Working Class Life in Victorian London

In the nineteenth century there were developments in technology that meant many people stopped working on the land and instead moved to towns and cities to work in factories. This meant cities were overcrowded and the working classes may have had up to thirty people living in one room. Children as young as three worked in factories. Those who could not cope were forced to join workhouses. Three out of every 20 babies die before their first birthday. Life expectancy is about 40 years.

Workhouses varied in size. The smallest housed only 50 people, while the largest housed several thousand. They were self contained communities. Apart from the basic rooms such as a dining-hall for eating, day-rooms for the elderly, and dormitories for sleeping, workhouses often had their own bakery, laundry, tailor's and shoe- maker's, vegetable gardens and orchards, and even a piggery for rearing pigs. VICTORIAN WORKHOUSES

The Women’s Yard

Entering the Workhouse Entry to the workhouses was voluntary, but it was certainly the last choice for people. 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. Prior to the establishment of public mental asylums in the mid- nineteenth century (and in some cases even after that), the mentally ill and mentally handicapped poor were often consigned to the workhouse.

The Dining Hall

The Daily Routine Workhouse inmates — at least those who were capable of it — were given a variety of work to perform, much of which was involved in running the workhouse. The women mostly did domestic jobs such as cleaning, or helping in the kitchen or laundry. Some workhouses had workshops for sewing, spinning and weaving or other local trades. Others had their own vegetable gardens where the inmates worked to provide food for the workhouse.

More often than not, meals followed a weekly rotation, with meat featured on only a limited number of "meat days." The weekly menu at Hertford in 1729 comprised: BreakfastDinnerSupper SundayBread & CheeseMeatBroth MondayBrothPease-PorridgeBread and Cheese TuesdayBread & CheeseHasty-PuddingBread and Cheese WednesdayBread & CheeseMeatBroth ThursdayBrothFrumetyBread and Cheese FridayBread & CheeseOx-HeadBroth SaturdayBrothHasty-PuddingBread and Cheese Workhouse Food

Pease-Porridge A baked vegetable product, which mainly consists of split yellow or Carlin peas, water, salt, and spices, often cooked with a bacon or ham joint. Hasty-Pudding A pudding or porridge of grains cooked in milk or water. Frumety A dish consisting of wheat, milk, sugar, and spices. Broth Meat liquor, 1 pint; barley, 2 oz; leeks or onions, 1 oz; parsley and seasoning. Gruel Oatmeal, 2 oz; treacle, ½ oz; salt and sometimes allspice; water.