The London
Workhouse:
A ‘Total Institution’ for the
C18th?
http://research.ncl.ac.uk/pauperlives/
Peter Jones
Defining the ‘Total Institution’
• P. O’Brien, The Promise of Punishment: Prisons in C19th France
(1982)
• Sean McConville, A History of English Prison Administration (1981)
• Andrew Scull, Museums of Madness: the Social History of Insanity in
C19th England (1981)
• M. A. Crowther, The Workhouse System 1834-1929 (1981),
‘…any attempt to reconstruct workhouse life must be a
patchwork, selected from the letters and reminiscences
of the literate poor, or gleaned from middle class
accounts’ – Crowther, p.193
‘[The image of the workhouse] has been created by
outsiders, who usually condemned it either for
harshness or laxity’ – ibid.
The C18th London Workhouse
• c1800: 50 workhouses in the London
metropolitan area
• Diverse institutions: between 10 and 1,000
inmates
• Diversity of experience: between 89% and
19% of parish poor relieved indoors
• In total, almost 12,000 of London’s
inhabitants resident in workhouses in 1801
The Project
Jeremy Boulton, Leonard Schwarz, John Black
http://research.ncl.ac.uk/pauperlives/
The Workhouse in 1871
Admission and Residency
1800
St Martin's Workhouse: admissions and inmates 1725-1824
1600
Admissions per year
Total Inmates in the House
5 per. Mov. Avg. (Admissions per year)
1400
5 per. Mov. Avg. (Total Inmates in the House)
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
1725 1729 1733 1737 1741 1745 1749 1753 1757 1761 1765 1769 1773 1777 1781 1785 1789 1793 1797 1801 1805 1809 1813 1817 1821
Percentage length of stay in St Martin's workhouse
in days by gender, 1738-1824
Female
Male
20.0
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
0
1-5
6-10
11-20
21-30
31-60
61-90
91-120
121-150
151-180
181-360
361-720
721+
Pregnancy and Birth
1725-1824
Pregnancies and Births in the Workhouse 1745-1819
(5-yearly aggregates)
No. of Births in
Workhouse
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
No. of Pregnant
Admissions to
Workhouse
1815-19
1810-14
1805-09
1800-04
1795-99
1790-94
1785-89
1780-84
1775-79
1770-74
1765-69
1760-64
1755-59
1750-54
1745-49
Known
Illegitimate
Admissions
•1,376 women heavily
pregnant or in labour at
admission
• Over 4,000 children born
and baptised
Neo-Natal Deaths in the Workhouse, 1740-1819
(5-yearly aggregates)
16%
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
Deaths
within 24
hours
Deaths
within 7
days
1815-19
1810-14
1805-09
1800-04
1795-99
1790-94
1785-89
1780-84
1775-79
1770-74
1765-69
1760-64
1755-59
1750-54
1745-49
1740-44
Early Childhood
11,155 children <7 admitted
• 73% admitted with family
member
Percentage Length of Stay in the Workhouse in days
of Infants aged Under 7 years, 1725-1824
• 2,230 died in the workhouse
20.00
18.00
16.00
14.00
12.00
10.00
8.00
6.00
4.00
2.00
0.00
• 20% within 14 days
• 91% within a year
• 1,188 were sent to nurse
721+
361-720
181-360
151-180
121-150
91-120
61-90
31-60
21-30
11-20
6-10
1-5
>1
• 206 bound apprentice
Percentage length of stay in St Martin's workhouse
in days by gender, 1738-1824
Female
Male
20.0
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
0
1-5
6-10
11-20
21-30
31-60
61-90
91-120
121-150
151-180
181-360
361-720
721+
Adolescence
Destination of Children (7-14yrs)
Apprenticed Outside London
County
Number of
Apprentices
Manchester
141
Lancashire
40
Flintshire
34
Hertfordshire
32
Sheffield
29
Staffordshire
21
Yorkshire
16
Cheshire
10
Nottinghamshire
8
Derbyshire
8
Jamaica
5
Kent
4
Essex
3
• 50 sent to Hungerford School
Worcestershire
2
Durham
2
• 8 boys sent to sea
Monmouth
1
Huntingdonshire
1
Hampshire
1
Cumberland
1
Berkshire
1
7,515 children aged 7-14 admitted
• 3,376 (44.5%) entered with another
family member
• 270 (3.5%) died in the workhouse
• 2,316 (30.5%) either bound
apprentice or sent ‘on likeing’
• 80% apprenticed in London
• 20% further afield
Early Adulthood
Women admitted to the workhouse aged 20-40
• Constitute 80% of all admissions in this age range
• 70.5% of all women admitted aged 20-40 years are ‘single
independents’
• Average length of stay = 111 days (216 for all admissions)
Yearly Admissions of Females aged 20-40yrs
(as % of total admissions)
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
1820
1816
1812
1808
1804
1800
1796
1792
1788
1784
1780
1776
1772
1768
1764
1760
1756
1752
1748
1744
1740
Old Age
Percentage Length of Stay in the Workhouse (in days)
of Infants <7 yrs and Adults >60 yrs, 1725-1824
11,023 Over-60s Admitted
20.00
18.00
16.00
14.00
12.00
10.00
8.00
6.00
4.00
2.00
0.00
Infants <7
years
• 36.5% died in workhouse
Adults >60
years
• Average length of stay =
431 days
721+
361-720
181-360
151-180
121-150
91-120
61-90
31-60
21-30
11-20
6-10
1-5
>1
Percentage length of stay in St Martin's workhouse
in days by gender, 1738-1824
Female
Male
20.0
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
0
1-5
6-10
11-20
21-30
31-60
61-90
91-120
121-150
151-180
181-360
361-720
721+
Sickness
Percentage of discharges sent to medical institutions, St Martin's workhouse, 1725-1824
10.00
9.00
8.00
7.00
% sent to medical institutions
5 per. Mov. Avg. (% sent to medical institutions)
6.00
5.00
4.00
3.00
2.00
1.00
0.00
1824
1821
1818
1815
1812
1809
1806
1803
1800
1797
1794
1791
1788
1785
1782
1779
1776
1773
1770
1767
1764
1761
1758
1755
1752
1749
1746
1743
1740
1737
1734
1731
1728
1725
Death
Water in the Head
Thrush
Inflammation
Measles
Whooping Cough
Smallpox
Decline
Convulsions
Fits
Teeth
Childbed
Apoplexy
Palsy
Mortification
Abortive/Stillborn
Sudden death
Consumption
Asthma
Jaundice
Gripes
Fever
Dropsy
Aged
Total Deaths
in the Parish
467
356
1699
791
963
3119
274
8697
212
1058
353
225
101
363
646
111
8144
728
113
509
4757
1465
2629
Total Deaths in the
Workhouse
1
9
44
26
43
140
16
528
13
79
28
19
12
46
89
17
1627
160
27
136
1282
447
900
Workhouse Deaths as %
of Total Deaths
0.2
2.5
2.6
3.3
4.5
4.5
5.8
6.1
6.1
7.5
7.9
8.4
11.9
12.7
13.8
15.3
20.0
22.0
23.9
26.7
26.9
30.5
34.2
To Conclude…
• Ann Ashton, admitted November 1765, ‘her
husband paying 2s. 6d. for her keep’
• Jane Graham, admitted October 1800, ‘on
condition that he husband pays 5s. per week’
• Charlotte Sowley, admitted June 1795, aged 9,
‘her father paying 3s. a week’
‘…any attempt to reconstruct workhouse life must
be a patchwork, selected from the letters and
reminiscences of the literate poor, or gleaned
from middle-class accounts…’ - Crowther, p.193