor law medical services in both locations were important elements in the lives of the poor even in the early days after the Act and comprised significant components of the medical landscape of each town. Although the medicalization of English workhouses was not a late nineteenth century phenomenon, they became the single most important institutional setting for the provision of medical care by the early twentieth century.

Download Full-text

Medical Care for Pauper Mothers and Their Infants: Poor Law Provision and Local Demand in East London, 1870-1929

The Economic History Review ◽

10.2307/2598366 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 46 (3) ◽

pp. 518 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lara Marks

Keyword(s):

Medical Care ◽

Poor Law

Download Full-text