Workhouses in the Victorian Era were built to house the poor and destitute. They were intended to be harsh, to deter the able-bodied poor and to ensure that only the truly destitute would apply to be admitted there. It was where the very poor would be given somewhere to sleep and some basic food and work. It also housed them all in one place.
Whilst researching for Prison voices I came across a link for workhouses. As I was looking through the information I stumbled on a separate link for workhouse rules and in particular bathing rules. Intrigued I opened the link and what I read made titter.
[http://www.workhouses.org.uk/IS]
The rules are quite precise stipulating that cold water must be put into the bath first, that not more than one person should be bathed in the same water, the temperature should be measured with a thermometer and if no thermometer is available all bathing should be suspended until a new one is sought. The rules that made me titter and which are strictly underlined are under no circumstances are two patients to occupy the bath at the same time and under no pretence is the patients head to be put under water. Also another strange rule is that an officer should be present at all baths to see that the above regulations are carried out. These rules came from the Liverpool workhouses but they were probably used in most or all workhouses at that time.
Workhouses were a common sight in most towns and cities in nineteenth century Britain. There was a lot of disease and many people died. Lots of children were left as orphans. People ended up in workhouses for a variety of reasons, because they were too poor, too old or too ill to look after themselves. Also unmarried mothers and pregnant mothers disowned by their families went into the workhouses.
They were made to wear uniforms so they would all look the same and be recognised as poor. Families were separated, and could not speak to each other – to do so was punishable. Children could be ‘loaned’ to work in factories and mines.
A famous resident of the workhouses was seven year old Charlie Chaplin. In eighteen-ninety-six he was briefly in the workhouse with his mother and half-brother. The longest residents of the workhouses were usually the old and the chronically ill or mentally infirm paupers. Dr Thomas Bernardo worked to set up children’s homes for orphaned children in 1867 and the workhouse system was abolished in nineteen thirty. Many former workhouses have become care homes in recent years.
Crime and Punishment 