Useful sites for researching Workhouses

1. by
Tony Sadler

2.  Excellent starting point; massive detail
arranged in easily accessible ‘tabs’
 Act for the Relief of the Poor 1601:
parish grants of money, clothing, fuel,
food (out-relief)
 First OED reference to a Workhouse
1652 in Exeter
 Workhouse Test Act 1723: parish option
of denying out-relief in favour of
workhouse
 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act: 15000+
parishes formed Unions with purpose-
built workhouses
 Intended as threat to able-bodied
pauper
 Improved conditions by end 19th century
 System ended 1 April 1930 – Public

3.  Up to 1834 workhouses at
Wellingboro’ (70 inmates in
1777), Earls Barton (36),
Bozeat (10), Wollaston (10),
Finedon (36), Irchester (10),
Irthlingboro’ (100), Rushden
(18)
 After 1834 Wellingboro’ Poor
Law Union covered 27
parishes
 New Wellingboro’ Union
workhouse built 1836/7
 1930 Public Assistance
Institution
 Isebrook Hospital
 Workhouse buildings now
residential

4. Wellingborough Union workhouse
Poor Law Union map

5.  Admission: reasons & procedure
 Uniforms
 Inside workhouses and typical
routine
 Rules & punishment
 Food
 Work
 Medical care
 Workhouse memories
 Tramps and vagrants

6.  Excellent review of origins
 Starts with medieval times –
Poor Law Act 1388 –
response to Black Death –
fear of social disorder forced
state to be responsible for
support of poor
 Poor Relief Act 1576 – able-
bodied needing support had
to work for it – legal
distinction between
genuinely unemployed and
the idler
 Many useful links
 See also article on
‘Pauperism’

10.  Short textual history
 Describes life, work, food,
behaviour
 Focuses on Stratford-on-Avon
union workhouse – an noteworthy
exception from usual gloomy
establishments
 Newspaper article published on
retirement of master and matron
 Links to individual workhouses and
general sites

11.  NT property open to 28 October –
audio tours Wednesday to Sunday
 11 a.m guided Welcome Tour
 Group guided tours Mondays

12.  Brief history of the union
workhouse in Canterbury
 Site mainly comprises
photos of buildings
illustrating development
 Link to article on Poor
Priest’s Hospital

13.  Workhouse children –
pauper apprentices in
textile trade
 Apprentice House
 George Courtauld
 Punishment in factories
 1834 Poor Law – details
of the act
 Poverty in Tudor times

14.  10% sample index of inmates
(total 14200)
 Full index on microfiche
 Workhouse returns to
Parliament
 Surname alphabetically
 Details location, reason, term
 Complements 1861 census

16.  Free download of some
correspondence from selected
Poor Law Unions
 Example of inspector’s report on
Southwell Workhouse

18.  Separately details history
of Epsom and Ewell
workhouses
 Census returns for Epsom
1851 – 1901
 Some more general
information

20.  Workhouses at bursting
point during great Irish
famine 1845-51
 Workhouse orphans –
paupers sent abroad
under 1834 act
 Australia – girls and young
women to provide
domestic service and
needed to redress gender
imbalance