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unnamed-3 3.4 Life in the workhouse, DISCIPLINE, WORKHOUSE STAFF,…
3.4 Life in the workhouse
The design of workhouses was to made to act as a deterrent to prospective paupers.
-SAMPSON KEMPTHORNE was appointed the Architect to the Poor Law Commission in 1835 and he proposed two designs.
-These designs were ideal for splitting up familiies.
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On entrance to the workhouse pauper families were given an inspection and then split up wives and husbands. Often mothers stayed with their children until 7 years old.
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The work had to be available in the locality of the workhouse and could not diminish employment on the outside.
Women and children worked to maintain the conditions of the workhouse: Laundries, Kitchens and Sick Rooms.
The main jobs consisted of: Unravelling ropes for fibres, smashing limestone and grounding bones for fertiliser. These tasks were similar as that of convicts.
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The supply of food was designed to keep the pauper alive and degrade them. The Poor Law Commissioners issued 6 different meal plans that were designed to sustain life but make meal times as void of pleasure as possible.
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DISCIPLINE
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Staff and paupers often hurled physical abuse to each other. There were disturbances that ranged from Riots to foul language. There were recorded instances of sexual abuse between pauper and staff and pauper and pauper
-Under the old poor law inmates were at the mercy of the overseer.
-There were some exceptions with girls and women could not be beaten but they could have reduced rations.
-Some workhouses had punishment cells that they would be locked in for misdemeanours.
-Some overseers made them spend the night in the workhouse mortuary.
-A proportion of the pauper population was mobile.
-These transient paupers brought tensions, petty crime and stresses.
-Paupers were free to come and go as they pleased: only three hours noticed was needed.
-Paupers could leave when they wanted and they could not readmit them.
-It was not until 1871 that an act of parliament could limit how many times they could leave.
WORKHOUSE STAFF
There was a master and a matron. The master was in charge of the discipline and economy of the workhouse. The matron was responsible for the domestic side of the workhouse.
George Catch was an ex-policemen who moved from workhouse to workhouse inflicting terror wherever he went. Poor Law boards gave him great testimonials so they could get rid of him.
IN Ashford (Kent) the Workhouse was run by a Naval Officer and his wife. It was renowned for its efficiency and compassion. When the two left the paupers wept.
The master of Cerne Abbas workhouse in Wiltshire only lasted two weeks as he had no education and could not keep up with the level of paperwork.
Architecture
Y shaped workhouses. Chapel and Kitchen was on one wing of the Y and dormitories and day rooms on the other wing of the Y.The Master's rooms were at the centre of the Y and could see the 3 exercise yards.
- Could accommodate 300 paupers.
Cruciform workhouses, divided the space into 4 exercise yards.
Had capacity for 200-500 paupers. No sunlight would go into the building.
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Routine, rules and regulation.
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