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Poverty, Public Health and the State in Britain, c1780–1939

The impact of the workhouse

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 3

Overview

Recall questions on the regime and the separation of families, the workhouse test and less eligibility, who actually lived there, and the stigma attached to entry.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Did outdoor relief actually end after 1834?

Key term

What was the workhouse regime like?

Key term

What was the 'workhouse test'?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What was the workhouse regime like?

    Model answer

    Harsh and deliberately unpleasant, with families separated by sex and age, monotonous work and diet, earning workhouses the nickname 'Bastilles'.

  2. 2

    What was the principle of 'less eligibility'?

    Model answer

    That the condition of the relieved pauper must be worse (less desirable) than that of the lowest independent labourer, to deter reliance on relief.

  3. 3

    What was the 'workhouse test'?

    Model answer

    The requirement that able-bodied applicants must enter the workhouse to receive relief, so that only the truly desperate would apply.

  4. 4

    Did outdoor relief actually end after 1834?

    Model answer

    No; especially in the industrial north, outdoor relief continued because building and filling workhouses for mass unemployment was impractical.

  5. 5

    What were workhouse casual wards?

    Model answer

    Wards giving vagrants a night's shelter in return for a task such as stone-breaking or oakum picking; from the 1880s they could be held until the morning of the second day.

  6. 6

    Why were families separated in the workhouse?

    Model answer

    Officially to prevent breeding and enforce discipline, in practice one of the most resented features and a major deterrent to entry.

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