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As the 19th century wore on, workhouses increasingly became refuges for the elderly, infirm, and sick rather than the able-bodied poor, and in 1929 legislation was passed to allow local authorities to take over workhouse infirmaries as municipal hospitals.
People queuing at S. Marylebone workhouse circa 1900. In England, Wales and Ireland (but not in Scotland), [1] "workhouse" has been the more common term.Before the introduction of the Poor Laws, each parish would maintain its own workhouse; often these would be simple farms with the occupants dividing their time between working the farm and being employed on maintaining local roads and other ...
The Diseases Prevention Act of 1883 allowed workhouse infirmaries to offer treatment to non-paupers as well as inmates, and by the beginning of the 20th century some infirmaries were even able to operate as private hospitals. By the end of the century only about 20 per cent admitted to workhouses were unemployed or destitute, but about 30 per ...
Punch criticized the New Poor Law's workhouses for splitting mothers and their infant children. Opposition to the Poor Law grew at the beginning of the 19th century. The 1601 system was felt to be too costly [41] and was considered in academic circles as encouraging the underlying problems. [105]
It was impossible to achieve both these aims, as the principle of less eligibility made people search for work in towns and cities. Workhouses were built and paupers transferred to these urban areas. However, the Settlement Laws were used to protect ratepayers from paying too much. Workhouse construction and the amalgamation of unions was slow.
Until the early 19th century, the arrangements worked quite well in rural districts; but, as slum areas increased in towns of a more industrial nature, the system began to fall short. [1] The Act passed in 1672 required the thirty-two main burghs to build correction houses, [8] in which vagabonds were to be detained and forced to work. [2]
This is a list of workhouses in London. [1] In 1776 there were 86 workhouses in the metropolis plus about 12 pauper farms in Hoxton and Mile End [2] Aldgate workhouse;
Built in 1824, it was the prototype of the 19th-century workhouse, and was cited by the Royal Commission on the poor law as the best example among the existing workhouses, before the resulting New Poor Law of 1834 led to the construction of workhouses across the country.