1009 



WORKHOUSE. 



WORKHOUSE. 



1010 



usually 14 Ibs.), and by the velocity of the piston in feet per minute; 

 the product divided by 33,000 will represent the real effective horse- 

 power applied to the main shaft. In both these cases, the unit of work 

 of the horse-power is taken at 33,000 Ibs. raised 1 foot high per 

 minute. In Watt's time this amount of work could only be secured 



by the combustion of about 16 Ibs. of coal per horse-power per hour ; 

 at the present day, in ordinary condensing engines, only from 7 to 8 Ibs. 

 are required ; whilst in the best expansion-geared engines with surface 

 condensation the same result is obtained by the combustion of 2, Ibs. of 

 coal. 



WORKHOUSE. Relief to the indigent is of two kinds, in-door 

 relief and outdoor relief. In-door relief is relief in the workhouse. 

 At first workhouses appear frequently to have combined the character 

 of a bridewell. In the reign of Edward VI. the poor of London were 

 claned into three great divisions, and the third comprised the " thrift- 

 leas poor," namely, 1 , the rioter that consumeth all ; 2, the vagabond 

 that will abide in no place ; 3, the idle person, as the strumpet and 

 others : and the king, who had been moved to the necessity of alms- 

 deeds by a sermon of Bishop Ridley's, provided hospitals for " the poor 

 by impotency " and " the poor by casualty," and Bridewell was allotted 

 to the ''thriftless poor." The workhouse at Hamburg, one of the 

 oldest institutions of the kind in Europe, is still called the Correction 

 MV\ I'"'<r House. The Canterbury Local Act, passed in 1727, 

 expressly orders the bridewell and workhouse to be kept up within the 

 Mime precinct.-* ; and they were only separated under an act passed in 

 1 -- 1-J. A century and a half ago it was common for writers to speak of 

 th" workhouse as a place where idlers and vagabonds were set to work. 

 (See ' Workhouse,' Johnson's ' Uictionary.') The general character of 

 our early statutes relating to the poor was harsh, and indigence was 

 treated as a, in-nal olfcnce. 



One of the great objects of the 43 Eliz., c. 2, the foundation of cur 

 present poor-laws, was to provide employment for the destitute. The 

 overseers and justices of the peace were directed to set to work children 

 whone parent* were unable to maintain them ; and also adult persons 

 who had no means of maintaining themselves, and who used no 

 ordinary and daily trade of life ; for which purpose, with the fund 

 raised for the relief of the poor, a convenient stock was to be purchased 

 nf Hax, hemp, wool, thread, iron, and other ware and stuff. The 43 

 Kli/. also authorised overseers and churchwardens to build cottages on 

 waste land for the poor to inhabit, and to place inmates, or more 

 families than .one, in one cottage or house, such cottages or houses to 

 be used thereafter only for the poor. Workhouses in former times 

 were generally called houses of industry, and for the most part a profit 

 was expected to be derived from their labour, at any rate, to the extent 

 of making such institutions in some measure self-supporting. The house 

 in such cases became a linen or woollen factory ; or sacks, nets, and a 



y of other articles, were manufactured. Sometimes land was rented 



rchased, and the inmates of the workhouse were employed in 

 agricultural labour. The final extinction of poor-rates was regarded as 

 .1 not impossible result of these schemes of workhouse industry. In 

 IT"), when the popularity of these schemes was at its height, De Foe 

 clearly pointed out their inevitable operation, and especially their 

 effect on independent labour ; but he was scarcely heeded. Nearly a 

 century afterwards houses of industry. were erected in Suffolk on a 

 greater scale than had previously been attempted. Instead of being 



>yed as a test of destitution, these houses were intended to provide 

 occupation for all the unemployed. 



. ious to the pausing of the Poor-Law Amendment Act, in 1834, 



the poor-houses (or workhouses) presented, generally speaking, only 



accumulated instances of mal-administration. Absence of classifica- 



iiie, and employment, and extravagant allowances, rendered 



[ipilific nurseries of pauperism and vice. Some of the cases of 



ARTS ASD BCr. DIV. VOL. VIIT. 



workhouse corruption would be ludicrous, hvd they not exhibited 

 practices so thoroughly demoralising. In by far the greater number 

 of cases, the workhouse was a large almshouse, in which the young 

 were trained in idleness, ignorance, and vice ; the able-bodied main- 

 tained in sluggish and sensual indolence ; the aged and more respectable 

 exposed to all the misery that is incident to dwelling in such a society 

 without government or classification ; and the whole body of inmates 

 subsisted on food far exceeding both in kind and in amount not 

 merely the diet of the independent labourer, but that of the majority 

 of the persons who contributed to their support. By 30 Geo. III., 

 c. 49, passed in 175)0, the right of visiting any workhouse at all times 

 of the day was conferred on justices of the peace and clergymen ; 

 and on their representation the overseers were liable to be summoned 

 at quarter-sessions, when the justices could make orders and regulations 

 for the remedy of any defects in the workhouse management. The 

 chief recommendation of the Commissioners of Poor-Law Inquiry in 

 1834 was to unite parishes for better workhouse management, and the 

 relief of the destitute poor. This is the origin of the Poor-Law 

 Unions. As soon as the Poor-Law Commissioners were appointed, 

 they directed their attention to the uniting of parishes into unions for 

 the purpose of the administration of relief by boards of guardians 

 elected by the ratepayers, and to the general adoption of the work- 

 house system ; but their main reliance for the discouragement of 

 pauperism, and for the establishment of independent habits amongst 

 the labouring classes, they said, was founded on the workhouse system. 

 Out-door relief to the able-bodied poor is now prohibited in all those 

 unions which have efficient workhouse accommodation, with the 

 following exceptions. 1. Where the destitute poor shall require relief 

 on account of sudden and urgent necessity. 2. Where he or she shall 

 require relief on account of any sickness, accident, or bodily or mental 

 infirmity affecting him, or any of his or her family. 3. Where he or 

 she shall require relief for the purpose of defraying the expenses, 

 cither wholly or in part, of the burial of any of his or her family. 4. 

 Where the person, being a widow, shall be in the first six months of 

 her widowhood. 5. Where the person shall be a widow, and have a 

 legitimate child or children dependent upon her, and incapable of 

 earning his, her, or their livelihood, and have no illegitimate child 

 born after the commencement of her widowhood. 6. Where the 

 person shall be confined in any jail or place of safe custody. 7. 

 Where the person shall be the wife or child of any able-bodied man 

 who shall be in the service of her majesty as a soldier, sailor or marine. 

 8. Where any able-bodied person not being a soldier, sailor or marine, 

 shall not reside within the union, but the wife, child, or children of 

 such person shall reside within the same, the Board of Guardians, 

 according to their discretion, may, subject to certain conditions, afford 

 relief in the workhouse to such wife, child or children, or may allow 

 out-door relief for any such child or children being within the age of 

 nurture, and resident with the mother within the union. These 

 exceptions may, however, in special cases be further extended, with the 

 sanction of the Poor-Law Board previously obtained. In all other cases 

 the guardians may grant relief either in or out of the workhouse aa 

 they may deem expedient under the circumstances of eivch case. 



3 T 



