A Caring County? by Steven King Gillian Gear

Author:Steven King, Gillian Gear [Steven King, Gillian Gear]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781909291126
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: University of Hertfordshire Press
Published: 2013-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

Conclusion

Slack argues in The English Poor Law, 1531–1782 that the ‘more realistic scepticism about what workhouses could achieve’ rather than a more ‘generous way of thinking’ became generally prevalent from the 1750s.58 Others have located different transition points for the ‘sentiment’ of the Old Poor Law.59 There is no doubt that many of the gentlemen who served on Cheshunt’s workhouse committee took their role seriously. They operated a strict regime, but at no time does this regime appear to have been unnecessarily harsh. In all nine years there was only one case of whipping recorded, that of a runaway boy. Those being admitted were expected to bring their goods with them and to work and abide by the rules; and those who broke them were punished. Stealing and violence resulted in legal action, but these cases seem to have been very rare. Those who behaved well and did their work were rewarded with gratuities and occasional privileges, such as being allowed leave to visit relatives. One old man was allowed extra beer to take with his medicine, and one destitute widowed mother had her pawned goods redeemed by the overseers to enable her to bring them in with her.

Cheshunt workhouse acted as a children’s home for the orphaned and abandoned, as a refuge for women in distress and as a care home for the sick and elderly. There was also continuity of regime over this period; the workhouse master and mistress, Richard and Mary Neale, remained in place until August 1762, when Richard Neale’s scandalous behaviour with one of the young female inmates resulted in the couple’s dismissal. Until this time his diligence had been regularly rewarded. The workhouse also provided personal care, medical care and funeral care. In terms of food, clothing and shoes the physical well-being of the inmates seems to have been well catered for. However, on one occasion the committee appeared to be sensitive to the suggestion that their treatment of an elderly inmate was lacking. In March 1755 70-year-old Joseph Starling, one of the few inmates whose words were recorded, described the care he received in the workhouse. When ‘complaint [was] made without Doors that [he] has not proper care taken of him nor proper food for his Disorder he was call’d in said that he had no Complaint to make and that he had every thing Done for him that he desired’. This optimistic reading of the care offered by the poor law echoes recent work (outlined in Chapter 1 by Steven King) that has begun to emphasise the flexibility and often generosity of the Old Poor Law.

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