Paupers Behaving Badly: Punishment in the Victorian Workhouse

Abstract

The deterrent workhouse, with its strict rules for the behavior of inmates and boundaries of authority of the workhouse officers, was a central expression of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, known widely as the New Poor Law. This article explores for the first time the day-to-day experience of the power and authority of workhouse masters, matrons, other officers of the workhouse, and its Board of Guardians, and the resistance and agency of resentful inmates. Despite new sets of regulations to guide workhouse officers in the uniform imposition of discipline on residents, there was a high degree of regional diversity not only in the types of offenses committed by paupers but also in welfare policy relating to the punishments inflicted for disorderly and refractory behavior. And while pauper agency was significant, it should not be overstated, given the disparity in power between inmates and workhouse officials.

Ustavotvorčeva vizija socijalno pravednoga poretka i zaštita dostojanstva i siromašnih osoba

“…siromašni lako izaći iz zatečenog stanja" upravo zbog ograničenih ekonomskih mogućnosti u društvu te činjenice da su siromašni a priori u nepovoljnijem položaju pri zapošljavanju 37 , što implicitno evocira strukturirano postojanje socijalne isključenosti u hrvatskome društvu. Također, nužno je spomenuti da u Republici Hrvatskoj ne postoji službeni prag siromaštva (takav koji vlast neke države smatra da odgovara socijalnim prilikama te države), pa se nameće praksa istraživanja Europske unije 38 koja kao prag uzima 60 % medijana dohotka. 39 Posebno zabrinjavajuća posljedica siromaštva očituje se u pojavi beskućništva i neod govarajućih stambenih uvjeta.…”

‘Poverty, gender and old age in the Victorian and Edwardian workhouse’

“…63 Moreover, the elderly were not merely submissive to workhouse discipline, and there are instances of them returning drunk after a day off and arguing with other inmates or workhouse officials. 64 Despite a substantial historiography on the new poor law, and the fact the stigma associated with workhouses looms large in the public imagination, knowledge of the changing characteristics of inmates is still relatively limited. 65 There are excellent studies of the new poor law in its entirety.…”