Andover workhouse scandal

The Andover workhouse scandal arose when the inhumane conditions at the workhouse in Andover, Hampshire, England were exposed by journalists and politicians in 1845. The inmates were kept starving by the workhouse master who stole from the food supplies provided, which were already smaller in quantity than the subsistence diet decreed by the Poor Law Commission. Hunger drove the inmates to eat the bones which they were supposed to crush to make fertilizer, and the regime was operated like a penal settlement. John Walter, who was the editor of The Times and an outspoken critic of the Poor Laws, took a special interest in the case and his newspaper covered the scandal and the subsequent public inquiries in great detail. Parliament set up a select committee to investigate the workhouse in March 1846, and as a result of its findings and the weight of public opinion the Commission was abolished in 1847.

Prior to 1834 the poor were provided for under the auspices of the "Old Poor Law," introduced in the Tudor period, which was funded by a parish rate levied on landowners and tenants. From this fund, each parish provided relief payments to residents who were ill or out of work. As the population grew – increasing by two thirds to almost 15 million between 1801 and 1830 – more and more people became dependent on parish relief, ratepayers began to complain about the costs, and increasingly lower levels of relief were provided. Three and a half "one gallon" bread loaves (each weighing 8 pounds and 11 ounces) per week were considered necessary for a man in 1795. By November 1830, the ration in the Andover area had been reduced to one quarter of a loaf per day (i.e., reduced by half). There was also a feeling amongst the middle and upper classes that they were paying the poor to be idle and avoid work. The way in which poor law funds were disbursed led to a further reduction in agricultural wages, since farmers would pay their workers as little as possible, knowing that the parish fund would top up wages to a basic subsistence level (see Speenhamland system).

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