Workhouse children

Workhouse children - Zbiorowa Praca

Children formed the largest group of indoor paupers in Victorian England yet their story has never been fully told. Using one county's experience to illuminate national trends, this book investigates the treatment of children in the workhouses of the thirteen Worcestershire Poor Law Unions, in the period 1834 to 1871, although it also refers to their situation between 1780 and 1834, in an attempt to recreate a detailed image of life for infant and child pauper inmates. Based on local and national Poor Law records and other related sources, Workhouse Children examines the way in which children were treated, educated and trained, by whom they were cared for, and the outcome of their treatment. It investigates whether the treatment of such children followed the Principles of Uniformity and Less Eligibility, which necessitates an understanding of Worcestershire between 1780 and 1871, and of the considerable developments in attitudes to poverty and its definition, that occurred in this period. It also demonstrates that the workhouse, as a 'total institution', had a profound and continuing influence on child inmates and that this influence continued into adulthood.