Sue Cook and the team answer listeners' historical queries and celebrate the way in which we all 'make' history.
Series 11
Programme 7
31ÌýMay 2005
The workhouses and poorhouses of 19th-century Britain
A listener wants to know just why some of her ancestors ended up in a Scottish 'poorhouse' when they had close relatives who might have been able to look after them.
The workhouse purports at one and the same time to be: (i) a place where able-bodied adults who cannot and will not find employment are set to work; (ii) an asylum for the aged, the blind, the deaf and dumb or otherwise incapacitated for labour; (iii) A hospital for the sick poor; (iv) a school for orphans, foundlings, and other poor children; (v) a lying-in home for poor mothers; (vi) an asylum for those of unsound mind not actually being dangerous; (vii) a resting place for such vagabonds as it is not deemed possible or desirable to send to prison."
Rudolph von Gneist (1871)
On a certain Sunday, I formed one of the congregation assembled in the chapel of a large metropolitan Workhouse. With the exception of the clergyman and clerk, and a very few officials, there were none but paupers present...Generally, the faces were depressed and subdued, and wanted colour. Aged people were there, in every variety. Mumbling, blear-eyed, spectacled, stupid, deaf, lame ... There were weird old women, all skeleton within, all bonnet and cloak without, continually wiping their eyes with dirty dusters of pocket- handkerchiefs; and there were ugly old crones, both male and female, with a ghastly kind of contentment upon them which was not at all comforting to see. Upon the whole, it was the dragon, Pauperism, in a very weak and impotent condition; toothless, fangless, drawing his breath heavily enough, and hardly worth chaining up.
Charles Dickens, A Walk in a Workhouse (1850)
Making History consulted Professor Nigel Goose at the University of Hertfordshire who is researching this topic and is keen to hear from family historians who might be able to provide him with more examples of ancestors who were admitted to either the workhouses of England and Wales or the poorhouses of Scotland. Email Nigel at n.goose@herts.ac.uk.
Useful link
has comprehensive information about the evolution of care for the poor and destitute.
Prince Louis
Making History listener Peter Fridlington was intrigued by a story he heard whilst visiting Lincoln Cathedral. A guide told him that in the early 13th century a Frenchman, Louis, was proclaimed King of England - yet never crowned.
The Frenchman in question was Prince Louis of France (the future King Louis VIII) who was invited to invade England by rebel barons who were embroiled in civil war with King John in 1215/1216. Only the death of John in October 1216 ended the conflict and removed the opportunity for Louis to become King of England.
Making History consulted Professor John Gillingham and Dr Nicholas Bennett (Lincoln Cathedral).
Useful links
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Local history hero
Jasper Blake was nominated for his work in creating the Iron Age farm at Cinderbury in the Forest of Dean.
Vanessa has presentedÌýscience and current affairs programmes for ±«Óãtv, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for ±«Óãtv Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.Ìý
Contact Making History
Send your comments and questions for future programmes to:
Making History
±«Óãtv Radio 4
PO Box 3096 Brighton
BN1 1PL
Vanessa has presentedÌýscience and current affairs programmes for ±«Óãtv, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for ±«Óãtv Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.Ìý