Workhouses

The 1601 Poor Law Act

In 1601 an Act for the Relief of the Poor laid the foundation of England's “Old” Poor Law. The act established the parish as the administrative unit responsible for poor relief, with parish officials called overseers collecting poor-rates (a local property tax) and allocating relief. It also required the provision of materials such as flax, hemp, and wool to provide work for the able-bodied poor; the setting to work and apprenticeship of children; and the relief of the “impotent poor”—the old, the blind, the lame, and so on. Relief could be in the form of bread or money and could also include the provision of “houses of dwelling.”

Early Workhouses

Following the 1601 act, workhouses gradually began to appear in places such as Dorchester (1617), Reading (1624), Sheffield (1628), Abingdon (1631), Taunton (1631), and Cambridge (around 1634)—most of these were in towns involved in textile production. In 1647, the London Corporation of the Poor was established and operated a number of workhouses until 1660. These early establishments varied in their operation. In addition to providing work, some provided accommodations for the impotent poor or training for children.

In 1696, the eighteen parishes of Bristol combined to promote a parliamentary act setting up a corporation to manage poor relief and operate a joint workhouse. In fact two were set up—the Mint Workhouse accommodated the aged, boys, and infants, while the New Workhouse housed 100 girls who were taught to read and to spin. Other urban corporations rapidly followed. Most of these workhouses used existing buildings, but purpose-built establishments were erected at Exeter, Tiverton, and Hull. As at Bristol, the emphasis was often on sheltering and training poor children.

Knatchbull's Act

Knatchbull's Act of 1723 enabled joint workhouses to be set up by neighboring parishes. It also embodied the “workhouse test”—that the prospect of workhouse should act as a deterrent, with relief available only to those who were desperate enough to accept the unpleasant workhouse regime of work, discipline, and Spartan conditions. By 1732, around 700 workhouses were in operation. Parliamentary reports in 1776–1777 list a total of almost 2,000 parish workhouses in operation in England and Wales—in approximately one parish in seven.