The water tower and old buildings of Stobhill Hospital in the Springburn area of Glasgow. Designed by Thomson and Sandilands, and opened in 1904, Stobhill Hospital is one of the few remaining large complexes built as a Poor Law Hospital to care for those who could not afford to pay for treatment before the creation of the National Health Service.

#glasgow #architecture #stobhillhospital #springburn #watertower #tower #poorlaw #architecturephotograpy #nhs

In the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, politicians made the workhouse the centrepiece of the New Poor Law, a more ‘efficient’ and cheaper way to relieve the poor in England, Wales and Cornwall. Workhouses were intended to discipline the poor by forcing idlers to work and shirkers to become strivers. But in practice, they became populated disproportionately by single mothers, widows, orphans, the old and the chronically sick. As a consequence, many of our nineteenth century forebears would have ended their days in the workhouse.

Before the New Poor Law there was the Old Poor Law. This was managed by local parish vestries who appointed their own overseers of the poor. The Old Poor Law was less efficient and cost the ratepayers more but on the whole it was more humane. Some workhouses had begun to appear in the larger parishes by the late 1800s but in the main the poor received aid while living in their own homes. The Gwennap Poor Law records give us an insight into the operation of the poor law at the beginning of the 1800s.

The population of Gwennap was recorded as just under 4,600 in the 1801 census, making it one of Cornwall’s more populous parishes. This was a recent development as the parish had grown rapidly during the eighteenth century as miners turned the land inside out in their search for copper. Mining flourished and people flocked to the villages of St Day, Carharrack and Lanner. Nonetheless, the mining boom had not eliminated poverty. In 1799 between 450 and 500 persons had received some form of poor relief, around ten per cent of the population.

How were they helped? Here’s the first 20 entries in the list of 68 recipients of poor relief agreed at the vestry meeting of the 7th January 1800. (The spelling has been updated, e.g. two pair of shoes for ‘to pear of shoues’.)

• George Bray’s wife – swaddling clothes, inside petticoat, gown and waistcoat for the boy
• Thomas Perry’s maid [probably daughter rather than servant] – shoes, shift, shoes and waistcoat for Thomas Perry, shift and shoes for wife
• Anthony James – to clothe his son some dowlas [a coarse calico]
• Kate Gregor – pair of shoes
• Cath Carvolth – low price rug
• Richard ‘Rimpre’ [probably Remphry] – ten yards of dowlas and ‘checks’ [chequered cloth], pair of shoes
• Christian Kneebone – shift
• Jane Bawden – shift and shoes
• Cath Francis – bed sheet
• James Cannon – pair of shoes and eight yards of dowlas
• Alex Holman – shoes, shirt and a waistcoat
• John Seppe [?] – 15 yards of dowlas and shoes for his wife
• Alice Webb – blanket and shift
• Richard Odger – goods
• John Brown – in necessity five shillings and sixpence
• Edwards Rimpre’s wife – swaddling clothes
• Kate Cornish – rent for Leaches [it’s not clear whether Leaches referred to a place or a family. There were families with that surname in Gwennap at this time so my guess is that Kate Cornish was the landlady to whom the rent was due]
• John Brown – waistcoat, breeches [trousers] and cotton shirt
• Ann Nicholas – seven and a half yards of dowlas and five yards of baize
• Blanch Lean – a ‘stuff’ gown [possibly woollen as opposed to cotton or other material]

As we can see, virtually all of the relief was in kind, most being items of clothing or shoes. Almost three quarters of the total relieved on that day were women, probably widows and single mothers, although this is not stated in the records. The total cost of the relief given in January 1800 was £8, two shillings and six pence, equivalent to around £850 today.

[from Gwennap Poor Law Records, 1799-1808, transcribed by W.L.Bawden]

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https://bernarddeacon.com/2024/11/09/the-old-poor-law-in-gwennap/

#Gwennap #poorLaw

Excavation sheds new light on notorious workhouse

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67425926

#History #Histodons #Workhouse #PoorLaw #Dickens #MusuemOfLondon

“Good Law Project is supporting Amy Pritchard, 37, and Giovanna Lewis, 65, who were given 7 weeks in prison for addressing the jury to say climate change and fuel poverty were the reasons for their protest.
We are deeply concerned about the silencing of protesters in this way, and the precedent this is setting.

Peaceful climate change protestors should be able to explain the reasons for their actions to the jury and not be criminalised and sent to prison for doing so” #PoorLaw

In 1317, Edward II granted the friary of St Augustine a license to purchase land in Skirbeck in Lincolnshire and by 1328 there were twenty friars living there. By the time of the dissolution, the total area was calculated as covering about ten acres - half an acre of this was adjacent to St John’s churchyard.

Three centuries later, when the Poor Laws were enacted it became the responsibility of the local parish to provide for the poor and they were housed in workhouses. Boston was built on land that belonged to the friary. All that remains now is its frontage.

The building was designed by architect George Gilbert Scott (image two) and what remains today is used by Lincolnshire Social Services.

#lincolnshire #boston #skirbeck
#friary #staugustine #edwardII #workhouse #poorlaw #19thcentury #architecture #georgegilbertscott

This evening, to attempt to keep up momentum of working on the dissertion over the holidays I'm back to trying to locate baptism, marriage and burial information for my pack of Irish paupers.

If you hear screaming it's just me getting frustrated with negative searches

#Irish #Dissertation #PoorLaw #Workhouse #Geneadons #Genealogy #Ancestors #AncestryHour #Research

Very happy that this has just been delivered. Looking forward to getting stuck in!

#PoorLaw #MAHistofFam #Research #Workhouse #Histodons #Geneadons #Books

Decided to switch up from locating Irish paupers to reading the Board of Guardian minute book for 1841 ... because my fuzzy head needs more of a challenge!

#Irish #PoorLaw #Paupers #Research