Tales from the Workhouse

by Mary Higgs, James Greenwood

This book contains first hand accounts of life in the workhouse, enabling you to see the workhouse through the eyes of people who experienced it.

CONTENTS

FOOD
I am fond of gruel
Saltless gruel and dry bread
Sweetened gruel and diarrhoea
Sour gruel

SICKNESS
Raw, festering sores
The tramp with diarrhoea
Asking for the doctor

BATHING, UNDRESSING AND DRESSING
Dirty looking baths
Our clothes were taken from us
“Hurry up, women”
Wet clothes
The condition of the clothes

CONDITIONS AND PEOPLE
Do I look like a prostitute?
We were “only tramps”
Coming into contact with other men’s flesh
Thirst
“Your neighbour breathed right into your face”
Being woken up throughout the night
Punished for being cheeky

BEDS AND BEDDING
The wire mattress
The wire pillow – a cruel invention
Dirty blankets and hard beds

LABOUR
Picking oakum
Stone-breaking in Paddington work house

A NIGHT IN A WORKHOUSE
You’ve missed your gruel
A stain of blood bigger than a man's hand
Filthy anecdotes
The swearing club
Checking for lice
Three fourths of a pint of gruel in a yellow basin
Milling with the crank-handle

THE CRAWLERS: THE WOMAN UNABLE TO GET ADMISSION TO THE WORKHOUSE

A CHILD'S MEMORIES OF BEING PUT IN THE WORKHOUSE

Genres: History, Nonfiction

78 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 24, 2013

Reviews

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tales from the workhouse contains entries frim individuals that have had to spend some time, or, even the majority of their lives living in a workhouse. I found all of the entries interesting, although, they were pretty harrowing. One that I found particularly interesting, was the entry from a journalist that got into the workhouse, in order to report on the conditions within the place. It was shocking.

The people that wrote these journals are men, women and even children, and while I found some of this difficult to digest, books such as these show us as individuals just why workhouses no longer exist in todays society.

[Morv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tales from The Workhouse is short true stories about people who have spent time, or their lives in a Workhouse, one is even a journalist who managed to get into the Workhouse and report the conditions in which people are living in.

The stories are a variety, men, women and children all write about their own experiences within the workhouses, all of them are horrific, and although it is interesting, it's also full of reasons why society at large has moved away from them, and had to move away from them.  The books that have been written on these workhouses at the time were enough to get people to raise up about them, about the substandard conditions and the governments tried to improve their lot, only for them to fall out of favour completely.

The book is harrowing, it's raw and at times it can be hard to read, these stories don't have people's names to them, so you need to remember that they are told by different people every time it goes onto a new chapter.  But it's still something that we need to keep in mind about the future, work houses and their ilk just don't work, because the people who run them end up being cruel and uncaring to the people who need them to survive.

[Josephine (Jo) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The little book gives first-hand statements from the unfortunate people who through no fault of their one ended up spending time in the workhouse. These places were not designed to give comfort in case people got too comfortable and stayed for more time than they needed to. When were are homeless and starving and there is nowhere else to take cover then the workhouse became the very last option that anyone would take. These personal pictured in the words of people who suffered greatly through having to rely on the workhouse are so to touching and shocking. When a person has not eaten for days and the only option is gruel that is rancid and will give anyone who eats it severe sickness and diarrhoea what would you choose? The dirt and awful sleeping arrangements were not fit for animals but the poor were expected to accept them and be grateful. A very interesting book.

[SUSAN TURNER · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellant

A lot of research has gone into this book. Really interesting to read, but harrowing. I know about workhouses but never knew the absolute cruelty of them. People talk about poverty today but, honestly, they have no idea of what that means! They should read this book. It really made me cry to read what these poor tragic people went through. Very well put together and I would recommend this book to everyone

[sarah campbell-law · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great true account insight

Really well put together both graphic and insightful to life in the work house. I really enjoyed this and feel compelled to look into workhouses and the characters that passed through the doors.

[Optimus · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read. Only the first of the three sections was directly related to workhouses, which was disappointing, but each section is still a well written account of local, human-focused history. Thoroughly enjoyable.

[bernard pringle · Rating 5 out of 5]

How poor can you be and stay alive

[JoJo · Rating 4 out of 5]

it is so unusual to hear the words of the poor from by-gone ages. While the contents is often stomach-churning, it is an important read and one that should be more widely shared.

[Mary Priest · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written and truthful account of the poverty that. so many had to deal with.

[Doghouse Gav · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great

Very good informative read. To go inside the workhouse first hand and relive the horrific ways in which the poor were forced to survive