- Less eligibility
Less eligibility was a condition of the
Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 . [ [http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/eligible.html The principle of 'less eligibility' ] ] ThisAct of Parliament created workhouses in England and Wales. The less eligibility principle was intended to make workhouses a deterrentndash it stated that working conditions in theworkhouse had to be worse than the worst job possible outside the workhouse. This principle existed to deter people from claiming poor relief."requesting to be rescued from that danger out of the property of others, he must accept assistance on the terms, whatever they may be."
The living condition of the urban poor during periods of economic hardship, and the rural poor at any time, were incredibly bad. It would be difficult for any institution to match them, let alone provide anything worse. Furthermore, in a civilised society it was unacceptable to institutionalise dirt, disease, or starvation. To make the workhouse unattractive to any but the desperate, it was necessary to ring them around with a series of petty regulations. To this end, families were segregated, food was boring, work was hard and dehumanising regulations were imposed.
For the most part, workhouse conditions were materially adequate when compared with what was available outside. Paupers were fed and housed. Some education and medical facilities were provided.
The rationale behind less eligibility
The developers of less eligibility were in the main well-meaning and high-principled people. They had no problem with the fairly limited numbers of aged and genuinely infirm who could not work under any circumstances. Clearly they had to be cared for in an appropriate way. The problem was the larger numbers of the able-bodied who either could not or would not earn enough money to support themselves. Due to economic factors and the realities of human nature, paying money to this category tended to increase their number.
Exceptions
The principle was not applied to children who were not considered responsible for being poor. [ [http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/adw03/peel/poorlaw/eligibil.htm 'Less eligibility' ] ]
References
External links
* [http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/eligible.html "Victorian web.org - The Principle of 'less eligibility' "]
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