Workhouse System in OperationHow was the workhouse system

demoralising and a deterrent to the poor?

How were the workhouses designed?• Every aspect of the workhouse was meant to deter the

poor from entering them, this included the initial design of the workhouses themselves. Sampson Kempthorne was appointed architect to the Poor Law commission and he came up with these designs; the Y-shaped building, two or three storeys high and the cruciform-shaped building, two storeys high.

• They were designed to divide and segregate paupers into seven different categories. These were: sick men, able bodied men, boys 7 -15, sick women, able bodied women, girls 7 -15 and children under 7.

• This was done so that paupers lost all sense of individuality and were treated as impersonal units that belonged to the parish.

Who entered the workhouse?

• Workhouses provided short term and long term care to the poor. The most common groups of people found in the workhouse were:

• The impotent poor – The elderly (mainly men), Children (abandoned, orphaned or ill)

• Young people – This was often for short periods of time due to things such as weather conditions, illness and periods of depression where it was hard to find employment.

• Single women – They could not claim outdoor relief and included widows, abandoned wives, single mothers and prostitutes.

• Mentally ill – Nearly 1 in 8 were mentally ill in the workhouses. • Vagrants – They were given overnight accommodation in a ‘casual

ward’. They were only allowed there in the evening where they could be stripped, deloused and have their clothes disinfected and only received bread and water for their meal. In the morning they were rid of as soon as possible.

What was the workhouse regime?

• There were rules and regulations for everything in the workhouse to deter people from seeking relief.

• 1) Families were medically inspected and then split up• 2) Children were sent to workhouse school until the age of 9 or 10 when they were

apprenticed out usually to cotton mills. This was often done without parent consent or knowledge.

• 3) Everyone had to wear a uniform that sometimes fitted but often did not. • 4) Men were given razors and allowed to shave once a week• 5) Every pauper had a weekly bath that was watched by workhouse staff. • 6) No personal possessions were allowed and there were no lockers where

personal items could be kept. • 7) Each day began and ended with prayer and the daily routine was:• Breakfast 07.00-08.00, Work 08.00-12.00, Dinner 12.00-13.00, Work 13.00-18.00,

Supper 18.00-19.00, Bedtime 20.00.In the summer the day started an hour earlier.

•Everything was designed to take away any responsibility for the family, individuality, expression, privacy and made life monotonous and dull.

What work were the poor made to do?

• The aim of the work done in the workhouse was to rehabilitate and restore the paupers to the workforce outside. However the work could not take away employment outside the workhouse and had to be done in the confines of the workhouse itself.

• Women and children tended to maintain the workhouse. They worked in the laundries, kitchens and sick rooms as cleaners, attendants, child minders and slopper-outs.

• Men tended to do dispiriting and monotonous work such as unravelling ropes, chopping wood, smashing limestone and grinding animal bones into dust. The work was literally the same as convicts and very degrading.

What was the workhouse diet like?• Even food served to degrade and discipline and the

bare minimum was given to paupers to keep them alive. The Poor Law commission issues six model diets. They were designed to make mealtimes as boring and tedious as possible. The poor were to get no pleasure from the food they ate and meals were to be eaten in silence. The food was often poor quality and meals were poorly and carelessly prepared and cooked. Some workhouses didn’t even allow cutlery as a further way of degrading the poor by having to eat with their hands.

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What was the discipline procedure in the workhouse?

• Workhouses needed discipline as there was often fights verbally and physically, bullying, blackmail and even cases of sexual abuse.

• There were specific punishments laid down by the Poor Law commissioners and all punishments were to be formally recorded in a book. This was almost an improvement as guardians and staff did know the limit of punishment they could impose on paupers.

• Paupers could be punished for: Being in the wrong part of the building, making lots of noise, working slowly and being rude to staff.

• Punishments could range from: reduced rations, beatings (although not girls or women), time in punishment cells and own refinements such as spending the night in a mortuary!

• Rewards could also be given though like food, ‘clean’ jobs and pocket money.

• However punishments and rewards often had no legal backing and had grown up through custom. Very serious crimes were dealt with through the law.

How were children treated in the workhouse?

• Children were possibly the only group of the poor who benefitted from the workhouses under the new poor law. Children could not be blamed or made responsible for their poverty and so they received a basic education until the age of 9 or 10 when they were apprenticed to a trade.

• However the education was often not substantial and teachers could often be drunks, illiterate or paupers themselves!

• Children had no say in where they were apprenticed to and this could be miles away from the workhouse and their family.

• Children also could not leave the workhouse and if they ran away and were caught, would be returned. This meant they found it hard to cope with life outside the workhouse.

• It wasn't until 1870 that pauper children were then educated within the elementary school system to help with integration into society.

What were the staff like in the workhouse?

• A workhouse required staff for it to function efficiently which included: Cleaners, porters, washerwoman, cooks, scullery maids and chimney sweeps. Some labour was also given to the poor outside who worked long hours on low pay to help keep themselves out of the workhouse!

• The most important roles in the workhouse were:• Master and matron – The master was responsible for discipline and economy of the workhouse and the

matron for the female paupers and the domestic side of life. They were underpaid, overworked and often operated with little supervision form the board of guardians. The jobs were often done by married couples with no roots.

• Clerk – The clerk ordered and budgeted for food, clothing, equipment, furniture and supplies. He also supervised building and repair work. Under the master he was responsible for nearly everything and could very easily be corrupt.

• Medical Officer – Medical Officers had to deal with routine sickness as well as chronic, venereal and infectious diseases that voluntary hospitals refused to treat. They had short term contracts on very low pay and the job was very unpopular with a low status. Masters could also ignore medical officer’s advice.

• Teacher – As well as teaching the pauper children they were responsible for cleanliness and appearance of the children. Children were to be taught to read and write although there was much dispute over this as outside the workhouse many poor children would never learn these skills. However often teachers were drunks, idle, paupers of illiterate themselves.

• Chaplain – Chaplains had to hold one service in the workhouse chapel every Sunday, visit the sick and administer the dying.

• Overall the workhouse did not attract well-qualified people mainly because of the ridiculously low wages offered by the Poor Law Commissioners. They also had to work very long hours, had few holidays and were tied to the workhouse.