1795 SHREWSBURY HOUSE OF INDUSTRY: AN IMPORTANT EXPERIMENT IN THE MANAGEMENT OF THE POOR 072. WOOD, Isaac. Some account of the Shrewsbury House of Industry, its establishment and regulations; with hints to those who may have similar institutions in view. The fourth edition, with some enlargements to which are added a correspondence on the subject with the Rev. J. Howlett, etc. and the Bye-Laws, Rules, and Ordinances of the said house. Shrewsbury: Printed by J. and W. Eddowes. 1795. vi,118, table. Rebound in quarter calf, marbled boards. GOLDSMITHS 16442. Uncommon: NN, CtY, NNC only in NUC. In 1783 some of the principal inhabitants of Shrewsbury, tired of the maladministration of the Overseers, obtained a Local Act for the Incorporation of a body of Guardians of the Poor. They established a House of Industry, with farm, corn-mill and woollen manufactory and enlisted the assistance of Isaac Wood, an indefatigable local citizen, whose enthusiastic descriptions of its success did much to revive the faith in the profitable employment of the poor. The object of the Shrewsbury Directors was primarily and avowedly `to furnish employment for the poor and compel them to earn their own support' . For ten years the experiment enjoyed a real measure of success and brought about a great improvement in the condition of the paupers, whilst diminishing the Poor rates by one-third. Such a system depended on a strict and continuous policy. After Wood's death - which took place in 1801 from fever caught whilst inspecting the House - the results were less successful. Within a few years we note a complete revulsion of feeling in Shrewsbury itself. The once belauded House of Industry is seen 'to be a centre of demoralisation rather than reform. In 1824-31 we have a successful agitation for the sale of the workhouse as a `useless burden' , and a reversion to parish management. See Sidney and Beatrice Webb. English Poor Law History. Part I. The Old Poor Law p.121-4 and the Act 24 George III c xv, by which the Shrewsbury House of Industry was established.