Transcript Document

Workhouses in Victorian England
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the parish workhouse in Britain
was a place where - often in return for board and lodging employment was provided for the destitute.
Southwell Workhouse
See the following lists for the shocking number of
workhouses.
7/21/2015
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Workhouses ~
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Bermondsey Workhouse, Tanner Street [1888]
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Bethnal Green Workhouse, Bishops Road [1888]
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Brentford Union Workhouse, Union Lane [1888]
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Bromley Workhouse, Love lane, off St Leonards
Street [1888]
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Camberwell Workhouse, Camberwell,
CAMBERWELL [1861]
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Camberwell Workhouse, Havil Street [1888]
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Camberwell Workhouse, Nazareth House, Gordon
Road [1888]
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Chelsea Workhouse, Chelsea, CHELSEA [1861]
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Chelsea Workhouse, Arthur Street [1888]
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Christchurch Workhouse, Blackfriars Road,
Christchurch, Southwark, ST SAVIOUR
SOUTHWARK [1881]
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City of London Union Workhouse, part of, Bromley
St Leonard, Bow, POPLAR [1861]
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City of London Workhouse, part of, MILE END OLD
TOWN [1861]
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City Union Workhouse [1888]
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Clerkenwell Workhouse, Farringdon Road [1888]
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East London Union Workhouse, Hackney,
HACKNEY [1861]
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Fulham Union Workhouse, Fulham, KENSINGTON
[1861]
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Fulham Workhouse, Hammersmith Road [1888]
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Greenwich Workhouse, Woolwich Road [1888]
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Hackney Union Workhouse, Hackney, HACKNEY
[1861]
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Hackney Workhouse, Sidney Road [1888]
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Holborn Union Workhouse, St Andrew, HOLBORN
[1861]
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Holborn Workhouse, 158 Gray's Inn Road [1888]
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West London Union Workhouse, Cornwallis Road
[1888]
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Islington Workhouse, St John's Road [1888]
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Islington Workhouse, Holy Trinity, ISLINGTON
[1862]
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Islington Workhouse, ISLINGTON [1861]
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Kensington Workhouse, Marloes Road [1888]
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Kensington Workhouse, Wright's Lane, St
Margaret, WESTMINSTER [1861]
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Lambeth Old Workhouse, Princes Road, Lambeth
Church, LAMBETH [1881]
Lambeth Workhouse Industrial Schools,
Norwood, LAMBETH [1861]
Lambeth Workhouse School, Elder Road,
Norwood, LAMBETH [1881]
Lambeth Workhouse, LAMBETH [1861]
Lambeth Workhouse, Renfrew Road [1888]
Lambeth Workhouse, Renfrew Road, Lambeth
Church, LAMBETH [1881]
Lewisham Workhouse, Lewisham Road [1888]
Limehouse Workhouse, Rope Makers Field
[1888]
City of London Workhouse, Homerton, Cliften
Road [1888]
London Workhouse, Shadwell Road [1888]
Mile End Old Town Workhouse, MILE END OLD
TOWN [1861]
Mile End Old Town Workhouse, Bancroft Road
[1888]
Newington Workhouse, St Peter Walworth,
NEWINGTON [1861]
Paddington WorkhoSt George's Hanover Square
Workhouse, Mount Street, [1888]
St George's Workhouse, ST GEORGE IN THE
EAST [1861]
St George's-in-the-East Workhouse [1888]
St Giles Workhouse, St Giles South, ST GILES
[1861]
St Giles's & St George's Workhouses, Endell
Street [1888]
use, Harrow Road [1888]
Pancras Workhouse, Camden Town, PANCRAS
[1861]
Poplar Workhouse, High Street [1888]
Richmond Union Workhouse, Grove Road [1888]
Rotherhithe Workhouse, Deptford Lower Road,
Rotherhithe, ST OLAVE SOUTHWARK [1881]
Shoreditch Workhouse, Kingsland Road [1888]
St George's Workhouse, Fulham Road [1888]
St George's Workhouse, Mint Street [1888]
St Georges Workhouse, Mint Street, Borough
Road, ST SAVIOUR SOUTHWARK [1881]
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St George's Hanover Square Workhouse, Mount
Street, [1888]
St George's Workhouse, ST GEORGE IN THE
EAST [1861]
Stepney Union Workhouse (commonly called the
Children's Establishment), Limehouse, STEPNEY
[1861]
Stepney Workhouse, St Leonard Street [1888]
The Shoreditch Workhouse, Haggerstone West,
SHOREDITCH [1861]
The Union Workhouse, York Street West, Ratcliff,
STEPNEY [1861]
The Workhouse belonging to St Luke's Parish,
Hoxton New Town, SHOREDITCH [1861]
The Workhouse, Rectory, MARYLEBONE [1861]
St Giles Workhouse, St Giles South, ST GILES
[1861]
St Giles's & St George's Workhouses, Endell
Street [1888]
St John's Hampstead Workhouse, New End
[1888]
St Luke's Workhouse, Shepherdess Walk [1888]
St Mary Abbotts Workhouse, Kensington Town
[1888]
St Marylebone Workhouse, Northumberland
Street [1888]
St Mary's Islington Workhouse, Upper Barnsbury
Street [1888]
St Olave's Union Infirmary, Deptford Lower Road,
S.E. London [1888]
St Olave's Union Workhouse, Parish Street, St
John, Horseleydown, ST OLAVE SOUTHWARK
[1881]
St Olave's Union Workhouse, St John
Horeslydown, ST OLAVE SOUTHWARK [1861]
St Olave's Workhouse, Lower Road [1888]
St Olave's Workhouse, Parish Street [1888]
St Olave's Workhouse, Russell Street [1888]
St Pancras Workhouse, King's Road [1888]
St Saviour's Union Workhouse, Christchurch, ST
SAVIOUR SOUTHWARK [1861]
St Saviour's Workhouse, Marlbro' Street [1888]
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Union Workhouse, Greenwich, GREENWICH
[1861]
Union Workhouse, Lewisham Village, LEWISHAM
[1861]
Union Workhouse, Mile End New Town,
WHITECHAPEL [1861]
Union Workhouse, POPLAR [1861]
Wandsworth & Clapham Union Workhouse,
Battersea, WANDSWORTH [1861]
Wandsworth & Clapham Workhouse, Usk Road
[1888]
West Ham Union Workhouse, Union Road [1888]
Westminster Workhouse, Marloes Road [1888]
Westminster Workhouse, Poland Street [1888]
Westminster Workhouse, York Street, St
Margaret, WESTMINSTER [1861]
Whitechapel Union Workhouse, Charles Street,
WHITECHAPEL [1871]
Whitechapel Workhouse, South Grove [1888]
Woolwich Union Workhouse [1888]
Workhouse belonging to St George Hanover
Square, Chelsea, CHELSEA [1861]
Workhouse Infirmary, Pleasant Place, Lambeth
Church, LAMBETH [1881]
Workhouse, Borough Road, ST GEORGE
SOUTHWARK [1861]
Workhouse, Charing Cross, ST MARTIN IN THE
FIELDS [1861]
Workhouse, Golden Square, ST JAMES
WESTMINSTER [1861]
Workhouse, Green, BETHNAL GREEN [1861]
Workhouse, Hampstead, HAMPSTEAD [1861]
Workhouse, Mount Street, Mayfair, ST GEORGE
HANOVER SQUARE [1861]
Workhouse, Rotherhithe, ROTHERHITHE [1861]
Workhouse, Russell Street, St Mary Magdalen,
ST OLAVE SOUTHWARK [1881]
Workhouse, St James, CLERKENWELL [1861]
Workhouse, St Mary Magdalen, BERMONDSEY
[1861]
Workhouse, Wapping, Shadwell, STEPNEY
[1861]
Workhouse, West London North, WEST
LONDON [1861]
To understand Scrooge, we must
understand just where Scrooge
thought the poor should go.
“Are there no
prisons? No
workhouses?”
Debtor's Prisons
The English practiced a peculiar form of punishment for someone
who could not pay their bills; a special prison where the offender
was incarcerated indefinitely until his creditors could be satisfied.
The fact that a person in prison was unable to work to earn the
necessary money to repay those debts did not enter into their
logic. Debtors often died in these prisons due to the terrible living
conditions.
In 1824, Dickens’ father was imprisoned in
Marshalsea debtor's prison. Dickens, age
12 was sent to work in a boot blacking
factory.
What Was A Workhouse?
• A prison like place to house the poor and force them
to work for their food.
• A place to discourage the poor from claiming poor
relief.
• A place where conditions so harsh that people
would try to manage outside, rather than enter them.
• Those who claimed poor relief and entered the
workhouse were called 'inmates' -- a term also used
for criminals who were in prison.
Two Workhouse Designs
Cruciform
Hexagonal
Design Purpose
Designed to separate different groups.
Families were split up!
 Prevented more children
 Turn the children into useful human beings
--which, it was thought, their parents were not
 People in the same family might see each other during meals
or in the chapel but they were not allowed to speak to each
other.
A well known story tells how a laborer gave notice to leave the
workhouse with his wife & children - only to be told: "You
cannot take your wife out. We buried her three weeks ago".
Separation of Workhouse Inmates
Separation of Workhouse Inmates
Workhouse Classes
Classification of Inmates
• After 1834, inmates were strictly segregated into 7 classes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Aged or infirm men.
Able bodied men, and youths above 13.
Youths and boys above seven years old and under 13.
Aged or infirm women
Able-bodied women and girls above 16.
Girls above seven years old and under 16.
Children under 7 seven years of age.
• You were stripped,
searched, washed
• Had your hair cropped.
• Made to wear a prison-style
uniform.
• Personal belongings were
confiscated
• Women were at all times
kept separate from the men,
including their husbands.
• Children were kept
separately from adults even from their own
parents.
Entering the
Workhouse
Children’s Uniforms
Women’s Uniform
Workhouse Meals
Until 1842
•all meals were taken in silence
•no cutlery was provided
•inmates had to use their fingers
•meals were kept dull, predictable & tasteless.
There were 6 official diets which were so meager that they were
described as "a slow process of starvation".
A typical meal was:- BREAKFAST 6 oz bread; DINNER 4 oz
bacon and 3 oz bread or potatoes; SUPPER 6 oz bread & 2 oz
cheese.
The official ration in prisons was 292 ounces of food a
week. The workhouse diet was between 137 and 182 ounces a
week only.
Workhouse Diet
The diet fed to workhouse inmates
was often laid down in meticulous
detail. For example, the workhouse
rules for the parish of St John at
Hackney in the 1750s stipulated a
daily allowance of:
7 Ounces of Meat when
dressed, without Bones,
2 Ounces of Butter,
4 Ounces of Cheese,
1 Pound of Bread,
3 Pints of Beer
Workhouse Dining
Workhouse Dining Hall
A Day in the Workhouse
Summer
Winter
5 a.m.
6 a.m.
Rising bell
6 a.m
7 a.m.
Prayers and breakfast
7 a.m.
8 a.m.
Work
12 noon
Dinner
1 p.m.
Work
6 p.m.
Prayers
7 p.m.
Supper
8 p.m.
Bed
Work in the Workhouse
In rural areas, inmates were sometimes used for agricultural
labor. Other more menial work included:
• Stone-breaking — the results being saleable for road-making
•Stone-breaking
was a task often
given to male
inmates. It was
physically
demanding, the
amount performed
could be readily
measured, and the
results could be
sold for roadmending.
Oakum-picking
involved teasing
out the fibres
from old hemp
ropes — the
resulting
material was
sold to the navy
or other shipbuilders — it
was mixed with
tar and used to
seal the lining of
wooden ships.
Work Con’t.
• Oakum-picking
Wood
Chopping
• Gypsum-crushing — for use in plaster-making
• Corn-grinding — heavy mill-stones were rotated
by four or more men turning a capstan
Discipline in the workhouse.
Name
Offence
Date Punishment
Elliott, Benjamin
Neglect of work
31 May
1842
Rowe, Sarah
Noisy and swearing
19 June
1842
Aplin, John
Disorderly at Prayer-time
22 July
1842
Mintern, George
Greenham, Mary
and Payne,
Priscella
Bartlett, Mary
Park, James
Fighting in school
26 July
1842
Quarreling and fighting
14 Dec
1842
Dinner withheld, and but bread for
supper.
Lock'd up for 24 hours on bread and
water.
Lock'd up for 24 hours on bread and
water.
No cheese for one week.
No meat 1 week.
Breaking window
21 Mar
1843
Sent to prison for 2 mths.
Deserted, got over wall
4 Sep
1843
Hallett, Isaac
Breaking window
25 April
1844
Staple, John
Refusing to work
7 Jany.
1856
Johnson, John
To be whipped.
Sent to prison for 2 months hard
labor.
Committed to prison for 28 days.
Cheese & tea stop'd for supper.
Breakfast stop's altogether.
Taken before the Magistrate &
committed to prison for 14 days hard
labor.
Refusing to work
1858
Making use of bad language in
17 Jany.
bedroom.
1863
Trying to excite other inmates to
insubordination. Refusing to Note by Chairman of the Guardians: "Would not 28 days be better—J.F.?"
work.
Soaper, Elizabeth
19 Oct
Refactory Cell
for Punishment
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