The Workhouse evokes the grim Victorian world of Oliver Twist, but its story is a fascinating mix of social history, politics, economics, architecture, and institutional medicine and nutrition. This site is dedicated to the workhouse — its buildings, inmates, staff and administrators, even its poets. Use the the Search box above or the red Menu button side menu bar to find information.

NEW!The Prison Website details the institutions in the British Isles that, over past centuries, were used to confine those who had fallen foul of the law. As well as the buildings, you can find information on how prisons were run, how inmates were treated, and what records exist for these forbidding establishments. As well as their locations, history etc. there are maps, census listings, and historic images of the buildings and inmates.

25th March 2023 marked the 300th anniversary of the introduction of the Workhouse Test Act, which is often regarded as the birth of the workhouse system in England and Wales. more...

NEW! Workhouses of Wales and the Welsh Borders. This fully illustrated book is the first to tell the story of the workhouse across the whole of Wales, together with the border counties of Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire. Where were all the buildings, what happened to them and where are their records? Were there differences between the workhouses in England and Wales? And how did some parts of Wales resist the introduction of the workhouse until the 1870s? More...

Nobody's Child: The True Story of Growing up in a Yorkshire Children's Home — Gloria Urquhart's utterly compelling memoir of growing up in the 1950s in the care of Leeds Council, and the search for the baby brother she was separated from when he was three. By turns heart-rending and heart-warming, you will find that Nobody's Child is a book you just can't put down. More...

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An 1861 survey detailed all 14,216 adult workhouse inmates in England & Wales resident for over five years. All the names can be viewed via a link in the 'Inmates' section towards the end of each union's individual page.

Workhouses of London and the South East documents the story of the workhouse in the capital and the historical counties of Berkshire, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex. Includes a guide to the establishments that operated in each locality and over 100 illustrations of the buildings and their inmates. More...