about… the workhouse

Until 1834, parishes were responsible for providing relief to its poor. This was usually dispensed through ‘out-relief’ such as grants of money, clothing, food, or fuel, to those living in their own homes. However, workhouses began to evolve in the seventeenth century as an alternative form of ‘indoor relief’, both to save the parish money, and also as to deter the able-bodied who were required to work, usually without pay, in return for their board and lodging.

The workhouse in the nineteenth century

By the start of the nineteenth century, the nationwide cost of out-relief was beginning to spiral. It was also believed by some that parish relief had come to be seen as an easy option by those who did not want to work. In 1834, the Poor Law Amendment Act was passed with the intention of ending all out-relief for the able bodied.

The parishes of England and Wales were formed into Poor Law Unions, each with its own union workhouse, which would only grant relief to those desperate enough to face the repugnant conditions of the workhouse. If an able-bodied man entered the workhouse, his whole family had to enter with him.

Life in the workhouse

Life inside the workhouse was intended to be as off-putting as possible. Men, women, children, the infirm, and the able-bodied were housed separately and given very basic and monotonous food such as watery porridge called gruel, or bread and cheese. All inmates had to wear the rough workhouse uniform and sleep in communal dormitories. Supervised baths were given once a week. The able-bodied were given hard work such as stone-breaking or picking apart old ropes called oakum. The elderly and infirm sat around in the day-rooms or sick-wards with little opportunity for visitors. Parents were only allowed limited contact with their children.

By the 1850s, the majority of those forced into the workhouse were not the work-shy, but the old, the infirm, the orphaned, the physically or mentally ill, and unmarried mothers. For the next century, the Workhouse was, in many localities, one of the largest and most significant buildings in the area, sometimes accommodating more than a thousand inmates. Entering its harsh regime and Spartan conditions was considered the ultimate degradation.

The workhouse was not, however, a prison. People could, in principle, leave whenever they wished, for example when work became available locally. Some people, known as the ‘ins and outs’, entered and left quite frequently, treating the workhouse almost like a guest-house, albeit one with the most basic of facilities. For some, however, their stay in the workhouse would be for the rest of their lives.

Admission

Admission first required an interview to establish the applicant's circumstances. The new arrival would then be examined by a medical offer to check their state of health, stripped, bathed, and issued with a workhouse uniform. Children could be required to have their hair cut. An inmate's own clothes would be washed and disinfected and stored with any possessions they had, to be returned when they left the workhouse. They would then be classified as follows:

• Aged or infirm men
• Able bodied men, and youths above thirteen
• Youths and boys above seven years old and under thirteen
• Aged or infirm women
• Able-bodied women and girls above sixteen
• Girls above seven years old and under sixteen
• Children under seven years of age

An inmate’s classification dictated their diet and the area of the workhouse that they were assigned to. Each area of the workhouse was arranged so that different classes never came into contact with one another. The main exception was the dining-hall which also served as a chapel. Children under seven could be placed in the female wards and their mothers could have access to them "at all reasonable times". Parents could also have an "interview" with their children "at some time in each day".

Inside the workhouse

As well as a dining-hall, day-rooms for the elderly, and dormitories for sleeping, workhouses often had their own bakery, laundry, tailor's and shoe-maker's, vegetable gardens and orchards. Able-bodied inmates performed a variety of work, generally to help run the workhouse. Other more menial tasks included stone-breaking (for road-making), gypsum-crushing (for use in plaster-making), oakum-picking (for use in ship building) and wood-chopping.

Inmates were expected to be humble, grateful and obedient. Prayers were part of the daily routine and were said before every meal; there were also services on Sunday and religious feast days.

Food, glorious food

In larger workhouses, inmates commonly sat in rows all facing the same way, in some cases with separate men's and women's dining halls. The diet varied between workhouses, but was plain and monotonous, and consisted chiefly of bread. Meals were also created from the cheapest ingredients; milk was often diluted with water and fruit was rarely included. A typical day might be:

• Breakfast and supper:  13oz bread, plus 2oz cheese or 1oz butter or 1 pint porridge.
• Mid-day: 1 pint of leg of beef soup, or 1lb rice pudding, or 7 oz boiled beef or mutton and vegetables thickened with barley, rice or oatmeal.
• Daily ration: a quart of table beer for men, and one and a half pints for women, with reduced amounts for children.

But the workhouse was not entirely bad. Living conditions were often healthier than existed in much poor housing of the time; although monotonous, the food was regular and reasonably wholesome; the staff in many institutions were kindly, and the brutal treatment that was sensationalized in the press was probably much the exception; children were also given schooling and learnt trades and skills in the workhouse  so that they could earn their living when they were old enough to leave the workhouse.

As time went on, change began to happen and life in the workhouse became more tolerable, with improvements in the diet and living conditions. The 1929 Local Government Act abolished workhouses and their responsibilities passed to Borough and County councils.