Workhouses Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

This article uses the concept of maternalism to discuss workhouse management, which in late nineteenth-century Finland was entrusted to women. The article looks at the ways in which maternalist discourse manifests in the development of a... more

This article uses the concept of maternalism to discuss workhouse management, which in late nineteenth-century Finland was entrusted to women. The article looks at the ways in which maternalist discourse manifests in the development of a workhouse matron's leadership position, how the said discourse became further manifest in the guidelines given to matrons by the state poor relief officials and how the boundaries of a matron's authority were defined in conflicts with both male agents in poor relief and the paupers themselves. Ultimately, the article illuminates the contemporary understanding of feminine and masculine duties in society, which were inextricably linked to perceptions of social class. In addition, it explores the transfer of ideas from the more central regions of Europe to a Northern periphery by contrasting the Finnish development with that in England. The article suggests that as a workhouse matron's position was built on the ideal of normative womanhood, it was not emancipatory per se. However, the article also shows that only those elements of normative womanhood that were relevant to a matron's mission of converting the paupers to respectable citizenship were to be included in her leadership as a whole. These restrictions marked professionalisation inside the contemporary maternalist discourse and the feminine sphere of society.

Currently under peer review, this draft of the article 'Sensational Denigration: Dickens and the Workhouse' critically assesses Dickens's recently rediscovered essay "What is Sensation" as a jumping off point to explore the phenomenon of... more

Currently under peer review, this draft of the article 'Sensational Denigration: Dickens and the Workhouse' critically assesses Dickens's recently rediscovered essay "What is Sensation" as a jumping off point to explore the phenomenon of popular journalistic exposés about the gross negligence of the workhouse and their close association with the sensational literature of the mid-Victorian era. It then goes on to illustrate the liberal political economy at work in instituting the New Poor Law of 1834 and the subsequent emergence of the Victorian era workhouse and its greater consequence for capitalistic relations as the century progressed. Finally, it explores the ideological legacy of the workhouse evident in Britain's current neoliberal welfare policies.

From the early 17th century large numbers of institutions were established to provide for various segments of society which did not fit into “normal” life. These included orphans, the sick, criminals the destitute, paupers, and those,... more

From the early 17th century large numbers of institutions were established to provide for various segments of society which did not fit into “normal” life. These included orphans, the sick, criminals the destitute, paupers, and those, that today, we would refer to as physically and mentally handicapped. From the mid 19th century onwards brass and other bands were often set up in these institutions to help educate the children (mainly boys it has to be said), to provide another aspect of discipline, recreation and also, potentially, to give access to a musical career once they left the school. Adult bands were also formed in prisons and asylums among the inmates.

In the nineteenth century Ireland, Poor Law Union Workhouses provided indoor relief for destitute paupers, but ultimately became synonymous with the Great Famine of 1845-52. Human skeletal remains have recently been excavated from a... more

In the nineteenth century Ireland, Poor Law Union Workhouses provided indoor relief for destitute paupers, but ultimately became synonymous with the Great Famine of 1845-52. Human skeletal remains have recently been excavated from a number of these sites and osteoarchaeological analysis confirms the poor health status of those who died within the institutions. This paper examines in particular the demographic profile of the dead, which reveals a number of biases in terms of ages-at-death. Overall, there were high proportions of individuals aged less than 18 years at the time of death. Within that group there was a noticeable lack of infants, and the proportions of older juveniles and young adults were also low. Equal numbers of female and male adults were present in the cemeteries. The possible explanations behind these various biases will be explored. The context of the burials is also examined in detail. The non-status of the pauper in nineteenth century society is succinctly preserved in both the manner, and particularly the location, of the burials. The invisibility of the pauper in life, and subsequently in death, has ironically resulted in their skeletal remains now being more visible than those who survived the workhouses. The examination of the mortuary context of the burials adds considerably to the scientific analysis and the interpretation of that evidence.

This article is a synthetic analysis of the events of the Spring of Nations in France, which preceded the adoption of the Constitution of the Second French Republic on 4 November 1848. The author presents the main causes of the... more

This article is a synthetic analysis of the events of the Spring of Nations in France, which preceded the adoption of the Constitution of the Second French Republic on 4 November 1848. The author presents the main causes of the revolutionary events, the course of these events until 1848 as well as the most important legal reforms of political and social nature undertaken during that period.

A workshop on British welfare provision and receipt in Britain before the 'classic' welfare state.

The confinement or submission in a delimited place against the individual will, has been associated with the repression of crimes and social transgressions in the West throughout its history. What has changed is the role played in the... more

The confinement or submission in a delimited place against the individual will, has been associated with the repression of crimes and social transgressions in the West throughout its history. What has changed is the role played in the punitive range, that is, its function as a penal instrument. This article explores the different facets in which the confinement was manifested in jails, prisons, and other places of detention, all of them built in Caracas throughout the 18th century in the context of the Spanish administration and the colonial justice system.

I am fortunate enough to spend my working life exploring many different buildings, from medieval manor houses to 20th century football stadia, as part of a development-led brief to record them for posterity. This provides the opportunity... more

I am fortunate enough to spend my working life exploring many different buildings, from medieval manor houses to 20th century football stadia, as part of a development-led brief to record them for posterity. This provides the opportunity to access places that few members of the public (other than squatters and urban explorers) ever see. It also involves many hours picking round derelict hulks with the rain coursing down the walls. This work feeds into the undeniable research value that arises from the study of individual buildings and how they inform our understanding of past societies and social practices. Conversely, there is also the less classifiable output of our attempting to capture the ‘spirit’ of a building prior to its demolition or conversion. Whilst the former is prioritised in guidance literature and methodologies, the latter
arguably comprises the majority of what we do. What follows is an attempt to reconcile these two mindsets, with what can be termed a ‘biographical’ approach to historic building recording.

This article discusses how the three illegitimate children of a poor maidservant built their lives in Finland at the end of the long 19 th century. The eldest followed in her mother's footsteps by becoming a maidservant with an... more

This article discusses how the three illegitimate children of a poor maidservant built their lives in Finland at the end of the long 19 th century. The eldest followed in her mother's footsteps by becoming a maidservant with an illegitimate child, but the two younger ones cut loose from the traditional setting of the family, both geographically and in a socioeconomic sense. They joined the middle class, which was emerging and taking shape at the turn of the century. This article shows how the rise of the younger Ahrenberg siblings was made possible by the new social structures in Finnish society: the increase in educational openings for common people, economic liberalization, and the emergence of new career opportunities within the expanding field of public sector social work. The article also analyzes the impact these changes had on the self-understanding of the siblings. Moreover, the article sheds light on the means of mutual assistance by which the Ahrenberg siblings helped each other seize the new opportunities and fight the insecurity of Finnish society at the turn of the 19 th and 20 th centuries.

This paper portrays conflicting views on impairment, specifically disability versus usefulness, and how this perception has changed subsequent to the Industrial Revolution and capitalism. Simultaneously, state control over citizens... more

This paper portrays conflicting views on impairment, specifically disability versus usefulness, and how this perception has changed subsequent to the Industrial Revolution and capitalism. Simultaneously, state control over citizens increased and penalties for non-normative circumstance were codified. With the loss of the feudal system, the closure of monasteries and the enclosure of once-public lands, with the returning flood of damaged, angry, perhaps physically wounded soldiers, with urban overcrowded living conditions a breeding ground for disease, the (mostly) walking wounded found themselves disabled by their own society. Two different populations are compared, offering divergent concepts of 'work' and community inclusion, comparing the mid-sixteenth century, before industrialization and the rise of state capitalism, and the early nineteenth century. Both groups are predominately lower working class individuals. One sample is drawn from remains associated with the Tudor warship Mary Rose; the crew died as a result of a well-documented disaster. The other sample is from the Oslo House of Correction, from a cemetery used only for inmates, in use a limited period of time. Despite skeletal evidence of widespread healed yet disabling injury, the Mary Rose crew were at work the day they died, whilst the House of Correction inhabitants appear relatively free of physical impairment but widely affected with a lung disorder. Late medieval individuals were actively employed, but the poor from the Industrial Age were warehoused until they died.

Scholarship on urban culture and the senses has traditionally focused on the study of literature and the visual arts. Recent decades have seen a surge of interest on the effects of sound the urban space and its population. These studies... more

Scholarship on urban culture and the senses has traditionally focused on the study of literature and the visual arts. Recent decades have seen a surge of interest on the effects of sound the urban space and its population. These studies analyse how sound generates identities that are often fragmentary and mutually conflicting. They also explore the ways in which sound triggers campaigns against the negative effects of noise on the nerves and health of the population. Little research has been carried out about the impact of sound and music in areas of broader social and political concern such as social aid, hygiene and social control. Based on a detailed study of Madrid from the 1850s to the 1930s, Discordant Notes argues that sound and music have played a key role in structuring the transition to modernity by helping to negotiate social attitudes and legal responses to problems such as poverty, insalubrity, and crime. Attempts to control the social groups that own unwanted musical practices such as organ grinding and flamenco performances in taverns raised awareness about public hygiene, alcoholism and crime, and triggered legal reform in these areas. In addition to scapegoating, marginalising and persecuting these musical practices, the authorities and the media used workhouse bands as instruments of social control to spread "aural hygiene" across the city.

Renaissance Italians pioneered radical changes in ways of helping the poor, including orphanages, workhouses, pawnshops, and women's shelters. This book aims to show that gender was the key factor driving innovation. Most of the... more

Can institutions that were once models for Indian residential schools become models for a reconciliatory museology? That industrial schools were models for Canada’s Indian residential school system is well documented. Their common... more

Can institutions that were once models for Indian residential schools become models for a reconciliatory museology? That industrial schools were models for Canada’s Indian residential school system is well documented. Their common provenance in the workhouse, however, is less so. This chapter investigates comparative emergent reconciliatory museologies at the Irish Workhouse Centre in Portumna, East Galway, Ireland, and The Workhouse (National Trust site) in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, UK. In this chapter, I investigate how the musealization of these sites can inform the Reclaiming Shingwauk Hall project, an effort to transform the former Shingwauk Indian Residential School in Sault Ste-Marie, Ontario, into a museal site. In studying the synergies between these projects, I seek to contribute to both bridging a gap in our understanding of the provenance of Indian residential schooling in Canada, and to the framing of a needed Canadian and transcultural and transnational reconciliatory museology.

To establish historical and archaeological contexts for the case studies presented in this volume, this paper presents a review of the literature on the history and archaeology of almshouses. Because both English and Dutch colonial... more

To establish historical and archaeological contexts for the case studies presented in this volume, this paper presents a review of the literature on the history and archaeology of almshouses. Because both English and Dutch colonial almshouses were based on European precedents, this paper examines historical research and archaeological work conducted in The Netherlands and England, as well as their North American colonies.

One obstacle in the way of solid and qualitatively rich historical research on the Irish Poor Law is the loss of major archival sources for the period. While local and national Irish archives possess correspondence registers for... more

One obstacle in the way of solid and qualitatively rich historical research on the Irish Poor Law is the loss of major archival sources for the period. While local and national Irish archives possess correspondence registers for individual Poor Law unions, the central Poor Law Commission / Local Government Board files were lost in the 1922 destruction of the Public Records Office, housed at the time in the Four Courts on Dublin’s quayside. It wasn’t until I attended the hugely enjoyable ‘Fragmentary Lives’ event in the National Archives in Kew, London in June, that I realised what a huge loss that really represents....

This essay seeks to highlight the potential of the concepts of labour flexibility and labour precariousness in developing the historical study of the interactions between (“free” and “unfree”) labour relations. At the same time, it... more

This essay seeks to highlight the potential of the concepts of labour flexibility and labour precariousness in developing the historical study of the interactions between (“free” and “unfree”) labour relations. At the same time, it highlights the impact of a global and long-term approach to labour flexibility and labour precariousness on the contemporary debate in this field. To this double aim, I define labour flexibility as the relative advantage attached by employers and policy-makers to certain labour relations, based on the opportunity to recruit, locate and manage workforces in the place, time and task most conducive to the former’s own economic and political goals. In other words, labour flexibility expresses the employers’ and policy-makers’ quest to synchronise the availability of what they perceive as the most appropriate workforce, with their productive and political needs. In turn, labour precariousness is defined here as the workers’ own perception of their (lack of) control over their labour power, in relation to other workers, the labour market, and the social reproduction of their workforce.
The relational nature of these definitions represents one of this essay’s contributions to the debate on labour flexibility and labour precariousness in both historical studies and contemporary debates. Whereas many contradictory definitions of these phenomena exist in scholarship, those provided here have arguably the advantage of connecting labour flexibility/precariousness to the issue of control over labour: they indicate how labour flexibility relates to external (employers’ and/or policy-makers’) control over the workforce, whereas labour precariousness relates to workers’ control over their own labour force. By foregrounding the question of control, and ultimately of power, these definitions additionally allow for a focus on the “constraint agency” of historical and contemporary actors at the crossroads of materiality and perceptions, external categorisation and self-representation.
My argument especially builds on the findings of two distinct streams in recent scholarly literature: the re-conceptualisation of the role of multiple labour relations in the process of labour commodification, which has been proposed within the context of Global Labour History; and the studies that have addressed contemporary labour precariousness from a historical and global perspective. Starting from these new approaches, the paper explores five directions. The first section sketches the outlines of a conceptualisation of labour flexibility and precariousness vis-à-vis the process of labour commodification. The second section, largely referring to my own empirical research and selected examples from secondary literature on late-colonial and post-colonial Spanish America, poses space, time, and State- and private control of the workforce as key components of labour flexibility. Based on the same empirical findings, the third section addresses the limits of the employers’ control over the workforce. The fourth section raises the question of the workers’ perception of the precariousness of their labour, and its interrelation with workers’ agency. The concluding section points to distinct fields where the global, long-term, and relational approach to the study of labour flexibility and precariousness directly contributes to contemporary debates and scholarship in the field.

By using the workhouse of Dresden as a microstudy, this article explores local continuities in postwar East Germany. It argues that this example not only illustrates the persistence of mentalities towards ‘sexual and social deviance’, not... more

By using the workhouse of Dresden as a microstudy, this article explores local continuities in postwar East Germany. It argues that this example not only illustrates the persistence of mentalities towards ‘sexual and social deviance’, not least as a legacy of the Third Reich, but also questions the assumption of a strictly centralised state and 1945 as a caesura. In a first step, the article shows the continuity of personnel at the state level, who decided that the workhouse as an institution should have a future in the new East German state after 1945, before revealing that local authorities were also unable to dissociate themselves with the views towards this institution of the past. In the end, the article enters this institution with help of archival sources, architectural plans, and photographs, exploring the impact of this state and local continuity on the everyday lives of inmates in this workhouse in Dresden. In doing so, it contributes to the historiography of East Germany by revealing the agency of different individuals, even if confined to a ‘total institution’.

Mass burials containing skeletal remains of a minimum of 970 individuals dating to the Great Famine were discovered at the former union workhouse in Kilkenny City in 2005 and made the subject of an archaeological excavation the following... more

Mass burials containing skeletal remains of a minimum of 970 individuals dating to the Great Famine were discovered at the former union workhouse in Kilkenny City in 2005 and made the subject of an archaeological excavation the following year. The find, through archaeological and osteoarchaeological methods, has provided a unique opportunity to study the human experience of the Great Irish Famine. The research has revealed a population that was suffering greatly from scurvy and indicates that the disease was likely to have been misdiagnosed by the workhouse physicians in Kilkenny during the Famine

By the 1840s, the citizens of Belfast had established an extensive network of philanthropic organisations for the benefit of the poor. With the implementation of the Irish Poor Law of 1838, the workhouse was added to this decades-old... more

By the 1840s, the citizens of Belfast had established an extensive network of philanthropic organisations for the benefit of the poor. With the implementation of the Irish Poor Law of 1838, the workhouse was added to this decades-old system in 1841. The events of the late 1840s tested this new poor relief structure as the town received an influx of paupers from the surrounding countryside and the rest of the country. The philanthropic enthusiasm of the town’s mainly Presbyterian elite prompted a response to the crisis Ireland faced in the late 1840s, exemplified in the charitable giving toward the unfortunate poor across Ireland. However, Belfast itself also bore a burden during the Famine which has only recently been acknowledged in Irish historiography. There remains more to be extracted from Belfast’s Famine experience. This paper seeks to explore how the famine affected Belfast by looking specifically at the poor relief structures in place at the time. It will show that the pre-Poor Law philanthropic network functioned alongside the Board of Guardians in attempting to respond to the disaster as it encroached on the town. It will also consider the impact of famine diseases in the rapidly expanding town and argue that the effect of the famine on public health was the most impactful aspect of the catastrophe in Belfast. This paper builds on ongoing doctoral research and presents conclusions built on original research in a somewhat neglected area of Irish history.

Over half of all victims of the Great Irish Famine (1845–1852) were children. Many of these deaths took place in the union workhouses: institutions of government poor relief which for many were the last resort in a desperate struggle to... more

Over half of all victims of the Great Irish Famine (1845–1852) were children. Many of these deaths took place in the union workhouses: institutions of government poor relief which for many were the last resort in a desperate struggle to survive famine-induced conditions such as starvation and infectious disease. Archaeological excavations of a mass burial ground dating to 1847–1851 at the former workhouse in Kilkenny City have provided the opportunity to undertake a detailed interdisciplinary exploration of non-adult mortality in an Irish workhouse during the height of the Famine.

Between 1845 and 1907, the Norwegian workhouse system was based on the Poor Law which authorised the police to detain vagrants for up to six months in the workhouse. These measures were enforced on the basis of police discretion without... more

Between 1845 and 1907, the Norwegian workhouse system was based on the Poor Law which authorised the police to detain vagrants for up to six months in the workhouse. These measures were enforced on the basis of police discretion without any judicial proceedings. Only towards the end of the nineteenth century was this practice seriously questioned, ultimately leading to the abolition of the discretionary workhouse system. This article presents the Norwegian workhouse system from 1845 to 1907, outlining its functions, and discussing the discretionary power placed in the hands of the police in a country whose constitution forbade punishment without legal trial. The article argues that discretionary detention was regarded as a flexible instrument that allowed the police and local communities to intervene against disorderly individuals. It also argues that the increased limitations on the police’s discretionary power between 1894 and 1907 were motivated by a legal-professional wish to adapt the legislation to comply with prevailing principles of the rule of law rather than concerns for the legal protection of the paupers and vagrants who were subjected to detention. The aims and the groups targeted for detention remained the same, although workhouse detentions turned out to be less efficient when the police discretions were curtailed.

This study examine and compares the organisation and application of poor relief in the parish of Mattishall, Norfolk, between 1826 and 1846. The study maps the historiography of the OPL, the Poor Law Commissioners Report and the New Poor... more

This study examine and compares the organisation and application of poor relief in the parish of Mattishall, Norfolk, between 1826 and 1846. The study maps the historiography of the OPL, the Poor Law Commissioners Report and the New Poor Law and analyses the impact on Mattishall’s poor relief systems. Chapter 1 discusses the debates and difficulties in analysing the different relief systems locally, regionally and nationally under the Old Poor Law through quantitative and qualitative analysis. Account and Disbursement records produced by the Mattishall Overseers are used to consider the cost of relief and the numbers who receive in-relief in comparison to out-relief. Chapter 2 introduces the Commissioners’ Report and assesses the reliability of the data collection, Mattishall’s response to the Commissioners’ questionnaire, from which summative results are produced and analysed, and comparisons between local, regional and national data are made. Chapter 3 introduces the NPL and data collected from the Poor Law Commissioners’ Annual Reports; considering the cost of relief, comparing the numbers of in or out-relief and analysing the categorisation of recipients. Comparisons drawn from across the OPL, the Commissioners Report and the NPL allow analysis to be made on new national ‘centralised’ system on the management of paupers in Mattishall. Through analysis of data and evaluations of methods used a variety of conclusions can be drawn and further studies proposed. Mattishall, a Speenhamland parish, is classified under the Old Poor Law as an ‘open’ parish with mixed occupations. Statistical data shows that with the introduction of the NPL the population growth decreased, the cost of poor relief reduced and there was a shift in emphasis from out-relief to in-relief. However the difficulty in categorisation and the question of statistical validity arise when qualitative studies of detailed individual accounts are made.