I have recently discovered that my great grandfather died at the age of 38 of pulmonary congestion in the Glasgow city workhouse so I'm now very interested in learning more about them. I don't know if my great grandmother and grandmother (his wife and daughter) were there too. I'm trying to find that out.
I have found Great Grandfather of mine was probably handed into a London Workhouse 1800,he seems to have been given his name there as I have been unable to find Parents for him .He also ended back in that workhouse many years later where he died. So sad...
Bone pounding was abolished because the inmates were fighting over any rotting meat left on them. Workhouses - the birthplace of British irony. And you can't over-emphasise the effect or frequency of abuse.
You paint a more optimistic view of life in the workhouse than two episodes of Call the Midwife. This has left me confused. One episode deals with an elderly woman who lost all her children in the workhouse and was extremely traumatized years after. The other deals with siblings who also cannot free themselves from the memory of the workhouse. Have you seen those episodes? I would appreciate your feedback.
I regret that many of those who write, speak, or make programmes (factual or fictional) about the workhouse start from the premise "we all know that the workhouses was awful - so what can we tell/show you to reinforce that belief" rather than a more even-handed "So, what were workhouses like?" The workhouse system was a large and complex system, with local institutions having considerable autonomy. Over the years, there were certainly instances of unkind, insensitive and abusive or inhuman treatment, and these are the ones that are most appealing to dramatists, but I would argue that these were not systemic or typical - in the same way that scandalous occurrences occasionally surface about individuals in our present-day hospitals or elderly care institutions, for example, does not mean that these services are inherently dreadful. For many people, the workhouse - despite its discomforts - was a far more attractive option than the misery and squalor they had often experienced outside.
Thank you for your enlightening reply. I had my suspicions also about the over dramatization of the evils of these institutions. Britain was certainly ahead of other countries in its welfare system. Help for the impoverished two hundred years ago surpasses so many countries even today, such as India.
consider the alternative - no workhouse - instant starvation. Workhouses were never great places, but their inmates didn't die like rats as it is usually depicted. Of course, there were a lot of problems but workhouses were always a better alternative in the cruel times they existed. But the general picture wasn't that bad.
Moornotes it is indeed a complex picture. It would seem though that resorting to the workhouse was the ultimate humiliation for most families. Peter Higgenbotham’s excellent “a grim almanac of the workhouse” reveals many of the dangers a person could be exposed to in the workhouse. Indeed, the principle of “less eligibility” was specifically intended to make the experience unpleasant. And while Dickens picture of the workhouse was dramatic, that doesn’t belie the fact that cruelty was inherent in the system.
@@claireb4259 if you havent already, you should read the books. Sadly those were real people's memories. it is good to hear the other side as well though.
To think we are now in 2021 and people are still reliant on Food Banks and charitable donations. Even those in full-time work have to make benefit claims - in this day and age - to get by. It's a national scandal such a wealthy country is still so full of poor and poverty-stricken people. The majority of others are suffocated in debt.
Appreciate you sharing this. My 4th great grandmother Elizabeth Whittaker died at the Dudley Union Workhouse in 1866.
Wow
I was born in a former workhouse after it became a hospital.
in Worcester, so not too far away from Dudley.
I have recently discovered that my great grandfather died at the age of 38 of pulmonary congestion in the Glasgow city workhouse so I'm now very interested in learning more about them. I don't know if my great grandmother and grandmother (his wife and daughter) were there too. I'm trying to find that out.
Thank you
This was an even better presentation than the BBC In Our Time this month; Thanks
Gotta say, I was surprised by the "work houses we're okay, actually" pivot at the end.
Please, sir, I want some more.
I have found Great Grandfather of mine was probably handed into a London Workhouse 1800,he seems to have been given his name there as I have been unable to find Parents for him .He also ended back in that workhouse many years later where he died. So sad...
Bone pounding was abolished because the inmates were fighting over any rotting meat left on them.
Workhouses - the birthplace of British irony.
And you can't over-emphasise the effect or frequency of abuse.
They look like many apartments on Louisiana. Very sad. 😡😠😥
You paint a more optimistic view of life in the workhouse than two episodes of Call the Midwife. This has left me confused. One episode deals with an elderly woman who lost all her children in the workhouse and was extremely traumatized years after. The other deals with siblings who also cannot free themselves from the memory of the workhouse. Have you seen those episodes? I would appreciate your feedback.
I regret that many of those who write, speak, or make programmes (factual or fictional) about the workhouse start from the premise "we all know that the workhouses was awful - so what can we tell/show you to reinforce that belief" rather than a more even-handed "So, what were workhouses like?" The workhouse system was a large and complex system, with local institutions having considerable autonomy. Over the years, there were certainly instances of unkind, insensitive and abusive or inhuman treatment, and these are the ones that are most appealing to dramatists, but I would argue that these were not systemic or typical - in the same way that scandalous occurrences occasionally surface about individuals in our present-day hospitals or elderly care institutions, for example, does not mean that these services are inherently dreadful. For many people, the workhouse - despite its discomforts - was a far more attractive option than the misery and squalor they had often experienced outside.
Thank you for your enlightening reply. I had my suspicions also about the over dramatization of the evils of these institutions. Britain was certainly ahead of other countries in its welfare system. Help for the impoverished two hundred years ago surpasses so many countries even today, such as India.
consider the alternative - no workhouse - instant starvation. Workhouses were never great places, but their inmates didn't die like rats as it is usually depicted. Of course, there were a lot of problems but workhouses were always a better alternative in the cruel times they existed. But the general picture wasn't that bad.
Moornotes it is indeed a complex picture. It would seem though that resorting to the workhouse was the ultimate humiliation for most families. Peter Higgenbotham’s excellent “a grim almanac of the workhouse” reveals many of the dangers a person could be exposed to in the workhouse. Indeed, the principle of “less eligibility” was specifically intended to make the experience unpleasant. And while Dickens picture of the workhouse was dramatic, that doesn’t belie the fact that cruelty was inherent in the system.
@@claireb4259 if you havent already, you should read the books. Sadly those were real people's memories. it is good to hear the other side as well though.
Was the queen still around back then
To think we are now in 2021 and people are still reliant on Food Banks and charitable donations. Even those in full-time work
have to make benefit claims - in this day and age - to get by. It's a national scandal such a wealthy country is still so full of poor
and poverty-stricken people. The majority of others are suffocated in debt.
Quisiera escucharlo en español
wienerbro