The Workhouse -
the very name conjures up grim pictures of austere
buildings and bewildered men, women and children.
Ian Waller's talk, to the Windsor/Slough Group in
October, was sub-titled "Bread, Gruel and Suet
Dumplings" reflecting the official workhouse
diet as laid down by Government order.
Before 1834 the local workhouse was organised and
run by each parish and accommodated up to a dozen
people. After that date the Poor Law
Commissioners became the governing body and these
establishments had now to cater for up to 300 souls
in areas which were the fore-runners of the
Registration Districts. The Workhouse Master was
answerable to the Board of Guardians and the rules
were strict.
However, all was not bad. The workhouse was
usually the one place where the sick could get help
and medication. Once in the workhouse, it did
not mean you were there for evermore - you could go
for just a few weeks if, perhaps, money was
desperately short until another job came along.
Maybe a mother and several very young children would
seek refuge until the elder children were able to
provide a little money; thus when circumstances
improved you were free to leave.
Admission to the workhouse came only after a
rigorous interview before the Board of Guardians and
segregation was the saddest part for families.
The "holding bay" came first whilst you
were classified, then a bath, a medical and finally
your own clothes were removed and you were given a
uniform. Men, women and children were housed
separately and each sex was classified thus: aged/infirm
over 55 years, able-bodied over 16 (and this included
the elderly but fit!), boys/girls 7-15 years and
children under 7. Children were given schooling
and the able-bodied were expected to work.
Depending on locality, this could be agricultural
work but more often small industries were set up
within the confines of the workhouse.
Up at 5.45am (6.45 in the winter) then it was
breakfast - work - dinner - work - supper and bed
always at 8pm. Large quantities of bread and a
pint of thin gruel for breakfast, 16ozs of potatoes
and 14ozs of suet dumplings with the inevitable gruel
for dinner varied only with bread and cheese on
Sundays when there was no work. For supper you
had bread, sometimes with butter, and tea to drink.
Quantities were laid down by law but the most
frightening aspect of this diet was the fact that
should you become ill, then the quantities were
increased - to build you up! Few died of
starvation in a workhouse.
If you just cannot find a baptism or death record
yet you know the parish, date, names of parents etc,
then try the Workhouse records. There are
prolific records such as Admission/Discharge Books,
Masters' Journals, Punishment Books, Apprentice
Books, Relief Records, and - yes, births and deaths.
All records are held in the PRO and one of the four
Jeremy Gibson Guides can tell you which of the
records exist in your parish of interest.
A weekly paper "Poor Law Union Gazette"
exists in its entirety from 1839/40 to 1885/6; held
at Colindale, these give very full details of
everyone who absconded from each workhouse in the
country. Births and deaths were meticulously
registered but they never appear in Parish Records.
Burials, too, were carried out within the grounds of
the workhouse.
Discipline was rigorous and the Punishment Books
record details of those falling foul of such "crimes"
as being drunk and disorderly, wilful damage of
clothes or bedding, theft, breach of the peace and
even non-attendance at Chapel on Sundays.
Local Record Offices can give details of parishes
served by each Poor Law Union and the records are
held in MH9 and MH12 at the Public Records Office.
Although surviving records vary from area to area,
workhouse to workhouse, many do still survive and the
information contained therein cannot be found
anywhere else.
It was not until 1948 that the Workhouse, as such,
generally became a local hospital although this
change had gradually been taking place in the
preceding years. Indeed, very many of today's
hospitals are remembered as being "The Workhouse"
by the older generation who vigorously resist going
into hospital as a result.
So, for both short-term and long-term residents of
a workhouse numerous, often untapped, records exist
with fine detail of every aspect of a person's life
history. Ian Waller's talk was most informative
and maybe "Life in the Workhouse" wasn't
quite as bad as Charles Dickens would have us believe.
