A workhouse was a place where people who were unable to support themselves could go to live and work. The Oxford Dictionary's earliest reference to a workhouse dates to 1652 in Exeter. There is, however, some written evidence that workhouses existed before this date. Records mention a workhouse in 1631 in Abingdon. The vagrants' and casual workers' ward of a workhouse was colloquially known as a spike, from the tool used to unpick oakum.

Legal history

Relief of the Poor and Impotent, 1579, Scotland

In 1579, an act of the Scottish Parliament "For Punishment of Strang and Idle Beggars, and Reliefe of the Pure and Impotent" laid the basis of the system of poor relief in Scotland. Each parish had to make a list of its own poor lord (those who had been born there or who had lived there for seven years or more), "that the aged, impotent, and pure people, suld have ludgeing and abiding places", and to enable "heritors" or land-owners to take the children of beggars into unpaid service until they were eighteen, in the case of girls, or twenty-four, for boys. This was amended by a further act of 1597 to transfer administration to the Kirk Session (Church of Scotland assembly) in each parish.

Elizabethan Poor Law, 1601, England and Wales

In 1601 the Elizabethan Poor Law made no mention of workhouses. Nevertheless, the act stated that “materials should be bought to provide work for the unemployed able-bodied". The act did propose the building of housing for the impotent poor, which included the elderly and chronically sick. Most poor relief of the time continued to be in the form of outdoor relief. The system was funded through rates, a local tax. The workhouse system began to evolve in the 17th century as a way for (Church of England) parishes to decrease the cost to rate-payers. This form of indoor relief was a deterrent to the able-bodied who were required to work usually without pay. The Workhouse Test Act made it possible for parishes to deny outdoor relief and only provide indoor relief.

Some parishes contracted out their poor relief provisions – a private contractor would manage the parish's workhouse system for a fixed annual fee. The workhouse was not necessarily regarded as a place of punishment and some workhouses gained the nickname "Pauper palaces" because of their pleasant conditions.

Act of 1672, Scotland

An act of 1672 ordered magistrates to erect "correction houses" or workhouses in which beggars could be

Political attitude and social environment

From the earliest times it had always been accepted that a proportion of the population were unable to support themselves and had to be provided for. Prior to 1830 most parishes provided outdoor relief, a system of cash payments made to the poor on an ad hoc basis in time of need. However, in the early 19th century the principle of laissez faire was developed. This held that poverty was largely the result of fecklessness, immorality, idleness and drunkenness and that too liberal a welfare regime would merely encourage these vices and discourage self-improvement and honest labour.

Coupled with this, the Industrial Revolution, a rising population and urbanisation was resulting in increased levels of perceived poverty that the old parish system was unable to cope with.

Gilbert's Unions, 1782, England and Wales

Gilbert's Act of 1782 simplified the procedures for parishes to set up workhouses and allowed parishes to form unions known as Gilbert Unions. Under the Gilbert's scheme able-bodied paupers were not admitted to the workhouse but were maintained by the parish until work could be found for them. Few workhouses were built under Gilbert's scheme but supplementing wages under a system known as the Speenhamland system did become established.

Southwell Workhouse

In 1824, the Minster town of Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England constructed their workhouse for the surrounding parish which would additionally cater for the able-bodied poor; these people would no longer be eligible for any support unless they entered the workhouse, where conditions were harsher than those for the "blameless poor". These harsh conditions were in contrast to some of the more asylum-like workhouses in existence at the time, and Southwell became the prototype for all English workhouses as codified in the legislation which followed in 1834.

The Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834, England and Wales

The workhouse system was set up in England and Wales under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 although many individual houses existed before this legislation. Outdoor relief was discouraged and each group of parishes had to provide a workhouse. Under the 1834 system individual parishes were formed into Poor Law Unions – each Poor Law Union was to have a union workhouse.

Inmates were free to enter and leave as they liked and would receive free food and accommodation. However, the concern was that too liberal a regime would lead to many people who could easily work taking it easy in the workhouse. This would lead not only to an excessive charge on charitable funds but a dilution of the work ethic. To counter this the principle of less eligibility was developed. Workhouse life was deliberately made as harsh and degrading as possible so that only the truly destitute would apply. Attempts were also made to provide moral guidance, training and education to the poor.^{[citation needed]}

Workhouse conditions were governed by the Consolidated General Order, a formidable series of rules governing every aspect of workhouse life such as diet, dress, education, discipline and redress of grievances.

Irish Poor Law, 1838

Following consideration of a report by George Nicholls, the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act, 1838 was passed in Westminister. It was the first Irish poor law and was loosely based on the model being promoted for England and Scotland. Nicholls' recommendation, following a series of short visits to Ireland, ran counter to that of a Commission of Enquiry which had examined the issue of an Irish Poor Law for three years, though both recommended indoor relief to the complete exclusion of outdoor relief. His misunderstanding of fundamental differences in the two jurisdictions was ignored, and his reasoning on sectarian and racial lines as to the cause of such extreme destitution in Ireland found acceptance amongst decision-makers.One basic difference in the systems as introduced was with respect to the question of parish Settlement. No Law of Settlement was incorporated in the Irish Poor Law as had been included in the English Poor Law of 1662. This was deliberately to ensure that no perceived right of relief accrued to applicants in Ireland; the decision to grant or refuse assistance was at the discretion of the local Board of Guardians. Initially, 130 Irish Unions were created, with an additional 33 being added in 1848-50.

Poor Law Act of 1845, Scotland

In 1843 a Commission of Enquiry was appointed to consider the operation of poor laws in Scotland. Their report proposed to broadly keep relief organized at the parish level although parishes, particularly in urban areas, should be united for settlement and poor-relief purposes, including the establishment of united poorhouses. They also proposed the creation of a Board of Supervision to oversee the management of each parish's poor relief. These proposals were put into effect on 4 August 1845 in an Act for The Amendment and better Administration of the Laws Relating to the relief of the Poor in Scotland. This act was an enabling act: Parishes could create poorhouses, but were not required to. Parishes could group together to provide common poorhouses.

The workhouse system was the mainstay of poor relief through the Victorian era across the UK. Overall they were places of dread to the labouring and indigent poor. Reformers like Charles Booth and Seebohm Rowntree revealed that there was widespread poverty in Victorian Britain and that the workhouse system was not helping. Books such as Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist highlighted workhouse abuse. John Ruskin's "The Lamp of Memory" includes a Morning Post (1865) newspaper clipping telling of the death of Michael Collins, a hard working "translator" of boots, who died than to go to the workhouse and die. George Orwell's "Down and Out in Paris and London" includes first-hand accounts of workhouses in the 1920s and of people he met therein.

Abolition

The workhouse system underwent several administrative reforms and was abolished on 1st April 1930, being replaced by other social legislation for the unemployed and retired. Despite abolition, many workhouses continued into the 1950s under the local County Council. David Johnston describes the East Preston workhouse in the 1950s in 'City Streets to Sussex Lanes'

" - Two hours later and there we stood, looking up at the massive grey building that was the main block of the Victorian workhouse at East Preston. Our rooms were in the one time stable block belonging to that institution, then converted to chalets for homeless families. Entering through a large pair of shabby green doors, we walked into a cobbled yard where, above, stretched a series of clothes lines, each attached to the eaves of the old loose boxes that enclosed the yard. Sheets and shirts flapped in the chill breeze, each garment stained with blotches of purple, as if with blackberry juice. "Iodine," my mother explained, a remedy dabbed on the sores of the impetigo that plagued the family in the chalet opposite. Closing the door on the bitter wind, we lit the tiny oil stove heater and drank hot tea to warm our insides. The woven hemp carpet that covered the floor, and the bare, green walls were of no matter to us then, as we sipped from our steaming cups. That night we pulled back the sheets that covered our iron beds with expectations of luxurious sleep. But it was not to be, for the institution's fleas more than welcomed the new arrival of the incoming flesh. The hemp carpet was host to an infestation of the pests that consistently plagued our beds, forcing a nightly ritual of flea killing before we could retire. As dawn broke that first morning in the workhouse I scratched furiously at the rash of bites that covered my body. My eyes wandered with despair over to my mother, who was busy lighting the tiny stove that stood in the centre of the room-."

Sources: Wikipédia english

Résumé:

- Les workouses étaient des sortes de "prisons du travail", où les personnes pauvres, ne pouvant subvenir à leur besoin étaient placés, en Angleterre. Les workhouses étaient une solution proposée par le gouvernement britannique du 19ème siècle pour palier aux problèmes de la pauvreté.

- Les repas que l'on y servaient étaient, on disait, infâmes et indigestes. Les petits déjeuners ou diners étaient composés de pain ou de céréales. Au déjeuner, on servait de la viande bouillie et des pommes de terre, ou du bouillon et du pain. Certains samedi, les pensionnaires avaient le droit à du pudding.

- Les hommes, les femmes et les enfants étaient séparés à l'admission. Leurs vêtements étaient purifiés, étiquetés et confiés au Maitre. Les pnsionnaires ne les récupéraient qu'à leur sortie de la Workhouse. Ensuite, on leur donnait l'uniforme de travail. Enfin, pour des raisons pratiques, les indigents, à l'exception des personnes âgées, portaient des sabots de bois.

Story about Workhouses

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