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‘The caprice of a local board of guardians’: Geographies of new poor law procurement in England and Wales

Abstract Following poor law amendment in 1834, unions of parishes bought enormous quantities of goods to feed and clothe their paupers. As institutional poor relief grew dramatically during the nineteenth century, the role of poor law unions as customers in their local economies expanded. Suppliers were not subject to central government’s rules, so the unions to whom they sold enjoyed some freedom in their contractual arrangements – in stark contrast to the restrictions surrounding almost every other aspect of unions’ practices. This enabled a unique business atmosphere to develop. Poor law procurement was therefore embedded in social, as well as economic, geographies.