The Workhouse Encyclopedia

by Peter Higginbotham

Overview

This fascinating, fully illustrated volume is the definitive guide to every aspect of the workhouse and of the poor relief system in which it played a pivotal part. Compiled by Peter Higginbotham, one of Britain's best-known experts on the subject, this A-Z cornucopia covers everything from the 1725 publication An Account of Several Work-houses to the South African Zulu admitted to Fulham Road Workhouse in 1880.

With hundreds of fascinating anecdotes, plus priceless information for researchers including workhouse locations throughout the British Isles, useful websites and archive repository details, maps, plans, original workhouse publications and an extensive bibliography, it will delight family historians and general readers alike.

Where was my local workhouse? What records did they keep? What is gruel and is it really what inmates lived on? How did you get out of a workhouse? What famous people were once workhouse inmates? Are there any workhouse buildings I can visit? If these are the kinds of questions you've ever wanted to know the answer to, then this is the book for you.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780752477190
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	03/01/2012
Sold by:	INDEPENDENT PUB GROUP - EPUB - EBKS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	480
File size:	36 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

PETER HIGGINBOTHAM, who lives in Yorkshire, runs the website www.workhouses.org.uk. An expert on the subject of many years' standing, his previous titles include The Workhouse Cookbook, Life in a Victorian Workhouse, Workhouses of the North and Workhouses of the Midlands and Voices of the Workhouse.

Read an Excerpt

The Workhouse Encyclopedia

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By Peter Higginbotham

The History Press

Copyright © 2013 Peter Higginbotham
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7524-7719-0

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CHAPTER 1

A TO Z ENCYCLOPEDIA

ABLE-BODIED

(See:Classification; Deserving and Undeserving Poor; Dietary Class; House of Correction; Labour Test; Work)

ACCOUNT OF SEVERAL WORKHOUSES

An Account of Several Workhouses for Employing and Maintaining the Poor was first published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in 1725. The book espoused the use of workhouses and charity schools and detailed the setting up and management of more than forty local workhouses then in operation, especially noting the financial benefits that could result from their use. The book was strongly influenced by the activities of the workhouse entrepreneur, Matthew Marryott. The success of the publication led to a second enlarged edition in 1732.

(See also:Marryott, Matthew; Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK))

ADMISSION TO A WORKHOUSE

(See:Entering a Workhouse)

ADDRESSES

In 1904, the Registrar General advised local registration officers in England and Wales that where a child was born in a workhouse, there need be no longer any indication of this on the birth certificate. Instead, the place of birth could be recorded as a euphemistic street address. For example, births at Liverpool Workhouse were thereafter recorded as having taken place at 144A Brownlow Hill even though no such street address actually existed. Similarly, Nottingham workhouse used an address of 700 Hucknall Road for this purpose, while Pontefract workhouse delighted in the pseudonym of 1 Paradise Gardens. Some unions, particularly in smaller towns, invented a new name for their workhouse. The Trowbridge and Melksham workhouse thus became Semington Lodge, Melksham. Where a workhouse was located on a road such as Workhouse Lane, a renaming of the thoroughfare was sometimes carried out.

The same practice was adopted from around 1918 for the death certificates of those who died in a workhouse. It was not until 1921 that Scotland followed a similar course and recorded what were referred to as 'substitute' addresses for births and deaths taking place in a poorhouse.

The directory of poor law institutions in England and Wales (Appendix E) includes details of many of the euphemistic addresses adopted by workhouses.

AFTERCARE

The aftercare of young people leaving the workhouse to enter service or an apprenticeship became an increasing concern during the mid-nineteenth century. Following the 1851 Poor Law (Apprentices etc.) Act, union relieving officers were required to visit those under still under sixteen at least twice a year and ensure that they were being properly fed and not mistreated.

Following her appointment as the first female Poor Law Inspector in 1873, Jane Senior (often referred to as Mrs Nassau Senior) took a particular interest in matters concerning children, especially the education of girls. She also championed use of the cottage homes system. At her premature retirement due to ill-health in 1874, she outlined proposals for the creation of a national scheme for the aftercare of0 pauper girls leaving the workhouse, especially those aged of sixteen or more. Her ideas, taken up by Henrietta Barnett, led to the formation of the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants (MABYS). By the 1890s, the Association had more than 1,000 volunteers who visited girls at their workplaces, and helped them find accommodation and new employment, until they reached the age of twenty. MABYS and similar charitable organisations were helped by legislation in 1879 which allowed poor law authorities to contribute to their funds.

From 1882, the Local Government Board included a report from MABYS in its own annual report. During 1893, the Association had under its supervision 2,412 girls from Poor Law Schools and 955 from other institutions. Of the total, 1,700 were reported as 'satisfactory in their conduct and work', 740 as 'those against whom no serious faults have been alleged', 189 as 'accused of dishonesty, untruth, extreme violence of temper etc.', and thirty-two as 'having lost character or been in prison for theft etc.'

After the First World War, MABYS was renamed the Mabys Association for the Care of Young Girls. It continued in existence until 1943 when its activities were taken over by the London County Council.

The Association for Befriending Boys was formed in 1898 and performed undertook similar activities to MABYS within the metropolitan area. Outside London, a similar role to MABYS was performed by the Girls' Friendly Society (GFS), established by the Church of England in 1875 and still in existence. The Society provided reports to Boards of Guardians on girls up to the age of twenty-one and also operated Homes of Rest and Lodges for girls who were unemployed. Unlike its London counterpart, the GFS limited its work to 'respectable' girls.

ALCOHOL

One of the most common rules applying to workhouse inmates was a general prohibition on alcoholic beverages, at least in the form of spirits, unless prescribed for medical purposes. Restrictions on other forms of alcohol, especially beer, varied at different periods in history.

The Parish Workhouse

At the Croydon workhouse, opened in 1727, the rules forbade any 'Distilled Liquors to come into the House' – a restriction perhaps aimed at the new habit of gin-drinking which was sweeping England at around this time. At Hitchin workhouse, in 1724, it was reported that a lack of tobacco and gin was causing many inmates to 'get out as soon as they can'. Brandy, too, appears to have been in a similar situation. Some of the parish poor at St Mary Whitechapel rejected the offer of the workhouse and 'chose to struggle with their Necessities, and to continue in a starving Condition, with the Liberty of haunting the Brandy-Shops, and such like Houses, rather than submit to live regularly in Plenty.'

A century later, the 1832 Royal Commission investigating the operation of the poor laws, was told by the overseers for the London parish of St Sepulchre that intemperance was a major cause of pauperism: 'After relief has been received at our board, a great many of them proceed with the money to the palaces of gin shops, which abound in the neighbourhood.'

Although the imbibing of spirits by workhouse inmates was usually prohibited, items such as wine, brandy and rum were often prescribed for medicinal purposes because of their supposed stimulant properties. The accounts for the Bristol workhouse in 1787 record the expenditure of £2 19s 7½d on 'wine, brandy, and ale for the sick'. At the Lincoln workhouse, in the winter of 1799–1800, colds and other ailments were so prevalent that the Clerk was instructed by the Board to purchase two gallons of rum 'for the use of the House'. Surprisingly, gin still occasionally features in workhouse expenditure – the 1833 accounts for the Abingdon parish workhouse include an entry for two pints of gin, although the precise use to which this was to be put is not revealed.

Beer

One form of alcohol that was usually allowed to parish workhouse inmates was beer, something which at that time formed part of most people's everyday diet. Apart the attractions of its flavour, beer could provide a safe alternative in localities where the water supply was of dubious quality. Beer came in two main forms, strong ale and half-strength 'small' beer, the latter being a standard accompaniment for meals, often for children as well as adults.

Workhouse inmates sometimes had a fixed daily beer allowance such as the two pint quota imposed at the Whitechapel workhouse in 1725. At other establishments it was available 'without limitation' as happened at the Barking workhouse and also at the Greycoat Hospital in Westminster, an institution purely for children.

As well as being provided at meal-times, extra rations of beer were often given to those engaged in heavy labour such as agricultural work. At one time, female inmates working in the laundry at the Blything Incorporation's House of Industry at Bulcamp in Suffolk were each allowed a daily ration of eight pints.

Many workhouses brewed their on beer on-site and their brewhouses contained all the paraphernalia associated with beer-making. In 1859, when the contents of the old Oxford Incorporation workhouse were sold off, the auctioneer's catalogue entry for the brewhouse listed the following items:

Mash tub, underback, four brewing tubs, five coolers, five buckets, skip, tun bowl, tap tub, bushel, spout, malt mill, copper strainer, two pumps, brewing copper, three square coolers, with supports, spout, &c. Large working tub, two others, beer stands, three lanterns, &c., three casks, and strainer.

Alcohol in Union Workhouses

In post-1834 union workhouse, the consumption of alcohol – including beer – was generally prohibited except for sacramental purposes such as the taking of Holy Communion, or for medicinal use when ordered by the workhouse medical officer. A further exception was added in 1848, when it was allowed to be provided as a treat on Christmas Day.

As well as these general exceptions, some union workhouses revived the old practice of providing beer to able-bodied inmates engaged in certain types of heavy labour. In 1886 the Wirral Union was allowed by the Local Government Board to provide extra food and 'fermented liquor' to paupers employed in harvest work on land belonging to the guardians. In 1903, when an auditor surcharged a workhouse master for allowing beer to able-bodied inmates without such approval, the strange response came that if such an allowance were not made, 'some of the paupers would leave the workhouse.'

The consumption of alcohol, like virtually every other activity that took place in the union workhouse, was carefully recorded and periodic returns made to the central authority. In 1893, the returns show an annual consumption per workhouse inmate in England and Wales of roughly half a pint of spirits, a quarter of a pint of wine and eighteen pints of beer.

There were surprisingly large variations in the use of alcohol by different Boards of Guardians. In 1893, the Strand Union spent approximately 10s per head on alcohol for its inmates, while Wandsworth and Clapham's spent around 1 d per head – less than 1 per cent of the Strand's expenditure. Some workhouses such as Greenwich used wine solely for sacramental purposes while others such as Woolwich issued wine and spirits for infirmary use. The Strand workhouse at Edmonton got through almost 10,000 gallons of beer during 1893, while Lambeth's two workhouses consumed only two pints between them. There were also large regional differences in alcohol expenditure by workhouses. In the 1891 returns, the county of Rutland had the largest expenditure averaging 12s 10d per inmate, while the most abstemious county was Northumberland whose unions spent only 4d per head.

The 1880s and 1890s saw a large drop in alcohol consumption in workhouses. In part, this was due to the growth of the temperance movement in Britain. Pressure for a reduction in the use of alcohol or even its complete abolition came both from teetotal guardians and also from organisations such as the Workhouse Drink Reform League. As well as the consumption by inmates, the League criticised the imbibing of alcohol by workhouse staff and union officers, such as the barrel of beer consumed each week by the guardians at their weekly board meetings at the Wolverhampton workhouse. In 1884, the Local Government Board decreed that workhouse masters would be liable for the cost of any alcohol that was not supplied under medical instruction – a master at Islington subsequently faced a bill for over 200 gallons of porter consumed by his nursing staff.

Attitudes were also gradually changing amongst doctors as to the medical efficacy of alcoholic beverages although this topic remained controversial until the beginning of the twentieth century. The London Temperance Hospital, which opened in 1873, prescribed almost no alcohol to its patients but achieved a very low mortality rate among it patients. The changing tide of medical opinion was also demonstrated by the British Medical Association: from 1880, tickets for its annual dinner did not include wine in the price.

Reflecting the changes in attitude, alcohol consumption in workhouses in England and Wales almost halved between 1881 and 1893. Despite this downward trend, some doctors clearly remained convinced of the therapeutic effects of alcohol. In 1909 it was revealed that all seventeen inmates of the tiny Welwyn workhouse each received a daily pint of beer by order of the workhouse medical officer.

(See also:Christmas; Food)

ALLOWANCE SYSTEMS

From the late eighteenth century until the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act in 1834, various systems of 'allowance' – the subsidising of low wages from the poor rates – were adopted in many parishes.

One of the earliest allowance schemes was devised by Buckinghamshire magistrates in January 1795. For a working man and his wife, wages of less than 6s per week would be topped up to that amount from the poor rate. Couples with one or two small children would be guaranteed 7s with a further 1s for every additional child under the age of ten. The Speenhamland System, formulated later in the same year, linked allowances to the current price of bread as well as the size of a recipient's family.

Critics of allowance systems believed they had a corrupting effect on able-bodied labourers, what an 1824 Select Committee on labourers' wages described as 'the degradation of the character of the labouring class'. As the respondents to the 1832 Royal Commission from the parish of Hogsthorpe in Lincolnshire put it, such practices:

brought numbers of the most hale labourers on the list of paupers, who previous to that would have shuddered at the thought of coming to a parish, but are now as contented to relief as they were before in a state of labouring independence.

Wage subsidy schemes were also said to lower wages and so push more labourers into pauperism, with a resulting swelling of the poor rates bill. Not all ratepayers were necessarily unhappy with this situation. Even when the resulting rates bill was no different from what the cost of paying higher wages would have been, there could still be benefits from the allowance system for employers such as farmers: it allowed the outlay to be deferred until the next rate demand; higher rates might result in lower rents being charged for their property; and workers, especially those with several children, were often better off (and therefore happier in their work) with an allowance system.

Allowance systems were claimed by the 1832 Royal Commission to be prevalent in south England and spreading over the north, and were to be found both in rural areas and 'to a formidable degree' in towns. Eradicating this state of affairs was the main thrust of their report's proposals. However, it has been argued that their comments belie the report's own data and that 'the Speenhamland System as such had generally disappeared by 1832, even in the South.'

(See also:Labour Rate System; Out relief; Roundsman System; Royal Commission – 1832; Speenhamland System)

ALMSHOUSES

In England and Wales, almshouses were establishments providing free or subsidised accommodation for the elderly poor and funded by charitable endowment. They thus differed from poorhouses and workhouses, which were financed by the parish poor rates. Almshouses were often founded through a bequest from a wealthy person, with the residents required to be of good character and expected to offer regular prayers for their benefactor's soul. Almshouses were typically constructed as a row of small self-contained cottages, often placed near to the local parish church. More than 500 almshouses are still in operation in the United Kingdom.

In Scotland, the term almshouse was sometimes applied after 1845 to small parish-funded lodging houses for the poor.

In the nineteenth century USA, almshouses were similar to English workhouses and housing a mixture of the able-bodied poor, who were required to labour, and the 'impotent poor'.

(See also:Poorhouse; Scotland; Workhouse)

ANDOVER WORKHOUSE SCANDAL

(See:Scandals)

APPRENTICESHIP

An apprenticeship was an extended period of training in a craft or trade, given to a child (most often a boy) by an established master in the trade.

The 1563 Statute of Labourers and Apprentices required that an apprenticeship of at least seven years should first be served by any person wishing to engage in any of the 'Arts, Occupations, Crafts or Mysteries' practiced in England at the time. Male apprentices had to be aged between ten and eighteen years, with the apprenticeship lasting until they reached at least the age of twenty-one. The operation of an apprenticeship was the subject of a legal agreement – an indenture – and usually involved the paying of a fee – the premium – to the master who would also provide the apprentice with board and lodging for the period of the apprenticeship.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from The Workhouse Encyclopedia by Peter Higginbotham. Copyright © 2013 Peter Higginbotham. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction,
Timeline of Workhouse and Poor Law History,
A to Z Encyclopedia,
Appendix A Poor Relief Statistics for England and Wales,
Appendix B Poor Relief Statistics for Ireland,
Appendix C Poor Relief Statistics for Scotland,
Appendix D Pre-1834 Workhouses in England and Wales,
Appendix E New Poor Law Institutions in England and Wales,
Appendix F Metropolitan Asylums Board 1869–1930,
Appendix G Post-1838 Poor Law Institutions in Ireland,
Appendix H Post-1845 Statutory Poorhouses in Scotland,
Appendix I Post-1845 Parish Houses in Scotland,
Appendix J Maps of Poor Law Unions in England and Wales,
Appendix K Maps of Poor Law Unions in Ireland,
Appendix L Maps of Statutory Poorhouse Locations in Scotland,
Appendix M Poor Law Archive Repositories in the UK and Ireland,
Appendix N Places to Visit,
Appendix O Some Useful Websites,
Appendix P The Consolidated General Order, 1847,
Bibliography,
Notes,