Poor Relief in Barwick PART 2 Back to the Main Historical Society page
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Poor Relief in Barwick
PART 2: LIFE IN THE BARWICK WORKHOUSE


Barwicker No 30
July 1993


In the early nineteenth century, when a person applied for poor relief and it was considered that he was a suitable case for admittance to the Barwick Gilbert Union workhouse in Rakehill Road, he was given an order by the guardian of his township and the pauper presented this at the workhouse and was admitted. The cleanliness of the newly-arrived paupers was a problem. By an order of the Barwick guardians made in 1827, no filthy person was admitted to the workhouse; he was returned to the township until clean. New arrivals were well washed in the brewhouse, there being no bath. The Governor admitted that there had been cases of verminous inmates, but he considered that they became so when out of the house.

The Census returns, particularly those of 1851 and after, although lacking some details do provide information about the kinds of people who were relieved in the Barwick workhouse. Almost all of them were born within a few miles of the workhouse and most of them in one of the townships of the Incorporation.

Pen Sketch by Bart Hammond


Where occupations of male inmates are given, farm labourers and other rural activities make up the majority. The occupations of the female inmates are often omitted, but servants make up the majority of those listed.

Family relationships are rarely entered, but names, ages and marital status provide some information. There were a few married or unmarried women or widows with one or more children in all the returns. Some old married couples also occur, but most of the aged are unmarried or widowed men and women. Old men usually outnumber old women, perhaps because the latter would be more useful in the homes of their relatives. There are children with names different from anyone else in the workhouse and these are probably orphans.

In the early 1840s, the workhouse children were taught by one of the paupers, described by Mr Bathurst as "a very good schoolmaster". (See 'The Barwicker' No.2). Later in the decade the workhouse was visited by the local Inspector of Schools, Mr Browne, who offered to pay the salary of a schoolmaster if a proper schoolroom was provided at the workhouse. This was not accepted by the guardians, who responded in 1852 by sending the children to the village school. Hr Browne reported that the achievements of the children were low and he criticised the situation in the workhouse where the children were not separated from adult paupers. In the following year, alterations were made to provide separate sleeping accommodation for the children and Mr Browne's reports were more optimistic.

Randall Gossip, the lord of the manor of Thorp Arch, described Barwick workhouse as "a receptacle for the turbulent and vicious able-bodied paupers of both sexes, and especially a lying-in hospital for single women". The evidence suggests that there were few able-bodied paupers there. In 1843, Mr Bathurst reported that "Till about two years ago, the able-bodied paupers were never sent to the workhouse, but since that time a few have been sent. There has never been more than four or five able-bodied men at anyone time." Mr Pickles said, "There are only three able-bodied men, a tailor, a hawker and a labourer, but ruptured. There are four able- bodied women, two of them with children at the breast."

The Barwick workhouse was not established to house the able- bodied. It was in fact a poorhouse. There was a garden of one- and-a-half acres to be cultivated, but apart from this no employment was provided for the inmates, as there were few capable of it. It is unlikely however that the inmate's life was one of idleness. The everyday running of the house would include such activities as preparing and cooking meals, washing of clothes, cleaning the house and, no doubt, maintaining the fabric. The pauper, Thompson, during two or three weeks in the Barwick workhouse, cleared out and deepened a ditch, dug a drain across the road, helped to lay a floor and brought in the milk every day. Some household jobs - mending clothes and matting are mentioned - were rewarded by the Governor "with some trifle". Thompson got extra beer for his exertions.

Although paid employment was not general, several instances are mentioned. The tailor, John Stead, worked at his trade and made clothes for himself and his children, and for sale. Another man went out to work in a lime quarry. Occasionally, a few inmates were found employment on neighbouring farms, especially at haymaking and harvest. Sometimes the townships were paid for the work, sometimes the paupers themselves were given money to be handed to the Governor to buy clothes etc. Some however spent it on food and drink, which they took back to the workhouse, causing trouble with other inmates. The practice of outside employment was stopped in 1844.

Is there any truth in Randall Gossip's statement that the Barwick workhouse was a laying-in hospital for single women? The account book provides evidence of the number of births in the house. A township was charged one-and-a- half the normal weekly rate for a mother and newly-born baby. In the 26 years covered by the book, only 36 instances are recorded and not all of these would be unmarried. There is not much evidence here for Randall Gossip's claim. He cited the case of an unmarried pauper from Thorp Arch who had her baby in the workhouse and became pregnant again while she was still there. The master admitted that she had conceived whilst an inmate, but not, he insisted, on the premises.

Gossip asserted that his township of Thorp Arch sent a great number of unmarried, pregnant women to the workhouse. When asked by a parliamentary committee member if this meant that there was much vice in Thorp Arch, he said, "I cannot say whether they are more chaste, but a great many women come into the parish with child, who do not live there". The reason for this strange migration is not given. The figures show that that there were just seven births by Thorp Arch women in the workhouse in 26 years.

The provisions account indicate that the inmates were adequately fed. The paupers each ate on average almost 3 lb. of beef a week. Flour for bread and dumplings was bought in quantity. The bills for groceries, milk and butter suggest a sufficiency at least. Malt was purchased and beer brewed. Vegetables and fruit were available from the garden. A pig was regularly fattened and killed, providing pork and bacon. Tea and sugar were purchased for sick paupers and the bill could be as high as £1. 5s. 0d. per month. There is no evidence here of a starvation diet. A full account of the food situation in the workhouse appears in 'The Barwicker' No.4.

When Randall Gossip was asked to give evidence of the statement that Barwick workhouse was "a receptacle for the turbulent and vicious able-bodied paupers of both sexes", he could only cite the case of John Stead. He quotes from memory the following letter from George Simpson, Guardian of Church Fenton:

'The bearer, John Stead, is a drunkard and a beast and the worst of all worsts. Keep him strictly to the rules and send him to the House of Correction in Wakefield if you can. Take care not to let him know of this because we expect to be beholden to him at a sessions trial."


This letter was taken by Gossip from the Governor's file of admission orders on a particularly disastrous visit he made to the workhouse, acting as he was careful to point out, as "a rate-payer, not a magistrate". He stormed through the house, taking out files, removing letters and encouraging the inmates to make their complaints to him. He read the above letter to Stead, an action not likely to make him less turbulent or vicious, and then refused to return the letter to the Governor. It was then mislaid or destroyed. Stead was to say later that Gossip told him to take a hatchet and chop his way out of the workhouse, but this seems unlikely to be true. When asked for other examples, Gossip could not give any, but stated that there was a general feeling in the neighbourhood that the vicious and turbulent were sent to the workhouse. He did not know how many able-bodied were sent there. The parliamentary questioner remarked that he had made a great many accusations that he could not substantiate.

It is clear, however, that there were some awkward characters in Barwick workhouse in the 1840's. Henry Green of Bolton Percy, who left without permission, circulated counterfeit coin; "quitted bad money he'd made", as Mr Pickles put it. The pauper Turpin of Bramham, "not a crazy man but nervous", was another member of the awkward squad who was to be kept in the workhouse at all costs and not allowed to return to his township. Green and two other paupers were given paper by Gossip and told to write to him with their complaints. It was no wonder that the Governor described it as an unruly house at that time.

The provision of clothing for the paupers was the responsibility of the individual townships. There was no stock kept in Barwick workhouse and the Governor was instructed to buy new or second hand items as required. Washing of clothing, linen, etc. was carried out in the yard as there was no laundry. In bad weather, it was dried at night round the men's and women's day room fires and ironed in the women's appartments.

It was the boast of the Gilbert Incorporations that they treated their married couples humanely by not separating them at night. This was true in Barwick workhouse only for the one or two aged couples who slept in the same room as other old men. Younger couples were usually separated. Randall Gosssip cites the case of the pauper Thompson who was separated from his wife at night whilst in Barwick workhouse. Thompson managed to sleep with his wife on one occasion, but complained bitterly of the lack of privacy in what was, in fact, a women's ward. What the other women thought is not recorded!

In the 1840s, the Rev. Bathurst went to the Barwick workhouse every week to give religious instruction to the paupers. Rule 10 of the Schedule of the Gilbert Act required that: "All poor people able to attend church shall attend Divine Service every Sunday". The Governor "pressed the paupers to attend but did not oblige them to do so". Mr Bathurst's successor, Rector Hope, gave weekly lectures to the inmates and the Methodists held meetings for prayers every Sunday evening.

A list of rules for inmates, based on the Schedule of the Gilbert Act, was read to the inmates once a month at Barwick and a copy kept on display. Randall Gossip said that few of the rules were obeyed. The Governor admitted that the rule prohibiting paupers from leaving the house without permission was disobeyed and that some paupers occasionally stayed out all night, a source of trouble for the Incorporation's officials. The Governor was instructed by the guardians to prevent the paupers Turpin and Green from leaving, and another pauper Stubbs, complained that he was forcibly detained by the Governor when he wanted to leave to support himself and his family. The workhouse was fenced in 1844 to make it more difficult for the inmates to abscond. This measure did not prove too successful as entries in the guardians' resolutions book for November 1st 1850 show:

"John Marshall was reprimanded for absconding from the house and promised never to repeat the offence.
Harriett Potterton was reprimanded for the same offence and conducted herself with great insolence.
Samuel Summerton was called up and admonished not to quit the premises again without permission."
What punishment was administered for these breaches of discipline is not stated. When Randall Gossip alleged that inmates were cruelly treated in the workhouse, he could only cite the case of the pauper Thompson who was made to work in a wet ditch with very poor footwear and neither he nor his family was given an adequate change of clothing. Thompson's clothing in his township of Bolton Percy had been seized for non-payment of rent.

In the autumn of 1832, cholera struck Barwick and 20 of the inhabitants caught the disease, of whom 15 died. These included five inmates of the workhouse, and the Governor and his daughter. The disease came to the village first and then to the workhouse. All the inmates who died were men over 50, so segregation appears to have stopped it spreading to the females. All the victims died and were buried in Barwick churchyard within only a day or two of them showing the first symptoms.

There is evidence of much physical and mental incapacity amongst the inmates of Barwick workhouse. Dr Scatchard of Thorner treated all the paupers in the Barwick workhouse and was paid by the township to whom the inmate belonged. He also advised the Guardians about possible health risks, as in 1843 when he reported to the Guardians that the drain from the workhouse was in a defective condition and was a danger to health. A covered drain was then installed.

Mental illness was prevalent in the workhouse and this was carefully monitored as in 1852 when the Commissioners for Lunacy visited the workhouse and personally examined the weak-minded and idiotic pauper inmates. They were found to be "in a tranquil state, and apparently quite tractable and harmless. We think it very desirable that old idiotic males should be placed to sleep in separate beds." In 1853, the Guardians asked that the township of Normanton "remove from the house Thomas Wild, he being in the opinion of Dr Scatchard a Confirmed Idiot, therefore not being a person liable to be maintained according to the rules and establishment of this house". In 1857, the Commissioner for Lunacy reported that "he had personally examined the insane and idiotic pauper inmates of the workhouse, and found them quiet and comfortable. They were clean in their persons and dress and appeared to be properly taken care of."

Some inmates appear in two or, very occasionally, three census returns, indicating long stays in the workhouses. Perhaps the most striking case is that of Ann England, said to be born in Saxton in 1810. She was in the Great Preston workhouse in 1841, 1851 and 1861, and in Barwick workhouse in 1871. In the 1861 parliamentary report, she is said to have a "weak mind". In 1872, she moved with the other inmates to the new, purpose-built, Tadcaster Union workhouse, there to live out the rest of her days. She died in 1880 and was buried in Tadcaster cemetery.

Despite the efforts of the poor law authorities to have them abolished, the West Riding Gilbert Unions remained, although in 1854 the Great Ouseburn Incorporation was dissolved on the grounds that the parishes had been united in an unlawful manner. This enabled them to establish two new unions based on Knaresborough and Great Ouseburn.

In the early 1860s, there were many townships and parishes in the area around Leeds which were still operating the Old Poor Law, a most unusual situation. It was not remedied until they were brought together in the Hew Poor Law Unions of Wharfedale and Wetherby, established in 1861, and Tadcaster and Pontefract in 1862. It was not until 1869, that the Poor Law Board succeeded in dissolving the remaining Gilbert Unions, including Barwick. This ended a remarkable situation. The West Riding Gilbert Unions had stopped the implementation of the Poor Law Amendment Act in the area for 35 years.

On its dissolution, the townships of the Barwick Incorporation were divided between the new unions. Barwick was put into Tadcaster Poor Law Union, which after only 3 years of existence had suffered a crisis, when in 1865 its workhouse was closed following a scandal involving the ill-treatment of the inmates by the matron. Tadcaster Poor Law Union sent its paupers to Barwick workhouse from 1869 until 1872, when the new workhouse at Union Corner in Tadcaster was opened.

ARTHUR BANTOFT


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