Adapted from the Report of the Poor Law Commissioners, 1838 by Marjie Bloy Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow, National University of Singapore. The Poor Law Commissioners were eager to show that the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act reduced the poor rates; this document is part of one of their reports and demonstrates how much money was saved. The condition of the agricultural labourers, who lived in dire poverty, appears to be irrelevant.

UNIONS
Population
in 1831
Average
Expenditure

�
Expenditure on the Poor,
Year ending
25 March 1838
�
Amount of
Decrease

�
Alnwick

17,263

6,888

6,452

436
Belford

6,422

2,326

1,994

332
Bellingham

6,530

3,195

2,619

576
Berwick

28,782

8,442

6,861

1581
Castle Ward

15,539

5,754

4,672

1,082
Glendale

13,856

5,683

4,367

1,316
Haltwhistle

5,634

1,977

1,576

401
Hexham

27,271

8,832

7,912

920
Morpeth

14,340

5,329

4,874

455
Newcastle

54,991

15,049

13,953

1,096
Rothbury

7,715

3,689

3,305

384
Tynemouth

47,715

13,140

11,787

1,353

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Last modified 16 November 2002