THE WORKHOUSE

[SuBee]

Les's post - A rose by any other name - triggered this memory off for me.

My Grandad had several strokes, most of which he didnt attend hospital for treatment, care or investigation.........why.......well I guess it wasnt available, but he pleaded not to be sent to The Workhouse, and so he was nursed, lovingly, at home by his dedicated wife, my Nan, til he died. I know that strokes can make even the most private person, quite emotional, but the emotion that I witnessed excelled that.....it was pure fear.

When I started my nursing career in the mid 70's, I saw that emotion again. Care of the Elderly was developing, The Workhouse had long been renamed 'Summerfield'.........but..........it was A Rose by any other Name, the fear remained and older people who were transferred to Summerfield for rehabilitation, felt they would never leave.

So...2004.....and its now called The Sheldon Unit, and still in some eyes it remains The Workhouse.

I am too young to have ever known it as such, but I do recall seeing the rooms and how small they were with tiny windows, brick walls and iron sprung frames that served as beds and were hinged to the wall so they folded up in the day. I remember being quite saddened by the vision.

A few weeks ago I was in Winson Green Prison (in a professional capacity I hasten to add!) There I saw a cell in the old block, unused, it reminded me of the very room I had seen in what had remained of The Workhouse.
That sad feeling returned, to think that people who were sick and had no family, spent the end of their days in the equivilent of a prison

 

[Pomgolian]

Sue I also remember the fear of old people about the Workhouse and being told stories by my dad of people who had nothing running away from it rather than living there. (In the 1800's some member of his family had been the Master of one up Cheshire way)
As children some kind lady at school gave my sister and myself a jumper each, as the ones we were wearing had holes in. When we arrived home my mother had a 'Blue Fit' and yelled for us to take them off because she said " The're old Workhouse jumpers" she put them in the rubbish and we went back to our ones with holes

 

[Kandor]

Workhouse blues.

Hi Sue, I'm sorry my posting triggered for you what is obviously still a sad memory, writing here does that to us sometimes..
I dont know anyone who ever went into one of these Workhouses, luckily they were before our times at least, but I do remember my Grandfather speaking of them and even though he too hadn't known one personally, he still spoke of it with dread.
No if you apply logic to this, when they were around in their horrible heyday...people obviously knew what they were letting themselves in for once they entered...yet still did so..Can you imagine the dire straits they must have been in to fear it so much yet still go in there...
There are certain things that should never see the light of day ever again.
I guess the 'workhouse' rates pretty high on that list.

 

[rowan]

Have just caught up with this posting.

I live near what was once an old workhouse in the1800's and evidently it was still in use right up to the 1960's!!!!!
It is now a slaughter house (horrible) and the main frontage of the workhouse has been turned into homes and according to local gossip, the hangs an air of dispair over any of them families that live there :cry:

The allotments, one of which we work, is for ever giving up pieces of clay pipes and blue and white pieces of china. This ground was worked by the "inmates" as return for bed and board.

It's sad isn't it how people had to live. That was poverty :cry:

 

[Peter Walker]

Summerfield in the 1950s

My mum's mum ended her days in Summerfield in September 1956, when she had severe Parkinson's. Her only child, my mum, was far too poorly herself to look after her (in fact she died in Dudley Road Hospital only four months later).
I don't think we ever felt very irresponsible about leaving old Nanny at Summerfield, and I'm sure that she was looked after better than we could have done.
Until then, my mum often talked to me about THE WORKHOUSE, as if it were hell on earth. From what little I have read since, I imagine that some of the institutions were well run, although some must have been dreadful.
Wasn't the threat of THE WORKHOUSE a tool used to frighten workers into submission?
Peter

 

[anthony and jackie perry]

workhouse

Hi Peter, My great Aunt Amy had to go into Summerfield Hospital in 1962, my Mom couldnt look after her any more. Aunt had been blind for as long as I could remember but was still able to get about the house. I remember her saying to my Mom "dont put me in the Work house", but her last stroke made her very ill and she had to go into Summerfield Hospital, she was 96 just 6 weeks later she died. I`m glad she never realised where she was.Jackie

 

[kenh]

workhouse

often couples had to go into the workhouse when they could not support themselves.however the sexes were seperated and a famous song of Victorian days was My old dutch--weve been together now for 40 years-and is about a couple being seperated after40 years on going into the workhouse
Theres not many people know that!!

 

[Pomgolian]

Ken it was a line from that song that I used in my opening lines of my Anniversry post last week '...and it don't seem a day too long...'.
I knew the song well as my Dad sang it often, he also told me what you have just stated about its Workhouse link and explained that was why Mom hated it. She and an elder sister had spent time in the Workhouse years before when she was a nipper in Birkenhead in the early 1920's

Chris

 

[Pomgolian]

Point of interest...

Thought this may intrest some of you...

... many of us probably had people in our
tree who spent time in a workhouse and I wanted to say that last Monday I
visited the one at Southwell, Notts which has been taken over by the
National Trust. You go round the building (which has no furniture because no
one seems to know exactly what workhouse furniture was like) listening to an
audio commentary describing the rooms and also using actors voices to bring
it to life. It is a great way to learn about the workhouse system and what
our ancestors went through. If you live in the East Midlands I can recommend
a visit.

Alan

Chris