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The harsh new workhouses

The Workhouse system

By the end of the 17th century the Workhouse system was becoming
well established, and the General Warkhouse Act of 1723 gave
parishes the authority to build their own workhouses or join with
other parishes to do so.

Expenditure on the poor had been steadily rising in the late 18th and
early 19th centuries, along with the rise in the general population, and
the combination of the Workhouse system plus outside help, in the
form of money or essential provisions, was placing ever greater
demands upon the poor rate.

The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834

This harsh new legislation marked a major watershed in the treatment
of paupers. Up to this time the responsibility for poor relief lay at
parish level in the hands of the Overseers of the Poor and under the
supervision of the county Justices oft/1e Peace.

The new Act set up the Poor Law Commission for England and
Wales, charged with forcing unions of parishes to carry out poor
relief in a new, and less costly, way. The new Poor Law Unions were
to be supervised by Boards of Guardians , elected by the ratepayers
and prominent landowners of the parish. As well as appointing
officials such as the relieving officer and the Workhouse master to run
the new Workhouse unions, they also supervised the removal of the
poor under the settlement laws, and agreed payments with other
unions to take on "their" paupers.

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19/03/99 16:03

Workhouse 2 http://history.powys.org.uk/COMMON/WORKHSE2.HTM

  

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Places of last resort

A spartan regime for desperate people

The 1834 Act replaced the "Old Poor Law", dating from the time of
Elizabeth 1. It was a deliberately ruthless measure, intended to wipe
out "pauperism", which was judged to be caused by the idleness,
fecklessness, drunkenness, and over-dependence on poor relief of
"the lowest
class". This was
to be brought
about by
building large,
institutional
workhouses
which were
intended to be
so harsh and
hostile that only
the truly
destitute would
seek refuge in

 

them. They were to be the places of last resort.

Separating families

Perhaps the cruellest aspect of the strict and spartan regime in these
places was the practice of separating husbands and wives and parents
and children. Not only were they forced to stay in different parts of
the workhouse, but they were not even permitted to meet in the
communal areas such as the chapel.

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Workhouse regulations 1 http://history.powys.org.uk/COMMON/RULES1.HTM

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The rules for ‘Casual Paupers'

The official regulations quoted below, which were to be displayed in
all workhouses, really bring home the alarmingly harsh regimes
which were maintained in these places over many years. The
following extracts are taken from Regulations of the Local
Government Board dated December 1882, with later amendments, as
applicable to "Casual Paupers".

Dietary Table: Supper.

Males above 15 years of age - 8 oz. of
Bread or 6 oz of Bread, and 1 pint of
Gruel or 1 pint of Broth.

Females above 15 years of age,
Children from 7 to 15 years of age - 6
oz of Bread, and 1 pint of Gruel or l
pint of Broth.

Breakfast - same as Supper.

Children under seven years of age:
For each child under the age of seven
months - half pint of Milk and half oz
of Sugar. For each child between the
ages of seven months and two years -
half pint of Milk, half oz of Sugar, and
2 oz of Bread. For each child between

the ages of two years and seven years -
half pint of Milk, 4 oz of Bread, and

Powys
County Archives

half oz of Cheese.

Tasks of Work.

Casual Paupers who are detained for more than one night:

As regards Males, for each entire day of detention -

The breaking of seven cwt. of Stones, or other such quantity not less
than five cwt. nor more than thirteen cwt. as the Guardians having
regard to the nature of the Stone, may prescribe. The stone shall be
broken to such a size as the Guardians, having regard to the nature
thereof, may prescribe; or

The picking of four pounds of unbeaten or eight pounds of beaten
Oakum; or

Nine hours’ work in digging or pumping, or cutting wood, or grinding
corn.

As regards Females, for each entire day of detention -
The picking of two pounds of unbeaten or four pounds of beaten
Oakum; or

Nine hours’ work in washing, scrubbing and cleaning, or needlework.

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1 of2 19/03/99 16:05

Workhouse regulations 2

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Punishment for paupers

Idle and Disorderly Persons

The workhouse regulations of 1882 also set out the punishnents
applicable to paupers who did not adhere to the strict rules of such
establishments.This part of the official notice reads as follows:

Punishment for Offences.

"The Pauper Inmates Discharge and Regulation Act provides that -
Any Pauper who (I) Absconds or escapes from or leaves any Casual
Ward before he is entitled to discharge himself therefrom; or (2)
Refuses to be removed to any Workhouse or Asylum under the
provisions of this Act; or
. (3) Absconds or escapes
 fiom or leaves any

‘ Workhouse or Asylum
 during the period for

   
 

detained therein; or (4)

Refuses or neglects, whilst an inmate of any Casual Ward,
Workhouse, or Asylum, to do the work or observe the regulations
prescribed, or (5) Wilfully gives a false name or makes a false
statement for the purpose of obtaining relief shall be Deemed an
Idle and Disorderly Person within the meaning of Section 3 of the
fifth George the Fourth, chapter eighty-three.

And every Pauper who (1) Commits any of the oflences
before-mentioned after having been previously convicted as an idle
and disorderly person; or (2) Wilfully destroys or injures his own
clothes or damages any of the property of the Guardians, shall be
deemed a Rogue and Vagabond within the meaning of Section 4 of
the same Act.

An Idle and Disorderly Person may on conviction be sentenced to
One Month's Imprisonment with hard labour.

A Rogue and Vagabond on conviction may be sentenced to Three
Month's Imprisonment with hard labour. ”

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19/03/99 16:06

Opposing workhouses

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The workhouse or starvation

The workhouse or starvation

The Poor Law Amendment‘/Ict of 1834 also decreed that external
relief for the poor was to be stopped within two years, leaving these
unfortunates with the choice of the workhouse or starvation. It was
not surprising that the draconian new law caused a huge outcry, and
in many areas the setting up of new workhouse unions was delayed
for many years by furious opposition to the new "bastilles". The
legislation had been designed to root out the "undeserving poor", but
it was the genuinely deserving and most needy members of society
who suffered most because of it.

Because of the levels of hostility to the new regimes, help for the
poor outside the workhouse system was still carried out. After 1850
the workhouses mostly contained the "deserving poor", plus a
shifting population of vagrants and "casual paupers" kept apart from
the others. As the previous pages show, they were given a particularly
hard time, and had to carry out stone-breaking or other tasks in
payment for a bowl of gruel and a piece of bread.

"Unchaste women" were isolated and denied the tiny concessions
granted to other inmates.

Changing attitudes towards poverty

Towards the end of the century, attitudes towards the ways in which
the poorest people in society were being treated were at last
changing, and conditions were slowly improving. By that time it was
common for children to be taken away fromworkhouses and placed in
children’s homes or in
foster homes.

By 1900 the harshness of
the workhouse system
was under attack from
social reformers and
charities. The poor were
no longer being thought
of as being always
responsible for their own
circumstances but seen
more as victims of the
economic and social
conditions of the times.
The extension of the Vote and the election of more sympathetic MPs
led to the beginning of the end of the unforgiving treatment of the
poor. Today’s alternative approach to social welfare was to be set in
train by 1911, with the introduction of old age pensions and state
benefits.

 

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19/03/99 16:07