The
British government established workhouses in 1834 as a cheaper
alternative to “outdoor relief,” or the practice of giving food or money
to the poor. Instead, they would be offered “indoor relief,” a chance
to work for their keep. Workhouses were meant to be intimidating places,
a deterrent to becoming so poor that one had to ask for help there.
Northwich Workhouse was one such institution that has since been
converted to a museum. While the workers’ dormitory has been demolished,
visitors can get a glimpse of what life was like for those destitute
enough to work there.
Men, women and children were
separated on arrival, partly as a means of maintaining order, but also
to prevent what was often referred to as ‘pauper breeding’. Families who
had arrived together were only permitted to see each other for a few
hours a week, while husbands and wives ate, slept, worked and exercised
independently of each other in separate parts of the building.
Clothing
and possessions were removed, washed and then placed in storage.
Inmates were given a brief health check by a medical officer, issued
with a workhouse uniform – and made to take a bath. For many, this was a
terrifying prospect. In 1891, a newspaper reporter who had visited the
workhouse wrote: “The state as to filth and vermin in which some old
neglected people arrive, on their entering the house is indescribable.
To have not washed the body for years and years is a common state of
things with them...”
Read more about
the Victorian workhouse experience at History Extra from the BBC
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