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1 - Old English Fare

Festive Meals, the New Poor Law, and the Boundaries of the Nation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2020

Nadja Durbach
Affiliation:
University of Utah
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Summary

Chapter 1 examines the tensions that erupted in the 1830s and 1840s in reaction to the Poor Law Commission’s ban on serving festive meals of roast beef and plum pudding to workhouse inmates. It demonstrates that, despite the new drive to centralize relief policies in the 1830s, local authorities frequently overrode and undermined directives that interfered with their right to dispense aid in traditional ways that they felt enhanced social stability. This chapter explores the symbolic meaning of roast beef to the institutionalized poor, the Boards of Guardians that superintended them, and the communities in which they were imbedded. It argues that a study of when and why paupers were and were not furnished with what was often termed “Old English Fare” in the early years of the New Poor Law reveals that the transition from moral economy to political economy was far from complete. The tensions that erupted amongst local and central government officials, paupers, and communities in reaction to the Poor Law Commission’s attempt to ban these meals suggests that debates over food were part of much broader negotiations about both the role of the modern state and the place of the poor within local and national communities.

Type
Chapter
Information
Many Mouths
The Politics of Food in Britain from the Workhouse to the Welfare State
, pp. 18 - 48
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • Old English Fare
  • Nadja Durbach, University of Utah
  • Book: Many Mouths
  • Online publication: 27 March 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108594189.002
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  • Old English Fare
  • Nadja Durbach, University of Utah
  • Book: Many Mouths
  • Online publication: 27 March 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108594189.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Old English Fare
  • Nadja Durbach, University of Utah
  • Book: Many Mouths
  • Online publication: 27 March 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108594189.002
Available formats
×