Thread: A brief outline on the Workhouse

A brief outline on The Workhouse

The workhouse was the attempt by 19^thcentury England at solving the issue of poverty. There were thousands of people livingin extreme poverty and with poor or no housing with factors like squalor, poor or no housing and the inability to find work. Squalor and disease were rife.

In 1834 the government passed a new act called ‘The Poor Law Act’ this enabled unions to build places where the poor could be housed. Essentially it was simply a public institution that housed people who were unable to support themselves and their families The workhouse was meant to be a place where people could perform work in return for food and shelter. The workhouse provided:

· A place to live
· A place to work
· Food
· Free medical care
· Clothes
· Education for children

The rules of the workhouse were very strict. This was supposed to deter people from claiming poor relief and also to prevent ‘Idlers’ from admittance. To many people the word ‘workhouse’ provoked images of horrendous and gruelling hardship, where all dignity was stripped away. This certainly deterred people from seeking admission. To some people a workhouse was a terrible stigma for them and once there, they may never get out again.

There were seven classifications on admittance:
· Men/women infirm through age or illness
· Able-bodied men/women over 15 years of age
· Boys/girls between 7 yrs & 15 years of age
· Children under 7years of age

Life in the workhouse was very harsh. Men & women were housed separately. This also included children, and parents were only allowed very limited contact with them. A rough uniform was provided and Food was very basic and monotonous. The able-bodied were put to work which was usually hard and strenuous. Work like stone breaking and oakum [rope] unpicking & bone crushing [used forfertiliser] were the commonest jobs. The elderly and infirm were unable to offer much in the way of work and were often left unattended all day. Occasionally inmates were allocated the task of caring for them.

However the workhouse was not a prison and people could leave whenever they wished. In London and the surrounding areas a Dr Thomas Barnado [1845-1905] felt that workhouses were unsuitable places for orphaned children to be raised he paved the way for the introduction of childrens’ homes.

By 1926 there were approximately 600 workhouses across England and by 1929 the workhouse era had officially ended. However some of the buildings continued to offer places for the elderly, infirm, unmarried mothers and vagrants. Responsibilities passed to local authorities for the provision of care.

How would you like to rise at 5.00am and retire at 8.00pm with the prospect of communal prayers before breakfast, work, then dinner, more prayers and eventually some supper?

Feel inspired? Want to know morea bout life in the workhouse, social history and some politics? Then enter the word ‘workhouses’ into a search engine and you will see lots of information.

Written by Ancestry Aid member pejay

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