The Andover Workhouse Scandal
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- Category: History
- Date Submitted: 11/28/2011 06:21 AM
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The Andover Workhouse Scandal
1/ Source A lays out the changes in the law, made by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834. The Act is enacted to provide the poor with a minimum standard of acceptable living and is sets up a ‘uniform pattern for the whole country’.
While the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 was intended to secure the futures of all those living in poverty; Source A implies that although the conditions were unpleasant – ‘the conditions in the workhouse had to be worse than the conditions endured by the lowest paid workmen outside the workhouse’ they were to remain humane. Despite this the new laws were not followed by all of the individually run workhouses, most notably perhaps, the Andover Workhouse, where conditions were far below the minimum standard and inmates lived in fear of the workhouse master, Sergeant Major Colin McDougal.
Source A in of itself is of little use when studying the Andover Workhouse, which ran so contrary to the Poor Law Amendment Act. However, when coupled with other historical sources that inform the reader of the ‘Andover Scandal’, Source A highlights the contrast between the average workhouse and that of Andover.
Having been written in 1979 with, we assume, the aid of numerous historical sources, the information is likely to be accurate, as the author will have little to gain by reporting biased facts.
2/ Source B supports the idea that government officials believed that those who entered the workhouses as inmates were of less value than those who earned their own living. The Board of Guardians had, in the case of Andover, overseen the erection of the facility in 1836 and maintained reviews of the site until 1840. After the Andover Scandal it emerged that post 1840 the Board of Guardians had neglected its duties and left the workhouse solely in the hands of its master, Colin McDougal, which allowed him and wife to conduct their reign of terror largely unseen by any regimenting body.
As shown in the Source B illustration,...
1/ Source A lays out the changes in the law, made by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834. The Act is enacted to provide the poor with a minimum standard of acceptable living and is sets up a ‘uniform pattern for the whole country’.
While the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 was intended to secure the futures of all those living in poverty; Source A implies that although the conditions were unpleasant – ‘the conditions in the workhouse had to be worse than the conditions endured by the lowest paid workmen outside the workhouse’ they were to remain humane. Despite this the new laws were not followed by all of the individually run workhouses, most notably perhaps, the Andover Workhouse, where conditions were far below the minimum standard and inmates lived in fear of the workhouse master, Sergeant Major Colin McDougal.
Source A in of itself is of little use when studying the Andover Workhouse, which ran so contrary to the Poor Law Amendment Act. However, when coupled with other historical sources that inform the reader of the ‘Andover Scandal’, Source A highlights the contrast between the average workhouse and that of Andover.
Having been written in 1979 with, we assume, the aid of numerous historical sources, the information is likely to be accurate, as the author will have little to gain by reporting biased facts.
2/ Source B supports the idea that government officials believed that those who entered the workhouses as inmates were of less value than those who earned their own living. The Board of Guardians had, in the case of Andover, overseen the erection of the facility in 1836 and maintained reviews of the site until 1840. After the Andover Scandal it emerged that post 1840 the Board of Guardians had neglected its duties and left the workhouse solely in the hands of its master, Colin McDougal, which allowed him and wife to conduct their reign of terror largely unseen by any regimenting body.
As shown in the Source B illustration,...