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Birmingham Workhouse Dudley Road Western Road opened 1852
- Thread starter skylark
- Start date
what we must remember is that the workhouses were there for a good reason...people went there out of sheer desperation due to things like no jobs and no jobs meant they could not afford to pay the rent or eat...women left widows with half a dozen children to look after but no way of doing it with no working husband around...yes the workhouse may have been a daunting place to enter but they at least provided men women and children with a roof over their heads and food to eat..most workhouses also had an infirmary for medical attention which they would otherwise not be able to afford to pay for and they provided work as well...also remember that most people did survive the workhouse and come out and make good of their lives so surely this had to be better than roaming the streets with nowhere to go and no food to eat...workhouses are part of our social history and in todays world seemed harsh but we cant change history..
even today we still see poverty and desperation on our streets so has it really changed that much
lyn
even today we still see poverty and desperation on our streets so has it really changed that much
lyn
superdad3
master brummie
I have read with great interest the thread on the Birmingham Workhouse.
The parish was the main administrative body for local services until the nineteenth century. It was responsible for law & order, upkeep of roads and the poor. They were run by people who could read, write and keep accounts.
Parliament imposed duties on the parishes. It made them responsible for collecting voluntary monies to look after the poor in 1536. In 1601, after several acts about the poor, Parliament made each parish fully responsible for looking after the poor of their parish and allowed parishes to levy a rate to fund this. These duties would remain largely unchanged until the nineteenth century and the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, which allowed parishes to join together and build a “union” workhouse.
Let us not forget that the “poor law administration” was controlled by the rich and the powerful. On paper the aims were laudable; the reality was often different. In many cases it was simply a question of keeping the costs of looking after the poor to a minimum. Workhouses were a way of providing for the poor at a central location at the minimum cost; a policy continued by building Union Workhouses. They were horrible places.
This is a quote from “Historic UK” which sums it up much better than I ever could:
The Victorian Workhouse was an institution that was intended to provide work and shelter for poverty stricken people who had no means to support themselves. With the advent of the Poor Law system, Victorian workhouses, designed to deal with the issue of pauperism, in fact became prison systems detaining the most vulnerable in society.
The harsh system of the workhouse became synonymous with the Victorian era, an institution which became known for its terrible conditions, forced child labour, long hours, malnutrition, beatings and neglect. It would become a blight on the social conscience of a generation leading to opposition from the likes of the Charles Dickens. [https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Victorian-Workhouse/]
The parish was the main administrative body for local services until the nineteenth century. It was responsible for law & order, upkeep of roads and the poor. They were run by people who could read, write and keep accounts.
Parliament imposed duties on the parishes. It made them responsible for collecting voluntary monies to look after the poor in 1536. In 1601, after several acts about the poor, Parliament made each parish fully responsible for looking after the poor of their parish and allowed parishes to levy a rate to fund this. These duties would remain largely unchanged until the nineteenth century and the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, which allowed parishes to join together and build a “union” workhouse.
Let us not forget that the “poor law administration” was controlled by the rich and the powerful. On paper the aims were laudable; the reality was often different. In many cases it was simply a question of keeping the costs of looking after the poor to a minimum. Workhouses were a way of providing for the poor at a central location at the minimum cost; a policy continued by building Union Workhouses. They were horrible places.
This is a quote from “Historic UK” which sums it up much better than I ever could:
The Victorian Workhouse was an institution that was intended to provide work and shelter for poverty stricken people who had no means to support themselves. With the advent of the Poor Law system, Victorian workhouses, designed to deal with the issue of pauperism, in fact became prison systems detaining the most vulnerable in society.
The harsh system of the workhouse became synonymous with the Victorian era, an institution which became known for its terrible conditions, forced child labour, long hours, malnutrition, beatings and neglect. It would become a blight on the social conscience of a generation leading to opposition from the likes of the Charles Dickens. [https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Victorian-Workhouse/]
