Buckingham, Buckinghamshire

[Up to 1834] [After 1834] [Staff] [Inmates] [Records] [Bibliography] [Links]

Up to 1834

In 1725, the early workhouse directory, An Account of Several Workhouses..., notes the existence of a workhouse at Buckingham.

A parliamentary report of 1777 recorded a parish workhouse in operation at Buckingham for up to 40 inmates.

Eden, in his 1797 survey of the poor in England, reported of Buckingham that:

The Poor are maintained at home or in the Workhouse, in which there are at present 14 persons women, children and old men—some of whom are insane. Till within the last two months (i.e. July, 1795) the Poor were let to a contractor, who farmed them at various sums, from 2s. to 3s. each weekly. He usually received such persons as the parish chose to send. The last month's expenses were £11 17s. 5d. The earnings, chiefly from lace making, about 15s. a month. The salary of the present master is 7s. 6d. a week. No regular bill of fare has been observed, but since the parish has taken the Workhouse into their own hands the inmates have been allowed meat once a day. The house is very small and new furniture is much wanted. 104 out pensioners receive, in the whole, £7 11s. a week. There are two hospitals in the parish, one for 6 and the other for 8 poor widows, who are there provided with necessaries, and receive 17s. each in money every year. About £24, in donations, are annually distributed to the Poor, and in a large house belonging to the parish 24 poor families are allowed to live rent free. A friendly society existed here a few years ago, but in consequence of disputes among its members it broke up. Buckingham is a place of very little trade, and the inhabitants in general seem poor.

After 1834

Buckingham Poor Law Union was officially formed on 13th July 1835. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 32 in number, representing its 30 constituent parishes as listed below (figures in brackets indicate numbers of Guardians if more than one):

Buckinghamshire: Addington, Adstock, Akeley, Barton Hartshorn, Beachampton, Buckingham (3), Charndon, Chetwode, Edgcote, Foxcott, Hillersden, Leckhampstead, Lillingstone Dayrell, Maids Moreton, Marsh Gibbon, Middle Claydon, Padbury, Poundon, Preston Bissett, Ratclive-cum-Chackmore, Shalstone, Steeple Claydon, Stowe, Thornborough, Thornton, Tingewick, Twyford, Water Stratford. Later Addition: Luffield Abbey (from 1858).
Oxfordshire: Boycott, Lillingstone Lovell.

The population falling within the union at the 1831 census had been 13,129 with parishes ranging in size from Thornton (population 44) to Buckingham itself (3,465). The average annual poor-rate expenditure for the period 1832-35 had been £13,705 or £1.0s.10d. per head.

The Buckingham Union workhouse was built in 1838 on the north side of Stratford Road (just to the west of where Addington Road now runs). The Poor Law Commissioners authorized an expenditure of £5,550 for the building which was to accommodate 250 people. The architect was George Gilbert Scott whose design was a foreshortened version of the popular cruciform or "square" plan.

A fever hospital was later erected to the south of the workhouse and casual wards for vagrants to the north. The workhouse layout can be seen on the 1879 map below.

Buckingham site layout, 1879.

After 1930, the former workhouse was redesignated as a County Home Public Assistance Institution. By the 1970s, the workhouse buildings had all been demolished and a fire and ambulance station occupied the site. These, too, have now disappeared.

Staff

Inmates

Records

  • Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, County Hall, Walton Street, Aylesbury, Bucks HP20 1UU. Amongst the relatively few surviving records are: Guardians' minute books (1897-1929 with gaps); Committee minutes (1895-1920); etc.

Bibliography

  • None.
  • None.

[Top of Page] [Unions List] [Unions Map] [Home Page]

This page () is copyright Peter Higginbotham. Contents may not be reproduced without permission.