TALES FROM THE WORKHOUSE

This book contains first hand accounts of life in the workhouse, and enables you to see the workhouse through the eyes of people who experienced it.

CONTENTS

FOOD
I am fond of gruel
Saltless gruel and dry bread
Sweetened gruel and diarrhoea
Sour gruel

SICKNESS
Raw, festering sores
The tramp with diarrhoea
Asking for the doctor

BATHING, UNDRESSING AND DRESSING
Dirty looking baths
Our clothes were taken from us
“Hurry up, women”
Wet clothes
The condition of the clothes

CONDITIONS AND PEOPLE
Do I look like a prostitute?
We were “only tramps”
Coming into contact with other men’s flesh
Thirst
“Your neighbour breathed right into your face”
Being woken up throughout the night
Punished for being cheeky

BEDS AND BEDDING
The wire mattress
The wire pillow – a cruel invention
Dirty blankets and hard beds

LABOUR
Picking oakum
Stone-breaking in Paddington work house

A NIGHT IN A WORKHOUSE
You’ve missed your gruel
A stain of blood bigger than a man's hand
Filthy anecdotes
The swearing club
Checking for lice
Three fourths of a pint of gruel in a yellow basin
Milling with the crank-handle

THE CRAWLERS: THE WOMAN UNABLE TO GET ADMISSION TO THE WORKHOUSE