Copia - Pipes Presentation

the victorian workhouse

and the Poor law Amendment Act

From the first legislation

The first type of English legislation in favor of the poor was started during the reign of Elizabeth I, and remained in forse from 1597 to 1834. This was the so-called "Speenhamland System", in an attempt to find a solution to the unresolved problems of pauperism.

The Poor law Amendment Act

Edwin Chadwick was one of the Commissioners and the minds behind the Poor Law Amendement Act of 1834. The law formed groups of parishes into Unions to facilitate adimistration of the new workhouse, term that was used for the first time in 1631 by the mayor of Abingdon. Some people welcomed it because they believed it would reduce the cost of caring for the poor, take the sick off the streets, and encourage poor people to work hard to support themselves, others, like Richard Oastler, spoke out against the new Poor Law, calling the workhouses "Prisons for the poor" and the poor themselves hated and feared the threat of the workhouses so much that there were riots in northern cities.

Sir Edwin Chadwick (1800-1890)

The situation in the workhouses

• Strictly segregated sexes and divided families.
• The sick and infirm were separated from the able-bodied and subjected to a less severe routine.
• Men and women were forced to perform hard labor and were often sold to factories or mines.
• The children's education did not include the two most important skills of all: reading and writing.
• They were all forced to wear a uniform that made them all the same so that everyone knew they were poor people living in the workhouse.
• Rations were typically poor and tasteless.
• Landlords were responsible for the welfare of the poor.

Regarding the workhouses there were also various scandals. The most famous was that of the Andover Workhouse, where half-starved prisoners were said to have been found eating the rotting flesh of bones. In response to these scandals, the government introduced stricter rules for those who ran the workhouses and also established a system of regular inspections. From these Workhouses people wanted to escape at all costs so the English leaders decided to study the management of poverty in all the states of the world and in Turin the English embassy asked Camillo Count of Cavour to do research on the Italian working class condition. At last, with the National Assistance Act of 1948, the last vestiges of the Poor Law, and with them the workhouses, were abolished even if this system had actually decayed way before, at the end of World War I.

The Workhouses

when the Act of Parliament was passed, the workhouses were seen as a source of income for many. This places were administrated by an Union and for each of them, Boards of guardians were elected by the ratepayers; at the head of everithings there was the Poor Law Commission in London witrh Edwin Chadwick as secretary.

In the first five years more than 350 workhouses were erected; and soo, they started to appear all over the coutry. This new type of housing project were stark and intrusive, reminiscent of factories, barracks and prisons; this because the presence of high perimeter wall, large locked entrance gate and dominant central observation blocks made the overwhole more intimidatory and the lack of maintenance was one of the primary reasons why the buildings were and looked so shabby.

The Rural Workhouse Sir. Francis Head

The "200 Pauper" Sampson Kempthorne

The "Cruciform" Sampson Kempthorne

Various types of model plans

The "Y" Sampson Kempthorne

The Rural Workhouse

The model of the "Rural Workhouse" was devised by Sir. Francis head and was adopted only in Kent. it was meant to house 500 inhabitants, eight per room. The rooms all faced in ann inner-courtyard and there weren't other amenities exept for it. the spaces were very tight: the minimal floor to ceiling heights were 2.10 meters on the ground floor and 1.80 meters on the first floor.

The 200 Pauper

THe "200 Pauper" was the first of the three Workhouse plans devised by Sampson Kempthorne; It followed the same scheme of the "Rural Workhouse", but it included more amenities, for example, a schoolroom for the childrens that lived there.

The Cruciform

The second type of plan for the workhouse is the so called "Cruciform", this because it resamble the figure of a crux. It was formed by four wings that could be elongated, truncated or added on storeys accorting to necessities. The master accomodation was in the central core while the rest of the structure (dormitory, dining hall, chappel,...etc) developped in the wings.

The Y

The "Y" it's the last plan designed by Kempthorne, it follow the same philosophy of the "Cruciform" plan but instead of having four wings it only have three. The floor to ceiling height were 2.40 meters and hot water pipes were installed for heating the rooms.

His firdst workhouses were mostly Classical, but the later ones had a more Tudor and Elizabethan footprint.

"The workhouse building should be less a place of restraint than an asylum"

George Gilbert Scott

George Gilbert Scott was another architect that became well-known for his adaptations of the workhouses. His workhouses are unmistakable, this bacause he designed it with empathy towards poor people.