As most members know, Kevin is a prolific writer on Wisbech local history. He owned up that after publishing a book he tries to forget the last subject and concentrate on the next and so had to swat up on his own book before this talk.
His presentation started with the general, public perception of the Victorian workhouse – the film Oliver! However, even with its dark moments, this was a very sanitised and optimistic view. The book is somewhat more realistic ending with Fagin hanged and the Artful Dodger allegedly transported. Dickens was making a statement and protesting about the new Poor Law and social conditions.
In Wisbech, local poor laws in 1591 prohibited begging (unless you were a soldier in need on your way home – interesting exception).
A house was bought from Mr Stermyn (actually ended up as a gift as Mrs Stermyn -his widow- then gave a donation to cover the purchase price) and almshouses built in 1614.
Wisbech beat the Poor Law Relief Act of 1723 (also known as Knatchbull’s Act) as it built its first workhouse in 1721 on Albion Terrace – between the Horsefair and the Quay (where the job centre now is – history is continuity and change!).
Only able and fit men were admitted; the old, sick, infirm, and children would have received support elsewhere in the community. Those in need were housed and looked after, but also put to work. This was often oakum picking – splitting old pieces of rope which can then be used to caulk ships’ timbers, or making stockings.
The workhouse master received money to look after the workhouse and its inmates, plus any income from the work the inmates did. After the costs of looking after their charges they kept the profits. This was not deemed inappropriate by the authorities, but you can see that their generosity or greed was of great importance.
Before 1834, the cost of looking after the poor was paid for by local taxes. Those who paid complained they were paying the lazy not to work. Those in need were struggling and needing more help. Numbers had increased significantly after decades of poor weather had reduced crops, and returners from the Napoleonic Wars were in hardship.
Conditions inside the workhouse were deliberately harsh, so that only those who desperately needed help would ask for it. Even if you at least had food and board, you had to put up with the rules and shame.
After review, a new Poor Law was introduced in 1834. Parishes were grouped into unions and each union had to build a workhouse if they did not already have one.
Under the new law, except in special circumstances, those asking for help would only receive assistance if they were prepared to leave their homes and go into a workhouse. However, in Wisbech Rev Henry Fardell of the Board of Guardians thought this rule unjust and ignored it.
All inmates were checked by a medical officer and categorised. It depended on whether you were male or female, old or young, fit or infirm, as to which section of the workhouse you were sent to. This led to families being split up and not allowed to socialise (mothers were allowed to see their children once a day). It is this segregation that probably led to the main fear of going into the workhouse.
The most common illness found in inmates was ‘The Itch’ (genital scabies), and Gressenhall Workhouse even has a plaque to commemorate the Itch Ward.
Today the Itch Ward at Gressenhall houses … the café !
Workhouses usually saw a rapid turnover of staff. It was a difficult job looking after the needs of so many people and no qualifications were needed until the 1870s. The number of inmates could also be suspect from the figures returned by the governor.
Although allowed to follow their own religion, in Wisbech Rev Fardell (the vicar) said they needed to go to St Peter’s and they were marched into town. However, some usually absconded and went to the pub instead.
Although only 5 shillings a week, the Pensions Act of 1908 stopped many needing to resort to the workhouse and numbers dropped by 75%.
The Wisbech Workhouse remained in use for many years. Many women went into the workhouse when they needed to give birth. After being a workhouse it became hospital for geriatric patients and also a maternity hospital, but there was still a stigma attached to its name so many birth records have 33 Lynn Road as the place of birth.
At the Q&A session following members recalled family not wanting to go to the hospital as it was once the workhouse and retained its
Kevin had brought in all his research for members to look at.
His book ‘In the Wisbech Workhouse’ detailing life for inmates; their diet, rules and regulations of workhouse life, and work and living arrangements of the two main Workhouses, from 1721 to the demolition of the Clarkson Hospital in the 1980s can be purchased from here: https://wisbechhub.org.uk/product/in-the-wisbech-workhouse/