Deborah started her talk by reminding us about the care of the underprivileged after Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries. The monastic institutions had been where the sick and needy could receive help but after they were closed the poor had nowhere to go to seek assistance. Poor Laws were introduced during the reign of Elizabeth I, and made parishes responsible for the care of the destitute in their neighbourhood.
Many parishes set up Poorhouses in which work was not the main aim. Some neighbouring parishes got together to use large properties to house their combined elderly, sick, children and those fallen on hard times. The parish might also rent or purchase houses for those in need. Hence Poorhouses may be considered as the first social housing. Accommodation was also provided for able-bodied adults but they would be expected to work.
The Victorian era saw changes to opinions about the poor. The Poor Law amendment Act of 1834 changed the Elizabethan system in that anyone undergoing hardship should be made to work. The Act also made provision for the building of Union Workhouses but it caused much disquiet in the country. Deborah suggested that the works of Dickens are responsible for our perception of these times.
The 1834 Act ordered the setup of Union Boards and, they were to build Workhouses to accommodate the poor in their Union. Deborah displayed a map of Kent showing the county cut in to Unions. The idea was that they would cover a certain number of parishes according to the population. Kent had 25 Unions the largest having 31 parishes whilst the smallest only 5. Parishes had varied issues such as Dover, being a port, it needed to hire translators because if passengers were found to be sick on board a ship, they were offloaded. However, not all spoke English. In Sheppey the issue was the topography. The person organising the areas Unions would cover had not taken into consideration that as an island everything had to be brought to and fro by boat.
The smallest Unions in Kent were Hoo and Romney Marsh, each having provision for 160 people respectively. The county’s largest Union was Malling where the Workhouse catered for 850 inmates. Construction of Workhouses in Kent started in 1835 with the majority of Kent Union Workhouse built by the mid-1800s. ‘Up North’ it was a different story as there was greater resistance, with many Workhouses not constructed until at least the 1880s. Deborah suggested that this was due to the 1830s Riots in Kent and gentry fearing it would start up again if there was no provision for the poor.
The quality of life for workhouse inmates was very much down to the Master in charge. Although, some could be callous and unkind others did their utmost to help those in their care; despite strict rules imposed on them. Unfortunately, in some years poverty due to weather, wars, disease etc was such that too many arrived at the Workhouse door for assistance. Deborah gave an example of the Sevenoaks Union which was swamped with people needing assistance. The board tried to stick to the rules but were taken to task by the authorities when it didn’t work out. They defended their actions by reasoning that the rules did not cover the situation. The authorities stopped their complaints and changed the rules.
Deborah showed several plans of Workhouses and how they had evolved over the years. At first workhouse inmates were accommodated by sex and age: Male, Female and children. Hence families were split up and might rarely, if ever, see each other again. This was done purposefully to deprive the undeserving poor the comfort of family life in the hopes they would not keep returning to the Workhouse. As the years went by many workhouses needed to be enlarged as it was decided that the elderly and sick should be quartered in separate areas.
Adult able-bodied inmates were referred to as the undeserving poor because it was considered that they had the ability to look after themselves but hadn’t. The able bodied were given a sufficient diet but it was very plain and they were made to work. The deserving poor such as the elderly, sick and incapacitated had a better diet and were only given a limited amount of work. Whilst children were educated, often better than outside the Workhouse, and trained to support themselves in later life.
It had been thought that the deserving poor would make up just a small percentage of Workhouse inmates. However, it was soon found that numbers for the deserving poor were probably more than double those of the undeserving. This made the need for change and children were no longer housed in the Workhouse but lived in Children’s homes. Sadly, once in the system children probably never saw their parents again. It was considered that parents who were not able to support their family had bad characters and their children were better off without them. Workhouse hospitals being the only place for medical assistance for the poor many babies were born in them. There was a certain amount of tolerance with a single woman’s first ‘mistake’ but should she have subsequent babies she was treated more harshly. But, the stigma of the Workhouse was recognised and only the address of the institution was recorded on birth certificates.
As time went on Workhouses were caring more and more for the underprivileged who required medical care. The Crimea War saw a greater interest in hospital conditions and a better understanding about the spread of disease. In Kent nurses were being trained to work in Workhouse hospitals. Many Unions started to hire houses to separate those with infectious diseases from those who were well. By 1948 when the NHS was founded the prime function of Workhouses had been overtaken with many becoming NHS Hospitals.
For more details visit Deborah’s website
Report by Tricia Baxter