"In This Country There are Many Thousands To Whom the Act ... is a Sealed Book": Locality, Centre and the Welsh Language In the New Poor Law, 1834–1850s

The 1834 New Poor Law saw the reordering of local government across England and Wales. Wales experienced an imposition of reformed poor law administrative structures designed to combat changing economic and social conditions in Midland and Southern England. Such reform fed into the building of modern centralised state power against Welsh traditions of parochial management providing a deep point of conflict. As with several European states new welfare legislation was imposed where the population (including those responsible for delivering it) spoke a different language to those tasked with introducing it. However, language was more than a ‘practical’ consideration. Some paupers, advocates and union officers continued corresponding and translating official guidance into Welsh: it was clear this was also a means of lingering contestation against an administrative imposition.