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Nineteenth-century Ireland saw the emergence of a campaign to have orphaned and abandoned children 'boarded out' from workhouses to live with families in return for payment. Despite growing anxiety about the unsuitability of workhouses for children, communities could show resistance to having these children, particularly those from urban workhouses, living in their own neighbourhood. Using the case of alleged abuse towards three children boarded out from Belfast workhouse to a family living in a remote rural townland, this paper explores the experience of, and attitudes towards, workhouse children boarded into rural communities. Using testimonies of neighbours and poor law officials at the resultant 1872 Poor Law inquiry, it examines the relationship between the children, their foster family, and the wider community and reveals the extent to which those families who took in workhouse children became subject to surveillance not just from welfare authorities but also from members of their community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The workhouse is the totemic symbol of our understandings about the harsh life faced by the poor of nineteenth-century England. Workhouse paupers provide the human embodiment of this symbol, characterized, according to well-established assumption, in the words of David Englander, as the victims rather than makers of history. This article argues that this assumption is, in fact, false. At the core of its research is the pauper perspective. This is used to understand the role played by gossip in pauper agency at Basford Union Workhouse. The basic premise here is that much can be learnt from social exchanges, including idle and aimless talk, about the formation of social relationships and the way in which the exercise of power was manifest. This study brings a rarely used perspective to the narrative surrounding paupers under the New Poor Law, a specific focus on workhouse gossip not previously attempted. Overall, the words and writings of Basford Union's pauper inmates, augmented by relevant testimony from people in the community, and from official sources, create a sense that Basford's indoor poor depended on each other. It was they, and not the Union's officers who 'powered' the workhouse machine, and this independency was forged through chatter. Inter-pauper conflict was not unusual and the fracture lines between officer and pauper, and between pauper and pauper, were intertwined. These paupers' participation in the gossip of the workhouse, allowed them, however, to negotiate their own circumstances in a way that has often been under-estimated in the historiography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any standard account of the history of medicine in eighteenth-century England would include a survey of the proliferation of medical institutions and charities in the nation's capital. The eighteenth century, it is well known, saw the foundation of large numbers of hospitals, charitable dispensaries, private mad-houses and infirmaries in London. Such institutions, moreover, often served as a blue print for provincial foundations. However, the eighteenth-century also saw the growth of indoor relief, particularly in the metropolis. Few historians have connected the two phenomena. Those interested in the growth of institutional medical provision have tended to neglect the role of parish workhouses. Using evidence from one of London's biggest workhouses, that of St Martin in the Fields, this article argues that the medical services provided by the parish workhouse became increasingly extensive, and, for this reason, reliance on external medical provision declined over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a recognition that Welsh poor law authorities were less than welcoming to many of the strictures of the Poor Law Amendment Act in 1834, historians have tended to downplay the importance of their resistance in the context of the wider anti-poor law 'movement' across England and Wales. Instead, a general consensus has arisen that Welsh boards of guardians tended to resist the New Poor Law on the grounds of financial expediency or provincial insularity, rather than because of any ideological or humanitarian hostility towards its provisions. This article presents compelling evidence that this consensus is quite wrong, and demonstrates in turn that, not only were Welsh guardians far more successful in their resistance to the new workhouse regime even the most recalcitrant English unions, but that that resistance was founded upon a long-standing and coherent antipathy to the punitive nature of the workhouse as an institution, rather than simply being founded on short-term financial or practical considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many of the population of the north-east and Cumbria lived on the verge of poverty and found earnings cut through illness, unemployment, old age or quiet trade times. Social welfare was provided by state and private sector and included the almshouse, charity, admission to the workhouse or the paying of out-relief to the poor in their own home. Care in the almshouses was only available to a small number of the population. The vast majority of the population were left to fend for themselves in old age or widowhood. Using the 1881 and 1901 census, the paper will analyse the demography of the sample almshouses, and in particular, the population over age 60 in almshouse and workhouse. Case studies of St Annes Hospital and the Aged Miner Homes highlight the lack or provision of accommodation for this age group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the material benefits commonly received by almshouse residents from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries, and attempts to assess how well off alms-people were compared with other poor people in the community. It considers not only the stipends or financial allowances received by many almspeople, but also other benefits provided, such as the accommodation, food, fuel and practical help. The evidence points to the experience of almshouse life varying a great deal, and suggests that the standard of living for many almspeople did not differ greatly from that of the poor generally. Many almspeople received poor relief; some were so poorly off that even the workhouse offered greater comfort and security. Yet, for most, there were distinct advantages to an almshouse place. Free accommodation and a regular income, no matter how small, gave them a measure of security; while their position as almshouse residents gave them status, respectability and the opportunity to benefit from further donations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the changes that occurred in the Cheltenham and Belper workhouse and union populations between 1851 and 1911, with a particular focus on the end of the nineteenth century. The social and economic situation in these two poor law unions was very different. The Cheltenham union had little industry and relied on service occupations and agriculture for employment whist the Belper union covered an expanding industrial area with the development of cotton and iron manufacture. In 1851 the Belper workhouse population was dominated by children, that of Cheltenham by the able-bodied. In 1911 the population of both workhouses was mainly elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents some preliminary findings from the FACHRS almshouse project. Led by Anne Langley and advised by Nigel Goose, a substantial team of volunteers has set out to trace and record pertinent information on almshouses during the period 1500 to 1914 in an attempt to create the first academic history of the institution. The project is envisaged to develop in three strands. Firstly, the creation of a comprehensive gazetteer of Britain's historical almshouses, which will not only be a valuable research tool and a building block for the rest of the project, but will allow for a very simple, yet important, mode of analysis. The data regarding the number of almshouses in a given county, their date of formation, capacity and founder can immediately give us an infinitely better idea of the temporal and spatial distribution of almshouses than is possible at present. Indeed, even for the later 20th century the geography of charity remains obscure (Bryson, McGuiness and Ford 2002: 48-58). After locating these institutions, the second phase of the project will involve the identification and extraction of details on almshouse residents. This will allow for a much more nuanced analysis of the characteristics of almshouse residents, examining age, occupation, gender, marital status and family composition. Finally, having identified areas of the country which are particularly ripe for comparison, the records of individual almshouses will be analysed in an attempt to develop a much deeper understanding of the ways in which almshouses were run, what rules their residents lived by and what life might have been like in these institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workhouses were no doubt the first old people's homes. Sick old people without social or financial resources had no alternative other than admission to one of these state institutions These institutions instilled fear in local communities and admission represented a failure in society. Due to medical advances and improved social conditions, people lived for longer and during the 20th century the majority of the inmates were old people. After the inception of the welfare state institutional care for other people was mainly in buildings inherited from the poor law. Consequently, even after 1948, for many old people admission to an institution still carried a stigma. By using oral histories of relatives and professionals who cared for old people during this time, alongside documentary sources, this article examines how the process of transition from poor law to welfare state affected families in Oxford. This first-hand perspective, missing from most studies on the history of aging, explores bow caring for old people at a time of great social change was influenced by the local workhouse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the character of residential welfare in 18th-century England. Experiences of life within either almshouses or workhouses has been relatively neglected in the historiography of welfare, and comparative studies are absent from published work. Even so there is a broadly favourable, homogenous interpretation of almshouse life and a more pessimistic but varied impression of workhouses. This article discusses the material conditions in almshouses and workhouses under the four headings of coverage (the extent to which poor populations were catered for by almshouses or workhouses), physical attributes (fabric, location and contents), additional benefits aside from accommodation and style of management. It then uses a case study of institutions in Oxford to demonstrate that, in material terms, almshouses and workhouses could converge in their provisions for the poor; almshouses displayed fewer similarities between institutions than might be supposed while workhouses were less variable in their provisions than has been thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers news briefs related to the activities of the Family & Community Historical Research Society in Great Britain. The Society's 2011 conference was held on May 14 on the theme "Retailing and the Growth of Consumer Society." Conference participant Christine won the Paul Newton Taylor Poster Award. Data is being collected for the Society's online almshouse gazetteer.

The article discusses the highlights of the annual conference held by the Family and Community Historical Research Society in York, England, in May 2007. Virginia Arrowsmith from the English Heritage discussed the women's occupations at Brodsworth Hall. Pamela Sambrook, an adviser to the National Trust on laundries, focused on the servant records for Dunham Massey contained in the John Rylands Library. Valerie Batt-Rawden, a member of the society, talked about the allotments and almshouses of the St. Leonards' Hill.

An introduction is presented which discusses articles within the issue on topics including English medieval gentry families, almshouses and railroad station masters.

The article presents news briefs related to the Family and Community Historical Research Society including information on the 2010 annual conference which will focus on school and community, the announcement of a book titled "Breaking New Ground: 19th Century Allotments from Local Sources," and information about research on almshouses.

The article discusses a Sunday Walkabout held immediately following the Family and Community Historical Research Society (FACHRS) 2009 conference, which was held at the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) in London, England. Conference Organiser Janet Cumner organised a walking tour of Spitalfields and the Norton Folgate Almshouses in Puma Court. Cumner provided insights into the unique history of the neighbourhoods and the attendees were able to witness development through the centuries. The tour concluded with a visit to No. 18 Folgate Street, a house from the early 18th century.

The article presents an update on several projects of the Family and Community Historical Research Society. According to Clive Leivers, who reported on the Transport project, the project would be suitable for a private member's project instead of a society project. The Allotments project was discussed by Jeremy Burchardt. The society's research project on almshouses was introduced by its coordinator Anne Langley.

The article focuses on a walking tour of the almshouses in York, England, organized by Ted Royle, a member of the Family and Community Historical Research Society, following the conference held in May 2007. It states that about a dozen members and families joined Royle to visit the almshouses in the centre of the city. According to the article, Royle was an excellent guide. Among the places visited were Mary Wandesford's Old Maid's Hospital, Dorothy Wilson Hospital and the Merchant Taylors' Hall and almshouses.

The article reports on the progress of the Almshouse Research Project supervised by professor Nigel Goose. Fifty researchers involved in the project are working in record offices in England to gather data on almshouses as well as the people living in them. It notes that valuable local and national publications regarding the research are expected.

The author focuses on the annual conference of the Family and Community Historical Research Society that was held in May 2006 in England. The conference, which theme was charity and community, launched the society's research project on almshouses. The details on the committee were included in the said conference.