Life in the Victorian and Edwardian Workhouse by Michelle Higgs

Author:Michelle Higgs [Higgs, Michelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780750966313
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2015-08-10T00:00:00+00:00

ADMITTANCE TO THE WORKHOUSE

Vagrants had to apply for admission to the casual ward, usually to the relieving officer for the union. From 1848, the Poor Law Board recommended that an experienced police officer should act as the assistant relieving officer. It was felt that if vagrants had to apply to the police for an admission ticket, the numbers of vagrants would decrease.20

The practice of appointing a police officer as the assistant relieving officer was abandoned after 1871. However, the assistance of the police was considered highly valuable for the staff of smaller workhouses like Lampeter. In 1896, T.J. Bircham, a Poor Law Board inspector, recommended that ‘the police should be Assistant Relieving Officer for vagrants which might have a deterrent effect.’ Discipline was difficult to enforce in these smaller workhouses and Mr Bircham also suggested that ‘it would be very desirable to construct a few labour cells, in which the task of work could be performed separately and discipline would be more easily maintained.’21

On arrival at any workhouse, vagrants were searched for money and contraband items such as matches, tobacco and dangerous items such as knives. If they had no money, they were deemed to be destitute. While there were many vagrants who were genuinely destitute, others were known to hide money and valuables in hedges or ditches close to the workhouse. At Stafford, the vagrants had ‘almost pulled down a hedge near the workhouse by hiding money in it.’22

Vagrants were only admitted to workhouses after a specific hour, usually 5 p.m. However, late admissions often caused problems for both the staff and inmates of the workhouse. In 1866, the master of Shifnal Union Workhouse complained that ‘Tramps sometimes obtain orders from the relieving officer between six and seven o’clock, get them countersigned by the police-constable and then stop at public-houses in the town till between eleven and twelve, when they come to the workhouse and disturb the inmates by violently shouting and kicking at the outer doors.’23 In 1874, after enquiring about the times of admittance in neighbouring unions, the guardians of the Dudley Union ordered that ‘no Tramp or Vagrant shall be admitted to the union workhouse after 10 o’clock at night.’24 It is not known if this rule was strictly enforced.

Late admissions were still problematic at the beginning of the twentieth century. At Lampeter Union Workhouse in 1903, the master complained that the:

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