| The Workhouse often evokes the grim Victorian world of Oliver Twist, but its story is a fascinating mix of social history, politics, economics and architecture. This site is dedicated to the workhouse — its buildings, inmates, staff and administrators, even its poets... |
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OUT NOW! The Workhouse Encylopedia is an A-to-Z cornucopia of everything you ever wanted to know about the workhouse in one volume! With more than 250 articles, its 480 pages are packed with facts, figures, maps, charts, tables, statistics, and more than 150 photos and illustrations. Amongst the comprehensive and detailed appendices are the complete text of the official 1847 workhouse rule-book, and a directory of the locations and other details of hundreds of workhouses and associated institutions across the British Isles.
The Workhouse Encylopedia includes a huge amount of information not found on the Workhouse web site and will rapidly become the reference book that you'll never want to be without!Order online at The History Press website. | |||
 
Dickens and Workhouse: Oliver Twist and the London Poor by Dr Ruth Richardson. The story of Charles Dickens and the real-life London workhouse he lived just a few doors from, and which profoundly influenced the man and and his writing.
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| Workhouse talks diary Next: 15th May, Barnsley | Researching your family history? Start here! |
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| How to get a workhouse building listed. | |||
| Famous faces with workhouse connections? I'm currently trying to compile a list of well-known living people who have some kind of workhouse connection such as the workhouse ancestors of Len Goodman and Neil Kinnock. If you have come across any such links, I'd love you to email me the details. (Please don't worry that it might be someone I already know about.) Thanks! | |||
New book! Ashby de la Zouch Workhouse and the the Ashby Poor Law Union by Wendy Freer. More details...
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NEW! Living the Poor Life: a guide to the Poor Law Union Correspondence c.1834-1871 held at the National Archives by Paul Carter and Natalie Whistance. More details...
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Life in a Victorian Workhouse by Peter Higginbotham. A short, richly illustrated and very readable introduction to the history of the workhouse system. Includes sections on the origins of the institution, workhouse buildings, food, daily routine, children, the elderly, medical care, tramps and vagrants, workhouse staff, the workhouse in Scotland and Ireland, the workhouse in art and literature, and places to visit.
Now Available.
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The Prison Cookbook by Peter Higginbotham. The fascinating and often gory history of the English Prison. Did you know the guillotine was in use in Halifax in the 16th century? Or that criminals really were once boiled alive? Or that Dartmoor was originally built for French Prisoners of War? Until the 19th century, prisoners had to supply their own food - rather a problem if you were a debtor. In the 1870s, some convicts were so hungry they ate candles, grass, dead mice, and earth worms! Includes a 1901 prison cookbook to try out what it really meant to be 'doing porridge!'
Now Available.
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| New Images on the Website | |||
Workhouse bowl and mug - see Workhouse Food. |
Eastville workhouse, Bristol - see Clifton. | ||
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