M.A. Crowther - The Workhouse System: The History of an English Social Institution

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
THE VICTORIAN WORLD

Volume 11

THE WORKHOUSE SYSTEM
18341929

THE WORKHOUSE SYSTEM
18341929

The history of an English social institution

M.A. CROWTHER

The
Workhouse
System
18341929

M.A. CROWTHER

Contents

Figures in the text

For permission to consult and to quote from manuscript sources, I should like to thank the following: the British Library, for John Burns MSS; the University of Birmingham, for Chamberlain family papers; the Public Record Office for Ministry of Health records; Kent County Council; The Greater London Council; The Principal Archivist, Nottinghamshire Record Office. I am grateful to the archivists and librarians in these and the other institutions who have helped me, but I should like to mention in particular Miss E. Melling of the Kent County Archives and Miss E.L. Plincke of Bromley Public Library.

For permission to quote at length from copyright material I am indebted to the following: Mrs Margaret Asher for Richard Ashers Talking Sense (Pitman Medical); Andre Deutsch Ltd., for Bella Aronovitchs Give it Time: An Experience of Hospital; Professor Peter Townsend for his The Last Refuge (Routledge & Kegan Paul). I should also like to thank the British Federation of University Women and the Trustees of the Theodora Bosanquet Bursary for enabling me to spend some time in London for research purposes.

Many colleagues have contributed directly and indirectly to the writing of this book, but I should like to mention in particular Professors R.H. Campbell, S.G. Checkland, M. Jeanne Peterson and M.I. Thomis, who assisted me with their expertise in specific areas. Dr Esther Welbourn patiently answered my queries on medical matters. Karl Figlio, Rosalind Hargreaves, Ludmilla Jordanova, Gillian Sutherland and Pat Thane all helped to expand my field of vision. I hope they will accept the result charitably.

To Dr Anne Digby, a fellow long-term inmate of the pauper palaces, I owe a special debt for her meticulous criticism and encouragement.

The names of the authorities and officials responsible for Poor Law administration changed several times, and the following guide may be useful:

From 1834 until 1847, the Poor Law was administered by three Poor Law Commissioners, assisted by their Secretary (Edwin Chadwick), and a small staff of about nine clerks. Assistant Commissioners had the duty of local inspection. The Poor Law Commission was not directly represented in Parliament, and had no official spokesman; after the scandal of Andover workhouse in 1845, the Commission was fatally weakened.

From 1847 until 1871 the Poor Law Board was the responsible authority, having been created by an Act of Parliament to replace the Commissioners. The Board was a cypher and never met, but its president was a member of Parliament. The chief executive officer was the civil servant who was permanent Secretary to the Poor Law Board, but as political convenience dictated these appointments, much of the actual administration during the Boards life was done by one of its senior clerks, Sir Hugh Owen (sen.) The titles of the Assistant Commissioners changed to Poor Law Inspectors. The size of the Inspectorate fluctuated between ten and 20, depending on the financial policies of the time; it became slightly more specialized in this period, with the appointment of two Inspectors with special responsibility for Poor Law schools.

From 1871 until 1919 the responsible authority was the Local Government Board, created to handle a wide range of affairs, particularly public health. Poor Law administration became a department of the Board, whose president was usually a member of the Cabinet. At first there were three joint permanent secretaries to the Board, but these were soon replaced by a single secretary, who was the main driving force of the administration. The Inspectors were now called