Children provided a variety of skills and would do jobs that were as varied as needing to be small and work as a scavenger in a cotton mill to having to push heavy coal trucks along tunnels in coal mines. There were so many different jobs! Boys went to sea, as boy-sailors, and girls went ‘into service’ as housemaids.
What did children do at the workhouse?
Instead, the education the children did receive was vocational, and completely dependent on their gender, age and ability. Furthermore, children were made to work, often doing manual labour and occasionally ‘hired out’ to factories and mines.
What was it like for a Victorian child in a workhouse?
The harsh system of the workhouse became synonymous with the Victorian era, an institution which became known for its terrible conditions, forced child labour, long hours, malnutrition, beatings and neglect.
What was it like as a child in the workhouse?
Families in a Workhouse
Large groups slept in the same room and many were made to share beds. Children had lessons in reading, writing, maths and religion. However, teachers were often cruel. Children were not supposed to be hit, but there are reports that they were often hit with a ruler or stick in class.
What was the daily routine of a workhouse child?
The workhouse routine
The inmates were woken in the morning by a tolling bell, and this same bell called the inmates to breakfast, dinner and supper. In between meals, they had to earn their food and bed by working hard at the jobs given to them by the guardians.
Where did workhouse children sleep?
dormitories
Organisation of a workhouse
Children were only allowed to spend a brief amount of time a week with their parents. However, most children in a workhouse were orphans. Everyone slept in large dormitories. It was common for girls to sleep four to a bed.
What happened to children born in a workhouse?
Children in the workhouse who survived the first years of infancy may have been sent out to schools run by the Poor Law Union, and apprenticeships were often arranged for teenage boys so they could learn a trade and become less of a burden to the rate payers.
What did children in workhouses eat?
Breakfast consisted of oatmeal (usually served in stirabout form) with either sweet or sour milk. Each adult pauper would have received 6-8 ounces of meal every breakfast. Children under 15 received two thirds of this allowance. Potatoes, meat and vegetables formed the pauper’s dinner at the time.
Did workhouse children go to school?
Under the 1834 Act, Poor Law Unions were required to provide at least three hours a day of schooling for workhouse children, and to appoint a schoolmaster and/or schoolmistress.
What were the three harshest rules of the workhouse?
Rules: The daily work was backed up with strict rules and punishments. Laziness, drinking, gambling and violence against other inmates or staff were strictly forbidden.
Did girls go to the workhouse?
The boys and girls who are inmates of the Workhouse shall, for three of the working hours, at least, every day, be instructed in reading, writing, arithmetic, and the principles of the Christian religion, and such other instruction shall be imparted to them as may fit them for service, and train them to habits of
What jobs did children do in factories?
Most of these young workers entered the factories as piecers, standing at the spinning machines repairing breaks in the thread. A few started as scavengers, crawling beneath the machinery to clear it of dirt, dust or anything else that might disturb the mechanism.
Can children leave workhouse?
While residing in a workhouse, paupers were not allowed out without permission. Short-term absence could be granted for various reasons, such as a parent attending their child’s baptism, or to visit a sick or dying relative.
How many hours did children work in the workhouse?
no child workers under nine years of age. employers must have an age certificate for their child workers. children of 9-13 years to work no more than nine hours a day. children of 13-18 years to work no more than 12 hours a day.
What did workhouse children wear?
Uniforms had to be worn in the workhouses. These were made from dark, coarse materials. The uniforms were designed to be uncomfortable.
What did girls learn in the workhouse?
Work in the workhouse
Women had to do the scrubbing, laundry, needlework, spinning and weaving. Bed was at 8pm. Children had three hours of lessons, which were reading, writing, maths and religion. Girls did not have as many lessons as it was not thought as important for girls to learn as it was for boys.
What is a workhouse baby?
Many parents were unwilling to allow their children to work in these new textile factories. To overcome this labour shortage factory owners had to find other ways of obtaining workers. One solution to the problem was to buy children from orphanages and workhouses. The children became known as pauper apprentices.
Why did children run away from workhouses?
They feared that the ingrained immorality of the workhouses’ older residents would rub off on young paupers, turning them into prostitutes or criminals. They also believed that the poorest children were in need of education to “eradicate the germs of pauperism” and fit them for a productive life.
What were punishments like in workhouses?
Punishment in a Workhouse
For more severe offences, the Inmate could find themselves locked up in the refractory cell for 24 hours and feed on bread and water, other punishments could include have hard labour, or being whipped in front of all the other Inmates to be made an example of.
Why were conditions in workhouses so awful?
In these facilities, poor people ate thrifty, unpalatable food, slept in crowded, often unsanitary conditions, and were put to work breaking stones, crushing bones, spinning cloth or doing domestic labor, among other jobs.
How long did people stay in workhouses?
They were often only allowed to stay at the workhouse for a night or two before being sent on their way early the following morning.