After the investigation had been carried out, the final report listed some improvements to be made: there should be one system of poor relief, no more outdoor relief, parishes form unions, paupers and their families only receive relief if they’re prepared to enter the workhouse and workhouses should be more strict and in bad conditions so only people who had nowhere else to go, would go here as a last resort.
The Law Amendment Act, 1834, issued the New Poor Law stating that parishes were to merge together to form unions, which then had to build workhouses. In source B, s modern school history textbook, the main points are taken down on the New Poor Law. These points are: Parishes unite together as Poor Law Unions, Outdoor relief was only for those who were willing to enter a workhouse and the state of the workhouses had to be the worst they could be so only people who were desperate could go.
By 1839, the South of England had made fast progress with 700 unions and around 350 workhouses made or being built. Although in the north of England, industrial had taken a downfall for the worst and there was a lack of employment in the area.
Edwin Chadwick, the secretary of the Poor Law Commissions, designed the workhouses to be very plain, grim and prison-like. His design of the workhouse was based on the work of Jack Nichols and on the Southwell workhouse in Nottinghamshire. This was also the main example for union workhouses up and down the country. There were strict rules and punishments for anyone who had been made to live in a workhouse. Uniforms were to be worn and work was to be completed to a satisfactory amount. There were also same-sex dormitories and this can also be assumed in Source E, which is a map of the buildings, as they are in a symmetrical shape.
In 1838, in association with the New Poor Law, a new Union Workhouse was built in Watford on vicarage road replacing the old workhouse and before that a complex of workhouse buildings that were then sold and in its place were the West Herts Co-operative society, the parish clerk and others. This is noted in Source D from The Book of Watford by JB Nunn in 1987.
Watford was finally a non-growth area in an expanding Watford half a century later. Yet the problem remains to be solved and although there have been some changes to the workhouse in an effort to resolve the problem it seems that the poor are still “contained within reasonable limits.”
Source C is a history source from a book called The History of Watford written in 1970, it shows us how the Watford Workhouse has been developing and the number of poor people who were staying there and the previous year. It also tells us how much poor relief for the fortnight there was and also the year before. The numbers of “inmates” (suggesting imprisonment) in December 1882 were 224 people, a year later it was 252. The numbers are inaccurate and don’t give the exact amount of people in the whole workhouse. The numbers weren’t really increasing though and it shows that the workhouse is not growing.
Three years after the Second World War and the introduction of the NHS both in 1948, the Watford Union Workhouse was experiencing it’s final transformation into Watford General Hospital. This made good use of the workhouse as there was plenty of space and buildings to be used for a hospital, this was also typical of workhouses and many nationally reformed into hospitals.
After looking at the origin of Watford Union Workhouse and it’s current state as Watford General Hospital and all the different developments and relocations in between, the workhouse has come a long way and I think the idea of a hospital has been it’s best change to date. Having a new hospital will benefit many and will do what it has only been doing since the start and that is looking after and caring for other people.
This historical site is a very important place and will be remembered for all the people it has helped and will continue to do so, thus it’s purpose being reached.
Question 2:
How useful are sources D and E for investigating the Watford Union Workhouse?
Source D, from The Book of Watford by JB Nunn in 1987. This is a useful source as it tells us about the origins of the Watford workhouse and discusses the construction of the workhouse in 1838. It tells of some developments with the workhouse and it’s location, which is on Vicarage road. It tells us that the problem has also not been resolved even after some changes to the workhouse it does not manage to look after the increasing amount of poor people in Watford. It also writes about the “dissolution of the union workhouse” and “there was no place in an emerging new society.” This suggests that the workhouses were then changed or destroyed to make room for bigger and better things, which was true as the Watford Union workhouse eventually converted to Watford General Hospital. This source is also limited and does not provide information like conditions of the workhouse, rules and regulations, diet, punishments and no other such thing, which would be helpful. The source does provide information to a certain extent though when looking at the source from a perspective and trying to make suggestions and guesses from what is already there.
Source E, a 1913 Ordnance Survey Map of Watford is limited on information; it is useful to the investigation of the workhouse as the other sources because it shows a map of the workhouse which helps to show the separation of the two sexes from looking at the symmetrical shape of the buildings and many other things were probably separated as well. The source also shows the location of the Workhouse and its surroundings. The map is not to scale so you can’t tell from the picture how big the workhouse was and the buildings within and surrounding it. It also does not show labels and its hard to tell what each building is within the workhouse. Understanding this source is difficult and the source isn’t reliable but it can be helpful with location and buildings. Like the previous Source, there is nothing about living conditions or any further information. Other evidence you also get from the source is that it is a large workhouse and has a chapel and infirmary. This source does provide enough information but many assumptions must be made in order to find information, which could contribute to the overall investigation of the Watford Union Workhouse.
When researching the workhouse, I visited the website by Peter Higginbottom: and it had lots of information on workhouses. There were many pictures, a virtual tour and descriptions on workhouses, which helped in my investigation.
Looking at this website you can get a better feel for what it’s really like in a workhouse and their living conditions, diet and punishments. The site were mostly pictures and did help but there wasn’t enough information overall on workhouses.
During my investigation I took a trip to the historical site of the Watford Union Workhouse, which is now Watford General Hospital. This helped me to understand what a workhouse looked like and how the buildings were generally set out. When looking into the site there were names inscribed all on the sides of the buildings of names of people who had died whilst living in the workhouse, this showed respect and many of the people who had stayed in the workhouse may have formed strong friendships and stuck together when times were hard. Unlike Source E you can now tell of the scale of the buildings and see how large the buildings were which was surprising as it was quite big. The trip didn’t completely let me get a feel of a workhouse as it was a hospital now and I could not tell what made it much different from before and now that it has changed. I also couldn’t tell what buildings were part of the workhouse before and there were new buildings too.
Much has changed since the time of the workhouse and there isn’t that much to look at.
Overall I think that the two sources D and E have been quite useful and helped me in researching the Watford Union Workhouse. In source D, you were told about the construction, changes and its current development into the Watford General hospital.
It also makes notes on the problem and how it has not been resolved after many different changes. In source E, it tells us of the location and the overall plan of the Watford Union Workhouse and it’s surroundings. The sources are useful to a certain extent and should be further studied and you can only make guesses to find information you may need.
The trip I took to the workhouse was somewhat useful as it brought the whole workhouse investigation alive and you can get a feel for what its like and realise the area and location of the workhouse. The website was helpful also as it provided some information and showed some pictures of the workhouse outside and within.
