The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief in England and Wales that developed out of the codification of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws in 1587–1598. The system continued until the modern welfare state emerged after the Second World War.
The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that established a system of local government in Ireland similar to that already created for England, Wales and Scotland by legislation in 1888 and 1889. The Act effectively ended landlord control of local government in Ireland.
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies, which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquially as the "vestry". At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spent nearly one-fifth of the budget of the British government. They were stripped of their secular functions in 1894 and were abolished in 1921.
The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 (PLAA) known widely as the New Poor Law, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by the Whig government of Earl Grey denying the right of the poor to subsistence. It completely replaced earlier legislation based on the Poor Relief Act 1601 and attempted to fundamentally change the poverty relief system in England and Wales. It resulted from the 1832 Royal Commission into the Operation of the Poor Laws, which included Edwin Chadwick, John Bird Sumner and Nassau William Senior. Chadwick was dissatisfied with the law that resulted from his report. The Act was passed two years after the Representation of the People Act 1832 which extended the franchise to middle-class men. Some historians have argued that this was a major factor in the PLAA being passed.
A poor law union was a geographical territory, and early local government unit, in Great Britain and Ireland.
Ampthill was a rural district in Bedfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974. It entirely surrounded but did not include the urban district of Ampthill.
The Local Government Act 1894 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level under the Local Government Act 1888. The 1894 legislation introduced elected councils at district and parish level.
The Local Government Act 1929 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made changes to the Poor Law and local government in England and Wales.
A local board of health was a local authority in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environmental health risks including slaughterhouses and ensure the proper supply of water to their districts. Local boards were eventually merged with the corporations of municipal boroughs in 1873, or became urban districts in 1894.
Melbourn Rural District was a rural district in Cambridgeshire, England, from 1894 to 1934.
Eaton Bray was a rural district in Bedfordshire, England from 1894 to 1933.
The Irish poor laws were a series of acts of Parliament intended to address social instability due to widespread and persistent poverty in Ireland. While some legislation had been introduced by the pre-Union Parliament of Ireland prior to the Act of Union, the most radical and comprehensive attempt was the Irish act of 1838, closely modelled on the English Poor Law Amendment Act 1834. In England, this replaced Elizabethan era legislation which had no equivalent in Ireland.
St Albans Rural District was a rural district in the administrative county of Hertfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974. It surrounded but did not include the city of St Albans.
Hatfield Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire, England, from 1894 to 1974, covering an area in the south of the county.
The History of local government districts in Buckinghamshire began in 1835 with the formation of poor law unions. This was followed by the creation of various forms of local government body. In 1894 the existing arrangements were replaced with a system of municipal boroughs, urban and rural districts, which remained in place until 1974.
Woburn was a rural district in Bedfordshire, England from 1894 to 1900, covering Woburn and surrounding parishes.
Ashwell Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire, England from 1894 to 1935, covering an area in the north-east of the county.
Buntingford Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire, England from 1894 to 1935, covering the town of Buntingford and a number of surrounding parishes in the north-east of the county.
Berkhamsted Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974, covering an area to the west of the county. Until 1937 the official spelling of the district's name was Berkhampstead Rural District.
Welwyn Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974, covering an area in the centre of the county.
