The Victorian Workhouse: Relic of the Past?
Well yes... and?
Luke Fildes
Admission to a casual ward (1874)
Even though
Fildes' famous painting was posed (the gent in the top hat was a known street
'character' and was allegedly paid to lean against the wall, looking decrepit),
it is still a pretty accurate depiction of life for those at the bottom of the
Victorian food chain. When you had no job, no money for food or rent, and
nothing viable left to sell or pawn, you had two choices: the 'Asylum for the
Houseless Poor' or the street.
Henry Mayhew,
writing twenty years earlier, paints an equally vivid picture. He describes:
''..the
homeless crowds gathered about the Asylum, waiting for the first opening
of the doors., with their bare feet, blue and ulcerous with the cold, resting
for hours on the ice and snow in the streets. To hear the cries of the hungry,
shivering children ..is a thing to haunt one for life. There are 400 and odd
creatures utterly destitute - mothers with infants at their breasts - fathers
with boys holding by their side - the friendless - the penniless - the
shirtless, shoeless, breadless, homeless; in a word, the very poorest of this
the very richest city in the world.''
(Mayhew,
London Labour & The London Poor volume 111)
Although the
Workhouse has had a very bad press - think of Oliver Twist, many poor people
had no option but to enter it, even if only temporarily. For a large percentage
of the working poor, jobs were seasonal or sporadic. Men were hired by the day
(docks), by the season (agriculture) or for a limited time (May-June was the London
Season). With no trade unions, no labour laws and no minimum wage, they were
unable to budget. No work = no pay. Any work-related accidents at a time when
medical care had to be paid for, could spell disaster.
Once they
entered the Workhouse, personal possessions were taken away, and families split
up. Inmates quickly became institutionalised and neglected. The routines of
hard physical labour, the poor quality food, the feeling of belonging nowhere
and having no future must have been devastating upon their sense of self.
In Carol's book, Honour & Obey, the
Clapham family are driven out of their slum tenement by their ruthless
landlord, Morbid Crevice. Here, they encounter their first taste of Workhouse
life:
The
family are led through a series of dark passages, then across a dismal yard to
a bare unlit room. Cold from stone flags seeps into their thin shoes.
''Women and children in there,'' the porter says, pointing at a
closed door.
The woman clings desperately to her husband's arm
''Come along old gel,'' the man says. ''It won't be for long.
I'll go out and find work tomorrow and we'll soon be on our feet again.'' But
the hunch of his shoulders and the hopelessness in his voice belie his cheerful
words.
The girl tugs at her skirt.
''C'mon Ma,'' she says. '''Best not to linger, eh?''
The man gives the girl a grateful look. She stares back, her eyes
hard like stones. She isn't fooled. She knows that it is the end of the road
for her family. That her little brothers and sisters will be sent elsewhere,
that her father will sink even further into drink and her mother into despair.
That is what always happens.
What she doesn't know is how she is going to get revenge on those
who did this to them. Not yet. But she will.
(Honour
& Obey by Carol Hedges)
Couple the
sense of utter despair with the knowledge that society regarded the poor as
'undeserving' - it was widely thought character defects, drink or sheer
idleness meant that people were reduced to beggary, homelessness or reliance
upon the meagre provisions of the Workhouses. Reading derogatory articles in
the press about the 'underclass' that inhabited the less savoury parts of the
city, one can see how many on both sides of the poverty line regarded the
workhouse as one step away from actually being in prison.
The Workhouse
was a relic from the past. One that we look back upon with some horror. But
have attitudes to the poor changed? I think not. Consider the 'zero hours'
contract. The exploitation of workers by firms such as Sports Direct. The
ruthless cutting of housing and family welfare benefits. The gradual
privatization of dentists and many NHS services, denying the poor access to
basic health care. The recent scrapping of university maintenance grants now
closes the doors on tertiary education for all but the well off.
Consider too
the demonization of the poor via TV programmes like 'Benefits Street', the rush
to condemn 'improvident' parents who have too many children/feed their families
on junk food. The eagerness with which private landlords and councils now
employ bailiffs to turn whole families out of their homes because they cannot
afford to pay the extortionate rent.
This Autumn,
one in five 'low-waged working parents' will go without food to feed their
kids. Many people will visit Food Banks, or be reliant upon the charity of
friends and relatives. We may have moved away from incarcerating the poor and
elderly in barrack-like Workhouses, but little in our public attitudes towards
them seems to have changed much.
As one inmate
of Poplar Workhouse plaintively said: ''Poverty's no crime, but here it is
treated like a crime.'' (quoted by Will Crooks, Poplar Workhouse
guardian 1893)
In our time
too.
Telling words from Carol.
The number of homeless is going up at an alarming rate. The raft of support systems is being dismantled too.
Mental Health issues? Move along please.
Domestic Violence? Go home, at least you've still got one.
Child abuse? Don't be silly, you little liar.
Young and thrown out of home? You ain't a priority - live with it.
Helpline? Phone this expensive number and wait..and wait...
At least the workhouse was a roof over your head.
You can find Carol at her regular Blogspot through this link
And find her on Twitter as @carolJhedges
And find her books on Amazon, in both Print and Kindle versions
At Beanies Masato we support homeless outreach by posting information and contacts. We dispel myths. We share the opinions of people who know...
and we sell stuff for homeless support via this link.
Carol's words were originally published on her Blog on August 6th 2016
Thanks for posting this, guys. If anybody is watching 'The Victorian Slum' on BBC2 on Tuesdays, they will be aware of the dire conditions facing the poorest in Victorian London. The comparison with what is happening today, especially under this vicious and uncaring Tory Government couldn't be clearer.It is up to everybody reading this blog (and my other ones) to openly challenge the idea that it is 'OK' for people to be desperately poor, their children go hungry and their families broken apart by homelessness. Why? Because tomorrow, it could be you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reposting this. And two months on from the original post, it's getting worse!
ReplyDeleteWhat people don't seem to realise is just how close the street can be. Recent research concluded that more than one third of UK households are one payday away from being homeless
ReplyDelete