WHAT IMPACT DID THE WORKHOUSE HAVE ON THE LIVES OF PAUPERS? Flashcards
What was the principle that the workhouse was based on, why was it used?
- less eligibility- the conditions inside the workhouse were worse than those of the poorest labourer living outside the workhouse.
- intended to deter would-be-paupers from seeking relief.
What were the 3 main ways or making the principle of less eligibility present in the workhouse?
- strict discipline.
- monotonous routine.
- dehumanisation.
Why did the authorities have to be careful with the principle of less eligibility?
• they couldn’t be seen to be institutionalising dirt, disease and starvation, hence them using discipline, monotony and dehumanisation instead.
In the presence of workhouses, what was the situation with outdoor relief?
• despite efforts to discourage it, it continued to be the most common form of relief.
Who did the Poor Law Commission appoint as workhouse architect in 1835?
• Sampson Kempthorne- architect with a London practice.
What were Kempthorne’s two basic workhouse designs?
- Y-shaped workhouse- contained by a hexagonal boundary. Split into 3 sections. Accommodated about 300 paupers.
- cruciform workhouse- contained by a square boundary. Split into 4 sections. Accommodated anywhere between 200-500 paupers.
- both- masters room was in the middle, so him and his staff could monitor the surrounding exercise yards. Contained a kitchen dining hall and chapel, workrooms, schoolrooms, dorms and day rooms.
What was the main advantage of Kempthorne’s workhouse designs? What did it prevent?
- allowed for division and segregation of paupers.
- allowed for providing appropriate relief to each class of pauper.
- added to the workhouses deterrence nature by splitting up families.
- stoped the moral ‘contagion’ that would occur if paupers mixed freely.
- stoped individuality- paupers treated as impersonal units.
What happened to pauper families on entry to a workhouse? Why did this happen?
- they were split up.
- husband and wife split up, and parents were split from children too (except mother’s with young children.)
- the pauper had given up responsibility for his family so should be separated from them.
What happened to children in the workhouse?
- went to workhouse school.
- aged 9-10- were apprenticed often in the Lancashire cotton mills, with ought their parents consent or sometimes knowledge.
What were paupers expected to wear in the workhouse?
• wear a workhouse often non-varied uniform, which sometimes didn’t fit.
What happened to paupers in term of the cleanliness and appearance in the workhouse? How we’re the workhouse staff involved in this?
- men- given razors to shave once a week.
- paupers- had a weekly bath.
- workhouse staff watched this happen- prevent any attempts at self-mutilation or drowning, as well as ridding paupers of their personal privacy.
What happened to any personal possessions of paupers in the workhouse? Why did this happen?
• they weren’t allowed- prevented any expression of individuality.
How was a paupers daily routine structured within the workhouse?
• boring and monotonous-consisted of 3 meals with work in between, each day began and ended with prayers.
What was the main aim of the work the paupers were set in the workhouse?
• to rehabilitate them to restore them to the workforce outside.
In terms of setting work within the workhouse, what problems arose?
- the work had to be available locally to the workhouse and possible to do inside the workhouse.
- it couldn’t diminish the work available outside of the workhouse as more able bodied poor would become paupers.
- the work in the workhouse couldn’t pay more than it cost the workhouse to maintain a pauper, as paupers would have no incentive to return to the labour market.
What work was done within the workhouse?
- women and children- helped to maintain the workhouse, working in the laundries, kitchens and sick rooms with jobs like cleaning and childcare.
- dispiriting abs monotonous work- sack making, unraveling ropes for reuse, chopped wood and smashed limestone or roads, and ground animal bones for fertiliser.
- paupers mostly found no the same work as convicts, aiming to degrade them.
How was the less eligibility principle a problem in terms of the workhouse diet?
• on the outside many paupers were living on the edge of starvation, and even the strictest guardians were not willing to let their paupers live like this.
What was the aim of the workhouse dietaries published by the commissioners?
- sustain and maintain life, whilst making meal times as boring and tedious as possible.
- paupers were to get no pleasure from the food they were eating.
How did the workhouse I still repressive uniformity into meal times?
- until 1842- all meals were to be eaten in silence.
- paupers could have their food weighed in front of them- many workhouses used this as a way of delaying serving food until it was cold, which humiliated paupers.
What did pauper meals consist of? How were they prepared and served?
- meal- meat, oatmeal, cheese and bread.
- preparation- poorly and carelessly cooked.
- serving- some workhouses didn’t let paupers use cutlery so they had to eat with their hands. (1830s)
What was the behaviour like between paupers and staff like in the workhouse?
• workhouses were often rowdy.
• staff and paupers- verbal and physical abuse to other, from full scaled riots to exchanging foul language.
Sexual abuse was recorded.
• among the paupers- bullying and blackmail.
What type of system did workhouse staff use to maintain order? How did this work?
- system of rewards and punishments.
- paupers could be punished for being in the wrong part of the building, being too noisy, working too slowly or disrespecting staff members.
- paupers were rewarded with food, ‘clean’ jobs or pocket money.
How was the Poor Law Commission involved in the discipline system of the workhouse?
- specific punishments were laid down by the commissioners, and workhouses had to keep a standard punishment book to record them.
- but some reward and punishment systems had no legal backing and had grown through custom.
How were workhouse punishments under the reformed Poor Law made less severe than those of the old Poor Law?
- old Poor Law- paupers at the mercy of the overseer, who could abuse paupers however they wanted with no consequences to their actions.
- new Poor Law- guardians knew there were limits to their powers which were determined by the commissioners.
