LO: To explore the social historical background to the novel OLIVER TWIST 11th October 2009

Entrance to the workhouse: also known as ‘THE GATEWAY OF TEARS’

The Workhouse The word alone was calculated to send a shudder down the spine of any honest 19th century worker. It signified the end of the line, the final indignity. It said: Abandon hope, all ye who enter here. The mental picture of the gaunt, forbidding workhouse is one of the strongest impressions of Victorian England. Charles Dickens painted the best-known picture of it in his Oliver Twist, but even the great novelist's vivid descriptions of the repressive, soul-destroying workhouse regime don't tell the whole story. Just what was the workhouse? Put simply, it was a public institution which housed and fed people who were unable to support themselves.

What were workhouses? These were almost like prisons, with bare walls, hard beds, and little food. Family members were split up and could never meet as long as they were in the workhouse. People were terrified of being sent to the workhouse

Plan of a typical Victorian workhouse. Designed to be "uninviting places of wholesome restraint"

As you look at this image think about what it would actually be like to live here, separated from your family with little hope of leaving.

The last resort For many people the workhouse was the place of last resort. Inmates were generally classed as two different groups: The "impotent poor" were those unable to look after themselves, like the very old, the very young, the sick, crippled, unmarried mothers, the blind and insane. The "able bodied poor" were those who had no work and therefore did not have any money to live on. Impotent - powerless or helpless. Able-bodied - fit for work or skilled.

Each new arrival at the workhouse would go through a fairly involved admission procedure. After all the necessary paperwork had been completed, paupers were stripped, bathed, and issued with a workhouse uniform. Children (although not adults) could be required to have their hair cut. An inmate's own clothes would be washed and disinfected and then put into store along with any other possessions they had and only returned to them when they left the workhouse.

The last resort As paupers arrived at the workhouse they were washed and their hair was cut short. All their belongings were taken away and they were given a workhouse uniform to wear. Usually for women this was a shapeless, waist less frock reaching to their ankles and for men, shirts and ill-fitting trousers tied with cord below the knee.

People who went to the workhouse No inmate could leave the workhouse except permanently. Sadly, many of those admitted died in the workhouse because of the terrible conditions. Even worse, some workhouse children who were born inside never saw the outside world

Work Work was designed to be hard and tedious and was an essential part of the workhouse regime. Local landowners and others who contributed to the upkeep of the inmates wanted conditions to be harsh as they resented giving money to the "undeserving poor". Breakfast was at 5.00am from March to September and at 7.00am the rest of the year. Inmates began work after prayers. With only two more breaks for lunch, dinner and more prayers they went to bed at eight. It was thought that religion would help the poor to overcome their "laziness, fecklessness and drunkenness". Even school lessons for children revolved around the Bible. Those who were unable to work lay in sick wards with nothing to break the monotony.

“Oliver cried lustily. If he could have known that he was an orphan, left to the tender mercies of churchwardens and overseers, perhaps he would have cried the louder.”

Why Did People Enter the Workhouse? People ended-up in the workhouse for a variety of reasons. Usually, it was because they were too poor, old or ill to support themselves. This may have resulted from such things as a lack of work during periods of high unemployment, or someone having no family willing or able to provide care for them when they became elderly or sick. Unmarried pregnant women were often disowned by their families and the workhouse was the only place they could go during and after the birth of their child.

Entering the Workhouse Whatever the regime inside the workhouse, entering it would have been a distressing experience. New inmates would often have already been through a period of severe hardship.

Food and health An absolute minimum was spent on food, and the penny-pinching attitude of the board of guardians forced starving inmates to eat the rotting marrow from the animal bones they were breaking to sell as fertiliser.

Why were inmates so unhealthy ? All food had to be eaten with the hands as there was no cutlery. There was only water to drink. Inmates were sometimes so desperate for food that they ate animal bones they had been given to crush to make fertilizer. The poor diet, contaminated water supplies, and unclean and overcrowded conditions led to illness and disease. The most common of these being measles, opthalmia, small pox, dysentery, scarlet and typhus fever, and cholera.

Why were inmates so unhealthy ? Inmates were generally in a poor state of health because of the poor diet they ate. As a result of the lack of nutrition in their food they were prone to sickness and disease. With only very basic medical care many died in the workhouse. Food in the workhouse was kept as boring and tasteless as possible. It was rationed which meant the poor were always hungry. The diet consisted mainly of gruel and bread and cheese.

Why was the discipline so strict? Discipline was used to control inmates who were often noisy and violent. Fighting was common, especially in the women’s yard. On the whole punishment was used regularly - even for the smallest of offences. Men could be punished for trying to talk to their wives and even children were scolded for playing.

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