Sheffield Archives and Local Studies: History Key Stage 3/4 (The
Old and New Poor Law in Britain/The development of
Workhouses/Life in the Workhouse)
Sheffield Workhouses and the
Poor Law
Before the Old Poor Law of 1601
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Before the Reformation (when the Church in England broke
away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic
Church during the reign of Henry VIII) it was considered to be
a religious duty of all Christians to look after those in need.
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, ordered by Henry VIII
between 1536 and 1540, led to dramatic religious and social
change, leaving many poor people without a place of refuge
(the closing down of monasteries meant the end of the
charitable work they did for poor people in the community).
After the Reformation (and the establishment of the Church of
England) many of the old values were lost and it became
necessary to regulate the relief of poverty by law.
Various laws were passed to deal with the increasing problem
of looking after the poor, e.g.:
• In 1552 parish registers of the poor were introduced so that
there was an official record of those considered to be ‘poor’.
• In 1563 Justices of the Peace (local officials appointed to
guard the peace) were given the power to raise compulsory
funds for the relief of the poor.
Deserving and Undeserving Poor
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In the mid 1500s, the poor began to be placed into different categories:
• Able-bodied poor (deserving poor) - those who were willing to work but
not able to find employment. They were to be given help in the form of
‘poor relief’ or work in return for a wage.
• Impotent poor (deserving poor) - those who were too old/ill/young to
work. They were to be looked after in almshouses, hospitals, orphanages
or poor houses/workhouses. Orphans and children of the poor could be
given a trade apprenticeship.
• Idle poor or ‘sturdy beggars’ (undeserving poor) - those who could
work but would not. In some instances, they were whipped through the
streets in public in order to learn the error of their ways.
The Old Poor Law 1601
• In 1601 the ‘Act for the Relief of the Poor’ known as
the Old Poor Law (or 'Elizabethan Poor Law’) was
passed.
• The Old Poor Law established the parish as the
basic unit responsible for distributing poor relief.
• You might think of a ‘parish’ as a town or village
which has its own church.
• Poor relief was administered by the parish vestry (a
committee consisting of the church minister,
churchwardens and prominent local householders).
• Each parish generally appointed two officials, known
as the Overseers of the Poor, who were
responsible for collecting poor rate (a local tax used
to fund poor relief) from local householders and
distributing poor relief to those in need.
• Overseers of the Poor were also responsible for
supervising the parish poor house or workhouse.
Poor Relief (1)
• There were two types of poor relief
available:
• Outdoor relief: the poor would remain in
their own homes and were given either a
'dole' of money on which to live or were
given relief in the form of handouts such
as clothes and food.
• Indoor relief: the poor could be taken
into a local almshouse or the poor
house/workhouse where they would be
set to work.
Poor Relief (2)
Ecclesfield (St Mary) Overseers of
the Poor accounts, showing money
distributed to the poor, 1712
(Sheffield Archives: PR54/145/1)
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Task: Which of the two documents
on this slide do you think is an
example of indoor relief and which
is an example of outdoor relief?
Ecclesfield (St Mary)
workhouse/poor house
expenses, 1739
(Sheffield Archives: PR54/144/1)
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Task: Look at the
document on the left.
1. What did the overseers
give to William Rushby?
2. What was the money
for Ann Yardly to be used
for?
Settlement and Removal (1)
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The problem of poor people moving to other places and becoming a drain on
another parish’s poor relief led to the Settlement Act 1662.
The Settlement Act established the settlement system which aimed to identify
which parish was responsible for an individual’s claim to poor relief.
Anyone 'settled' in a parish had a right to claim poor relief from it, others did not.
Qualification for ‘settlement’ was usually determined by parentage or marriage
(but illegitimate children were granted settlement in the place they were born).
The vestry or Justices of the Peace conducted settlement examinations to
determine if people were settled legally.
Once the legality of a claim had been established, a settlement certificate
could be granted, entitling a person to poor relief.
A person wishing to move elsewhere could hand this settlement certificate into
the vestry of the new parish as confirmation that their original parish (rather than
the new one) would support them should they fall on hard times.
Settlement and Removal (2)
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Task:
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This document proves that Thomas
Lambert is legally settled in the
parish of Tickhill and that Tickhill
is responsible for any poor relief
he might need.
Why does Thomas wish to leave
Tickhill and go to Bolton upon
Dearne?
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• By handing in this certificate to
the parish vestry at Bolton upon
Dearne, Thomas Lambert would
have been able to prove that he
was coming to Bolton upon
Dearne for legitimate purposes
(i.e. to work) and that Tickhill
accepts responsibility for him
Bolton upon Dearne (St
should he fall on hard times.
Andrew) settlement certificate,
1739
(Sheffield Archives: PR9/94/25)
Settlement and Removal (3)
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The Settlement Act authorised
Justices of the Peace to order
the removal of newcomers (or
strangers) back to the parish
of settlement responsible for
their poor relief.
This document orders Ann
Horn to be removed from
Sheffield and taken back to her
original parish of Bolton upon
Dearne.
Task: What can you learn about
the particular circumstances of
Ann Horn which may explain why
the Overseers of the Poor for
Sheffield were particularly keen
to remove her from Sheffield?
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Bolton upon Dearne (St Andrew)
settlement removal order, 1805
(Sheffield Archives: PR9/95/34)
Settlement and Removal (4)
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Harthill (All Hallows)
Baptisms and Burials
Register entry, 1676
(Sheffield Archives: PR47/3)
• Task: What happened to the individual above, who was buried on
5 April 1676, just before he died and why do you think this was?
[Clue: the reference to ‘towards his owne’ refers to towards his
own parish].
Bastardy Bonds/Orders
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Illegitimate children (with no father
to look after them) were a particular
concern for the parish being an
obvious drain on their resources.
An unmarried woman who gave
birth was often pressurised by
parish officials to reveal the baby’s
father’s name.
A bastardy bond/bastardy order
could then be drawn up to force the
father to contribute financially to the
maintenance of the child.
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Harthill (All Hallows) bastardy
order, 1833
(Sheffield Archives: PR47/96/139)
Task:
1. Is the illegitimate child in
the document a boy or a girl?
2. What is the name and
occupation of the person
said to be the father of the
child?
3. How much is he ordered to
pay the Churchwardens and
the Overseers of the Poor
for the parish of Harthill for
the upkeep of the child?
Pauper Apprenticeship
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From 1601, Overseers of the
Poor could apprentice poor
children to local craftsmen to
learn ‘trades’.
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Task:
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1. How is the apprentice
Thomas Shaw described in line
seven of this document?
2. Can you make out any of the
things below that the
craftsman (Thomas Cawthorne)
is supposed to provide for his
young apprentice (Thomas
Shaw) as part of this
apprenticeship agreement?
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Bolton upon Dearne (St Andrew)
pauper apprenticeship indenture, 1712
(Sheffield Archives: PR9/9/1)
Early Workhouses in Sheffield (1)
• In 1628 the first workhouse in Sheffield was established at
West Bar.
• This building continued to house Sheffield’s poor until 1829.
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Sheffield Town
Trustees workhouse
accounts, 1633
(Sheffield Archives:
TT/12)
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Extracts from the early accounting records below of the
Sheffield Town Trustees show that money was spent in 1633
on purchasing cloth to make clothes for 20 “poore children
putte into the Workehouse”.
• Task: Look at the workhouse accounts entries above.
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1. What were the mattresses of the workhouses beds made out of?
2. What was the person who came from ‘Chapell’ [Chapel-en-le-Frith] paid
for doing?
Early Workhouses in Sheffield (2)
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Plan of Sheffield, 1736
(Sheffield Archives: JC1771)
• Task: Identify where the Sheffield Workhouse is on the map.
Early Workhouses in Sheffield (3)
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Sheffield Workhouse rules,
c. 1750
(Sheffield Archives: CA24/57)
• Task: According to the document above, who is responsible for governing
Sheffield Workhouse?
Extract from the above rules:
‘…the Master stands in the inside of the Room…
Lets in the poor one at a time then… hears their
Complaint if they think it proper they take them
into the [work]house… if not they turn them
ought [out]… lets in another poor until all is
heard…’
Early Workhouses in Sheffield (4)
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Sheffield Workhouse menu,
c. 1750
(Sheffield Archives: CA24/57)
• Task: What would the pauper
inmates have had for dinner on
Tuesday night? How does this
compare to Thursday night’s
meal?
Early Workhouses in Sheffield (5)
• A parliamentary report, Abstract of Returns Made by the
Overseers of the Poor 1776 - 1777, recorded over 1,800
workhouses in England and Wales (almost one for every
seven parishes - there were 152 in Yorkshire alone).
• The report confirmed a number of workhouses in the Sheffield
area including:
• Sheffield (with accommodation for up to 160 inmates)
• Attercliffe-cum-Darnall (24 inmates)
• Brightside Bierlow (24 inmates)
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Artist’s impression of the Brightside
Bierlow Workhouse, Rock Street,
Pitsmoor, c. 1920s
(Sheffield Local Studies Library: 942.74SQ)
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Regulations for the Poor House at Attercliffe,
drawn up in response to ‘the disorder in the
conduct of many of the Paupers in the Poor
House’ 1819
(Sheffield Archives: CA15/3)
Concern over the early workhouses (1)
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Extracts from pamphlet titled Facts
and Observations relating to the
state of the Workhouse, 1789
(Sheffield Local Studies Library: Local
Pamphlets Vol. 63 No. 1, 042S)
‘…the Boys frequently run away from their
service, and – if not enlisted as soldiers –
become vagabonds and thieves.’
‘…the Sheffield Workhouse is a scene
of distress, of illness, and
profligacy [immorality]…’
‘There are at present in the House about 50
Children, who may well be termed The
Children of the Public – for, in general,
they have not one friend in the world in
the smallest degree interested in their
preservation and welfare.’
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‘…the town, for want of a proper
Workhouse, maintains in a state of
idleness a considerable number of
Women, who might and ought to be
compelled to maintain themselves…’
‘… it is the unhappy lot of those
unfortunate Females whose
indiscretions, often occasioned by
treachery and falsehood, have
compelled to seek a miserable refuge
in the Sheffield Workhouse.’
Task: Make a list of some of the descriptive nouns and adjectives used in the above
observations. What overall picture of the Sheffield Workhouse do they create?
In the 1770s - 1780s there was growing concern in Sheffield over the workhouse conditions.
In 1797, Sir Frederic Eden published The State of the Poor which examined the living
conditions of the poorer classes and the abysmal state of workhouses in the country. He
concluded that the Old Poor Law of 1601 was a destructive drain on society’s resources.
Concern over the early workhouses (2)
• In 1804 there was a
public appeal
concerning the state
of Sheffield
workhouse.
• Task: What did the
people of Sheffield
find wrong with the
existing workhouse
according to this
document?
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Resolution that a Committee be
established to build a new
workhouse in Sheffield, 1804
(Sheffield Archives: MD1123)
Concern over the early workhouses (3)
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Penny token of the Sheffield
Overseers of the Poor, 1812
(Sheffield Local Studies Library
Picture Sheffield: s09460)
Workhouse tokens were specially minted in
the early 1800s as poor relief. They could
be spent at certain shops on necessities
such as bread (although not alcohol)! The
shopkeeper would redeem them at the
workhouse. They were declared illegal in
1817 although exception was made for the
Birmingham and Sheffield workhouses.
In 1829 a new workhouse for Sheffield set up in a former cotton mill on
Kelham Street, Sheffield (for up to 600 inmates).
But nationally, concern over the early workhouse system persisted.
Critics not only pointed to the appalling state of many workhouses, but also
the mounting cost of looking after the poor and complaints that the system
encouraged the poor be lazy and avoid work.
The traditional view of poverty being inevitable with the poor victims of their
situation (and the relief of poverty a Christian duty) was replaced by a
growing, more unsympathetic view that the poor were largely responsible
for their situation and had the power to improve their prospects if they chose
to do so.
The New Poor Law 1834 (1)
• In 1834 the ‘Poor Law Amendment Act’ was passed (known as The
New Poor Law).
• The New Poor Law was designed to create a more uniform,
centralised system for managing poor relief, appointing central
bodies to manage the system both locally and nationally.
• The New Poor Law was overseen by a new administrative body
called the Poor Law Commission based in London.
• At a local level, parishes were grouped together into Poor Law
Unions.
• A union typically contained up to 20 or 30 parishes or townships and
was run by a Board of Guardians (elected by the local rate-payers)
who met weekly to carry out the business of the union.
The New Poor Law led to the establishment of two Poor Law Unions in
Sheffield in 1837:
Sheffield Poor Law Union made up of the townships of Sheffield,
Attercliffe-cum-Darnall and Brightside Bierlow, together with Handsworth
parish.
Ecclesall Bierlow Union made up of the townships of Ecclesall Bierlow,
Nether Hallam, Upper Hallam, Beauchief, Dore, Totley, and Norton.
The New Poor Law 1834 (2)
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The New Poor Law was centred on the workhouse.
Poor people could now only get help if they were prepared to leave their homes
and go into a workhouse.
Conditions inside the workhouse were deliberately harsh to deter people from
asking for help unless they desperately needed it.
Families were split up and housed in different parts of the workhouse.
There were also strict rules and regulations to follow.
Inmates of all ages were made to work hard doing unplesant manual labour such
as breaking up stones.
Children could also find themselves hired out to work in factories or mines.
Many people spoke out against the New Poor Law, denouncing it as cruel and unChristian, claiming that the workhouse system amounted to little more than
‘prisons for the poor’.
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Extract from a pamphlet criticising the
New Poor Law, 1838
(Sheffield Archives: SY619/Z8/30)
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The poor in Sheffield, 1870
(Sheffield Local Studies Library
Picture Sheffield: s03008)
Sheffield Union (1)
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The Sheffield Poor Law Union initially adopted the existing Sheffield
Workhouse on Kelham Street (which, in 1829 had been converted from a
cotton mill to house up to 600 inmates).
“Inmates of Sheffield Workhouse increased from 694
on the 1st April, to 823. File trade much depressed, and
many of the members apply.”
Sheffield Local Register, 14 April 1848
(Sheffield Local Studies Library: 942.74s)
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With the Kelham Street site becoming increasingly overcrowded, in 1881
the Sheffield Union relocated its workhouse to a new building at Fir Vale.
“Dr Hunt, medical officer to the Workhouse,
informed the Sheffield Guardians that the
task of the stone breakers should be
reduced or their rations increased.”
Sheffield Local Register, 16 Sep 1896
(Sheffield Local Studies Library: 942.74s)
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Entrance gates and lodge, Sheffield
Union Workhouse, Fir Vale, 1900
(Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture
Sheffield: y02028)
Sheffield Union (2)
• The new Fir Vale workhouse comprised
six separate departments:
– the main building to accommodate
1,662 paupers (plus officials).
– asylums to accommodate 200
patients classed as ‘lunatic’.
– a school for 300 pauper children.
– vagrants wards to take up to 60 men
and 20 women.
– the hospital block to cater for 366
patients and the fever hospitals. A
children's hospital for up to 60 was
opened in 1894.
• A new three-storey hospital block was
completed in 1906; the newly named
Sheffield Union Hospital (later known as
Fir Vale Hospital) was formally
separated from the workhouse.
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Entrance gates and lodge,
Sheffield Union Workhouse, Fir
Vale, 1900
(Sheffield Local Studies Library
Picture Sheffield: s00405)
Dietary table, Sheffield
Union Workhouse, Fir Vale,
1919
(Sheffield Archives: CA510/4)
Sheffield Union (3)
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Sheffield Poor Law Union
Guardians Letter Book
entry, 1860
(Sheffield Archives: CA24/55)
• Task: The Board of Guardians
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who produced this letter book
ran the Sheffield Union
responsible for looking after
Sheffield’s poor. The page
opposite lists pauper inmates
who had been in the Sheffield
Union Workhouse for a period
of five years or more.
Find six different reasons given
why these paupers were unable
to take care of themselves and
therefore admitted to the
workhouse.
Sheffield Union (4)
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Sheffield Union Workhouse
Punishment Book entries,
1909
(Sheffield Archives: CA510/1)
Task: This book records inmates who were punished for ‘pass offences’ (relating
to when they were given a pass to leave the workhouse for a short period of time,
usually to attend church on a Sunday and came back late or drunk etc!).
Find three different examples of punishments inflicted on inmates.
Sheffield Union: Scattered Homes
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It was decided in Sheffield quite early on that children needed to be cared
for separately from adult workhouse inmates.
In 1888, the ‘boarding out’ of 40 young children was undertaken.
In 1893, the ‘isolated homes’ (or scattered homes) system was devised for
the Sheffield Union by John Wycliffe Wilson.
Rather than going into the workhouse, children requiring care were placed
in ordinary domestic homes ‘scattered’ across Sheffield.
The central headquarters home was at Smilter Lane (now Herries Road).
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‘A typical family’ in Sheffield Union
‘Scattered Homes’ for poor children
(149 and 151 Upperthorpe), 1890s
(Sheffield Local Studies Library:
Picture Sheffield y01176)
‘My visit [to The Scattered Homes] showed evidence
of what a sympathetic system and humane instincts
could accomplish – a shining contrast to the poor
little tired, deserted ones who drag out a melancholy
existence in the great workhouses of our land.’
Children of the State: Sheffield’s Successful Experiment,
1898
(Sheffield Local Studies Library: 339.1S)
Ecclesall Bierlow Union (1)
• The Ecclesall Bierlow Poor Law Union initially used an
old workhouse building on Psalter Lane, Sharrow Lane.
• In 1842 -1843 the union built a new workhouse at
Cherrytree Hill, Nether Edge.
• By 1895, as well as the main building, there were also
schools for boys and girls, an asylum (erected in 1859),
a hospital with male and female wards, a smallpox
hospital, and tramp wards.
• A maternity block was opened in 1897.
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Proposed Ecclesall Bierlow Union
Workhouse, Nether Edge, c. 1840
(Sheffield Local Studies Library
Picture Sheffield: s07427)
Ecclesall Bierlow Union: Fulwood Cottage Homes
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As with the Sheffield Union, it was decided that it would be inappropriate for
children to remain in the workhouse in the Ecclesall Bierlow Union.
In 1903 the Ecclesall Bierlow Union built a children’s home off Blackbrook
Road, Fulwood, called Fulwood Cottage Homes.
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Children at Fulwood Cottage
Homes, 1910
(Sheffield Local Studies Library
Picture Sheffield: u00317)
The home consisted of 21 separate cottages which could accommodate over
300 children who were cared for by foster mothers and attended local schools.
In 1930, the Fulwood Cottage Homes came under the care of the Public
Assistance Committee of Sheffield Corporation (the predecessor to Sheffield
City Council) and by 1940 were absorbed (along with the Sheffield Union
Scattered Homes) into the City of Sheffield Children’s Homes.
Ecclesall Bierlow Union (cont.)
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Ecclesall Bierlow Union Workhouse Admissions Book entry, 1907
(Sheffield Archives: NHS21/5/6/1)
Task:
1. What can you learn about the family circumstances of the following individuals which may
have led to them being admitted to the workhouse?
a) Clara Mellor on 8/03/1907 [Clue: find the column which describes her husband’s trade]
b) Ellen Mitchell on 20/06/1907
2. Why do you think it unlikely that Ellen Mitchell would have remained for long in the
workhouse at this point in time and where do you think she might have ended up instead?
End of the Sheffield Workhouses
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In 1906 the Sheffield Union Workhouse at Fir Vale changed its name to Fir Vale
Institution.
In 1914 the Ecclesall Bierlow Union Workhouse changed its name to Ecclesall
Bierlow Union Institution.
In 1925, by order of the Ministry of Health, Ecclesall Bierlow Union and Sheffield
Union were dissolved and a new Sheffield Union was created.
In 1929 the Local Government Act was passed, abolishing the system of poor
law unions in England and Wales and their boards of guardians, passing their
powers to local authorities.
By 1930 the Ecclesall Bierlow Union Institution was known as Nether Edge
Hospital, and the former Sheffield Union Workhouse (by this point known as Fir
Vale Institution) became the City General Hospital (later Northern General
Hospital).
In spite of their rebirth as hospitals (a more caring sounding institution!), the
buildings often retained the negative associations of their former Union Workhouse
days.
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Northern General Hospital (originally
Sheffield Union Workhouse), 1988
(Sheffield Local Studies Library Picture
Sheffield: s23604)
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Nether Edge Hospital, Union Road
(originally Ecclesall Bierlow Union
Workhouse), 1982
(Sheffield Local Studies Library
Picture Sheffield: s23489)
‘Test Your Knowledge’ Crossword
Across
1. Official name for the New Poor Law Act 1834 (4, 3, 9, 3).
•
3. One way, under the Old Poor Law, parishes would deal with the
problem of providing for poor children, enabling them to learn a trade
(14).
7. The parish officials responsible for collecting poor rate and
distributing poor relief under the Old Poor Law (9, 2, 3, 4).
10. Phrase used to describe the idle, undeserving poor who were
able to work but refused to (6, 7).
11. Type of aid given to the poor who went inside a poorhouse/workhouse under the Old Poor Law (6, 6).
13. Name of one of the two Sheffield Poor Law Unions set up in
1837 (9, 7).
14. The basic unit of administration responsible for poor relief under
the Old Poor Law (6).
Down
2. Official name for the Old Poor Law Act 1601 (3, 3, 3, 6, 2, 3, 4).
4. Sheffield Poor Law Union system of housing poor children in
Sheffield, devised in 1893 as a preferable alternative to them going
into the workhouse (9, 5).
5. Group of people responsible for running Poor Law Unions
following the New Poor Law Act 1834 (5, 2, 9).
6. Act of 1662 designed to identify which parish was responsible for
an individual’s claim to poor relief (10).
8. The type of institution both which Union workhouses in Sheffield
eventually became (8).
9. Site of the new Sheffield Union Workhouse built in 1881 (3, 4).
12. Term used to describe the deserving poor who were too old, ill or
young to work (8).
Sheffield Archives and Local Studies
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us to your class please contact us. Students will have
the opportunity to see and touch the original items.
We offer
•
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•
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•
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•
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•
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•
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