Northampton, Northamptonshire

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

Up to 1834

The 1725 edition of An Account of Several Workhouses reports workhouses in operation in the Northampton parishes of All Saints and St Peter. A parliamentary report of 1776-7 listed four: All Saints (for up to 60 inmates), St Giles (15), St Peter's (6), and St Sepulchre (45).

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

The Poor in All Saints are partly maintained in a workhouse, and partly at home. The average number in the house is estimated at 70. In August, 1795, there were only 40, mostly old infirm people, lunatics and children. The latter are employed in spinning jersey, the old men in making shoes. Their earnings altogether amount to about £85 or £90 a year. The children are taught to read, and at 12 or 14 are bound apprentices, generally to some of the northern cotton manufacturers, till they are 21; and girls at a proportionate age sent to service. The Workhouse was not originally designed for the purpose to which it is now applied, and is therefore in some respects very inconvenient. It is however very clean and neat, and the Poor live there comfortably under the direction of a very proper person. The beds are fitted with flocks and straw. The high walls which encompass the narrow courts being capped with spikes, give the place a great resemblance to a prison. In this Workhouse, as in most others, the earnings seem to be chiefly produced by children. Bill of fare: Breakfast—Sunday: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, milk pottage; other days, broth and bread. Dinner—Sunday, Tuesday, broth, beef, bread, and vegetables ; Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, bread, cheese, and beer; Thursday, broth, mutton, bread, and vegetables. Supper—every day, bread, cheese, and beer. The victuals are not weighed, but the Poor have generally as much bread and meat as they can eat. One pint of beer is allowed to each adult at bread and cheese meals. Children are allowed in proportion to their age.

After 1834

The Northampton Poor Law Union formally came into being on 27th August 1835. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 33 in number, representing its 17 constituent parishes as listed below (figures in brackets indicate numbers of Guardians if more than one):

County of Northampton: Abington, Bugbrooke, Dallington, Duston, Great Billing, Little Billing, Harpole, Kingsthorpe, Kislingbury, Nether Heyford, Northampton All Saints (6), Northampton St Giles (4), Northampton St Peter (2), Northampton St Sepulchre (4), Upper Heyford, Upton, Weston Favell.
Later Additions: Moulton Park (1837-62).

The population falling within the Union at the 1831 census had been 21,761 with parishes ranging in size from Upton (population 48) to Northampton All Saints (7,333). The average annual poor-rate expenditure for the period 1832-5 had been £8,458 or 7s.9d. per head of the population.

Northampton workhouse was built in 1836 at the north side of the Wellingborough Road, to the north-east of the Northampton. It could accommodate 300 inmates and it cost approximately £7,000. The building was designed by George Gilbert Scott who was the architect of many other workhouse buildings including ones for the nearby Kettering and Oundle Unions. The main workhouse building had a cruciform layout, as shown on the 1901 map below.

Northampton workhouse site, 1901.

Northampton workhouse from the south, 2000.
© Peter Higginbotham.

Northampton workhouse from the north, 2000.
© Peter Higginbotham.

To the north of the workhouse is an infirmary building dating from around 1870.

Northampton workhouse infirmary from the south, 2000.
© Peter Higginbotham.

The workhouse had its own large school building which stood to the west of the workhouse.

Northampton workhouse school from the west, 2003.
© Peter Higginbotham.

After 1930, the workhouse was taken over by the Northampton Borough Council and renamed St Edmund's Hospital which continued in operation until 1998. The site is has recently undergone redevelopment.

Staff

Inmates

Records

  • Northamptonshire Record Office, Wootton Hall Park, Northampton, Northants, NN4 8BQ. A wide variety of records survive including: Guardians' minutes (1836-9, 1863-1930); Births register (1893-1912); Deaths register (1893-1914); Admissions and discharges (1907-8, 1911-31); etc.

Bibliography

  • None.

Links

  • None.

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