Image from Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council Cotton Town digitisation project:www.cottontown.org
Discovering the Union Workhouse
with Alan Crosby
3 linked sessions at 2pm on Wednesdays 10, 17 and 24 March 2021
In 1834 the Poor Law system, which had operated with modifications since the beginning of the 17th century, was radically overhauled, reformed and re-orientated. It was redesigned on the principle that seeking poor relief or other assistance should be the absolute last resort when any other form of self-help failed, so the system needed to be a deterrent rather than a comfort. One consequence was the building of the massive barrack-like workhouses which became part of our folklore, folk memory and literature, as well as our townscapes and our health services. Another consequence was a super-bureaucratic and rigidly centralised administrative system in which civil servants in London micro-managed the local implementation of the system.
This three-part online workshop, which uses original sources including those from Blackburn Workhouse (currently being indexed by Friends of Lancashire Archives volunteers), explores the post-1834 New Poor Law – its rationale and how it operated in theory and practice. The documents which it generated in huge quantities are explained, and their key role as evidence for family and local history research is outlined. We will also consider how, despite the government’s efforts to impose a nationwide standardised system, local factors were surprisingly significant. In Lancashire and Yorkshire the response to the 1834 legislation was definitely not what the government had intended – indeed, bloody-minded northerners actively subverted the system and helped to bring about its eventual downfall!
Session 1 Exploring the system - see video below
Session 2 Revealing the documents - see video below
Session 3 Answering your questions
Each session will last 45-50 minutes and as numbers are limited – even on Zoom –you must book your place in advance. Please email archives@lancashire.gov.uk putting FLA event in the subject heading.
with Alan Crosby
3 linked sessions at 2pm on Wednesdays 10, 17 and 24 March 2021
In 1834 the Poor Law system, which had operated with modifications since the beginning of the 17th century, was radically overhauled, reformed and re-orientated. It was redesigned on the principle that seeking poor relief or other assistance should be the absolute last resort when any other form of self-help failed, so the system needed to be a deterrent rather than a comfort. One consequence was the building of the massive barrack-like workhouses which became part of our folklore, folk memory and literature, as well as our townscapes and our health services. Another consequence was a super-bureaucratic and rigidly centralised administrative system in which civil servants in London micro-managed the local implementation of the system.
This three-part online workshop, which uses original sources including those from Blackburn Workhouse (currently being indexed by Friends of Lancashire Archives volunteers), explores the post-1834 New Poor Law – its rationale and how it operated in theory and practice. The documents which it generated in huge quantities are explained, and their key role as evidence for family and local history research is outlined. We will also consider how, despite the government’s efforts to impose a nationwide standardised system, local factors were surprisingly significant. In Lancashire and Yorkshire the response to the 1834 legislation was definitely not what the government had intended – indeed, bloody-minded northerners actively subverted the system and helped to bring about its eventual downfall!
Session 1 Exploring the system - see video below
Session 2 Revealing the documents - see video below
Session 3 Answering your questions
Each session will last 45-50 minutes and as numbers are limited – even on Zoom –you must book your place in advance. Please email archives@lancashire.gov.uk putting FLA event in the subject heading.
