Workhouses
The Poor Law Amendment Act (PLAA) was introduced in 1834, centralising the poor relief administrative system. Previously poor relief had been largely based on the parish. Expenditure had risen during the Napoleonic Wars and local rate payers and authorities decided that looking after paupers was too costly. When the PLAA was passed parishes were to be grouped into "unions", managed by boards of guardians who were elected by their constituent parish ratepayers. The new poor law unions were to report to the Poor Law Commissioners, based in Somerset House in London. Assistant Commissioners (later known as Poor Law Inspectors) were allocated a geographical area in which they were to set up, supervise and inspect the unions within it. The new system was expected to reduce expenditure, using a harsh and deterrent workhouse test. Claimants would be "offered the house" but if they turned it down then the legal obligation to offer relief had been met.
C'est une institution qui a été créé en Angleterre au 19eme siècle pour aider les plus démunis. Un endroit où les pauvres pouvait travailler en échange de l'alimentation et d'en être pension mais le confort n'était pas présent bien au contraire; ces lieus se sont transformés en institution de terreur ou les personnes ont été durement traité. Le foyer a servi d'une force de dissuasion à être pauvre.