The Dreaded, Dark Victorian Workhouse Quiz

Answer: It centralized workhouses into a national system

The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 reformed the poverty relief system in England and Wales. It was a crucial piece of legislation that prevented outdoor relief, help given outside of institutions, to the able-bodied. It was designed to force people either to work or to enter an institution.

The central idea was that the workhouse life was to be far worse than the life of the lowest-paid labourer. The result was harsh, monotonous, strict, and humiliating treatment in all aspects of workhouse life.

Answer: Principle of Less Eligibility

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), the philosopher and social reformer, was the driving force behind the Principal of Less Eligibility. It was his belief that state relief should never provide a more comfortable situation than what a low-paid independent labourer could earn on his own. He was concerned that people would choose to be state-supported rather than self-supporting if the workhouse standards were too high. This notion was codified in The 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, ensuring those who sought help lived in worse conditions than the poorest working-class families.

Answer: False

No, families were separated upon admission to a workhouse. Husbands and wives were split from each other as were their children. Men and women and boys and girls were housed apart from each other, even siblings of the same age and gender were not housed together. One exception was that children under two years of age were often allowed to stay with their mothers. Occasionally, family members were allowed a short, supervised visit with each other.

Answer: Inmates

Workhouse were designed to look and function like prisons. They were intentionally meant to be harsher, sparser, and more humiliating than the life of the lowest-paid labourer, to prevent people from seeking help unless utterly destitute. Workhouse inmates were required to perform strenuous, repetitive tasks meant to punish them for being poor, such as breaking stones, grinding corn, crushing bones or picking apart old naval ropes (oakum) for their raw hemp fibers.

These tasks were designed to be monotonous, repetitive, and tedious; the inmates were often forbidden to speak to each other.

Answer: Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin, his mother, Hannah, and half-brother were admitted to the workhouse due to severe poverty. His father, an alcoholic, had left the family and provided very little support. Hannah Chaplin struggled with severe health problems including acute headaches and unstable mental health. Charlie and his brother were admitted to the workhouse and eventually placed in pauper schools.

It was these severe, heartrending experiences that inspired Chaplin to create his 'Little Tramp' character.

Answer: Government mandates

The UK government did not actually mandate a standard of clothing for workhouses; instead they left it to the Board of Governors of each institution to decide on the materials and styles of dress. In order to save money, workhouses bought cheap, coarse fabrics in bulk, which resulted in everyone in the majority of institutions wearing essentially the same clothing.

These clothes were designed to be uncomfortable, dehumanizing, and stigmatizing. As the workhouse was seen a last resort, the clothing publicly branded each person an inmate.

Answer: Children and the sick

The Boards of Guardians adopted standardized sample dietary charts which specified exact menus and portion sizes for inmates depending on their age and sex. Extras, such as flavourings, were strictly banned. The diets were made repetitive, insipid, and inadequate both in terms of quantity and nutrition. The amount per person was strictly measured and included bread, gruel, porridge, potatoes, etc.

Young children and the sick in Victorian workhouses were officially exempt from the 'less eligibility' dietary rules that able-bodied inmates were subjected to. They were considered not to be responsible for their poverty, so the deterrent aspect of 'less eligibility' did not apply to them; as a result, the workhouse medical officer had the authority to prescribe better food and ale or wine for the sick.

Answer: True

During the Victorian era, prison inmates were often treated better than workhouse inmates. In fact, many poor people and vagrants deliberately committed minor crimes so they would be sent to jail rather than be subjected to the harsh treatment of the workhouse.

There are historical accounts of individuals intentionally damaging their workhouse clothes in order to be arrested and imprisoned. There they were provided with a bed, warmth, and (slightly) better food.

Answer: Age 14

Yes, schooling was mandated for children in workhouses in the UK before general education became compulsory. Under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, workhouses were legally required to provide at least 3 hours of school a day. Students were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion (Christianity), as well as vocational training to make them marketable for the future.

Answer: Take their children with them

Workhouse inmates were not incarcerated, so they had the right to leave, however, they had to give 'reasonable notice', which was approximately 3 hours notice, before doing so. In addition, there was a long, multi-step, bureaucratic process leading to discharge that prevented a spur of the moment exit.

There were several reasons for leaving the workhouse, including to find work, to reintegrate with families, to escape the severe, punitive conditions, and to remove their children once they were old enough to work. Inmates who wanted to leave had to take their families with them.