London’s Laborers in 1800s – Poverty for One and All
Laborers in London in the 1800s - the people that churned out goods and services for everyone to enjoy. Everyone that is, except the laborers. Poverty was considered the natural condition of poor laborers. Society being what it was, thought government should remain as small as possible and disregarded virtually any assistance programs.
Poor people were thought to be spendthrifts who wasted their money on drinking and gambling. If a poor person was unable to support themselves, they had a difficult time finding help, since the New Poor Law of 1834 discouraged those efforts unless they were willing to enter a workhouse (known as a spike) for accommodations and employment.
The law also limited the movement of workers and established a fixed wage (which held skilled laborers at poverty level subsistence). Typically, those who went to a workhouse had few or no skills, or bad work habits, otherwise they could find a job elsewhere.
Many facility owners of that day hoped to profit from free labor and put their tenants to work breaking stones, crushing bones to produce fertilizer, or picking oakum. Tarred fiber, or oakum, was used to seal gaps in shipbuilding, for caulking or packing the joints of timbers in wooden vessels and the deck planking of iron and steel and in log cabins for chinking.
In ship caulking, it was forced between the seams using a hammer and a caulking iron, then sealed into place with hot tar. Picking apart oakum to recycle the fiber was a tedious and hard on worker’s fingers.
Workhouses were intentionally harsh so able bodied men and women wouldn’t be tempted to live in them; only those in dire circumstances willingly applied to live there. Children made up about half of the workhouse populations. It was in a workhouse that the character Oliver Twist uttered his famous phrase “Please Sir, I want some more.”
An unintended consequence of a family living in a workhouse was their children were provided free medical care and education. Poor families not living in workhouses had no such services until the 20th century. As the 19th century progressed, workhouses became filled with the elderly and sick. In 1948, The National Assistance Act relegated England’s poor laws to history and the workhouses went with them.
In London (and probably everywhere else) a man working as a laborer was always paid more than a women. Single men might often live in poverty, but they did much better than their female counterparts. When women married their circumstances usually improved. Two jobs meant more money to pay for better living accommodations and more food. The improved status only lasted until a couple had children, when living accommodations became cramped and there were more mouths to feed on the same budget; a typical couple had four to five children. Starting a family while working as a laborer meant living in abject poverty.
With 12 shillings to spend on food each week, meals consisted mostly of bread. When the poverty level eased a bit, meals might include milk, cheese or potatoes. When things went awry, it was back to bread.
The cycles of ups and downs continued when children left home – more space and more food for mom and dad. But if someone got sick or lived too long to be useful as a laborer, things could turn bad and usually did.
Why were workhouses for the poor called spikes you ask? A spike was a tool supplied to tenants. It was used to coax tarred fibers apart so they could be reused. Try doing that ten hours a day. My hands and fingers ache just thinking about it.
Poor people were thought to be spendthrifts who wasted their money on drinking and gambling. If a poor person was unable to support themselves, they had a difficult time finding help, since the New Poor Law of 1834 discouraged those efforts unless they were willing to enter a workhouse (known as a spike) for accommodations and employment.
The law also limited the movement of workers and established a fixed wage (which held skilled laborers at poverty level subsistence). Typically, those who went to a workhouse had few or no skills, or bad work habits, otherwise they could find a job elsewhere.
Many facility owners of that day hoped to profit from free labor and put their tenants to work breaking stones, crushing bones to produce fertilizer, or picking oakum. Tarred fiber, or oakum, was used to seal gaps in shipbuilding, for caulking or packing the joints of timbers in wooden vessels and the deck planking of iron and steel and in log cabins for chinking.
In ship caulking, it was forced between the seams using a hammer and a caulking iron, then sealed into place with hot tar. Picking apart oakum to recycle the fiber was a tedious and hard on worker’s fingers.
Workhouses were intentionally harsh so able bodied men and women wouldn’t be tempted to live in them; only those in dire circumstances willingly applied to live there. Children made up about half of the workhouse populations. It was in a workhouse that the character Oliver Twist uttered his famous phrase “Please Sir, I want some more.”
An unintended consequence of a family living in a workhouse was their children were provided free medical care and education. Poor families not living in workhouses had no such services until the 20th century. As the 19th century progressed, workhouses became filled with the elderly and sick. In 1948, The National Assistance Act relegated England’s poor laws to history and the workhouses went with them.
In London (and probably everywhere else) a man working as a laborer was always paid more than a women. Single men might often live in poverty, but they did much better than their female counterparts. When women married their circumstances usually improved. Two jobs meant more money to pay for better living accommodations and more food. The improved status only lasted until a couple had children, when living accommodations became cramped and there were more mouths to feed on the same budget; a typical couple had four to five children. Starting a family while working as a laborer meant living in abject poverty.
With 12 shillings to spend on food each week, meals consisted mostly of bread. When the poverty level eased a bit, meals might include milk, cheese or potatoes. When things went awry, it was back to bread.
The cycles of ups and downs continued when children left home – more space and more food for mom and dad. But if someone got sick or lived too long to be useful as a laborer, things could turn bad and usually did.
Why were workhouses for the poor called spikes you ask? A spike was a tool supplied to tenants. It was used to coax tarred fibers apart so they could be reused. Try doing that ten hours a day. My hands and fingers ache just thinking about it.
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