Arrival

Abstract

Given the scale of immigration during 1847 and the poor physical condition of many of those landing at British ports, it is not surprising that the poor law system immediately came under severe strain. In England and Wales, under the terms of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, parishes had been organized into larger administrative units known as poor law unions. The individual parishes within a union were responsible for the provision of poor relief and all contributed towards its overheads, usually such things as the provision of a workhouse, hospital wards and industrial schools. The paid employees of a union were the staff of the workhouse, the relieving officers, nurses, doctors and teachers. The relieving officiers were the men in direct contact with the poor, assessing claims for relief and also carrying the responsibility of ensuring the provision of medical treatment for those who needed it. The management of the union was in the hands of a Board of Guardians who were elected annually by the ratepayers. The financing of poor relief was through the simple expedient of taxing the local ratepayers, be they tenants or houseowners. The unit of assessment was the annual rental value of the property. This meant that, unlike today’s system, in which central financing of social security payments is tlie norm, at the time of the famine, the amount spent on poor relief in a parish was raised from local people who, in rum could decide not to re-elect guardians whose policies they disapproved of.