I decided to try to find out about the general conditions in workhouses in 1901 in England.
Surprisingly, the food sounds considerably better than I'd have imagined - There was, of course, the inevitable 'gruel' but, looking at one menu from the time, there appear to be things like Shepherd's Pie, Fish Pie, Roly poly pudding...the kind of meals that I've eaten all my life. (No wonder my kids have been grumbling at me for all these years!) On closer inspection, however, the quantities seem quite small - 6ozs bread and 1oz cheese for breakfast for an able bodied man, for instance, would not go down well with my other half.
Samuel is down as a single man, aged 23, on the 1901 census. I can only guess as to why he was an inmate, but apparently people could apply to be admitted to the workhouse and they could ask to leave with only a few hours notice. Technically, leaving wouldn't be a difficulty - the workhouse wasn't a prison, however, there were no grants or financial support to help you set up home. If you left the workhouse where would you find money for rent and food?
I suspect that, once you were in, it would be difficult to find a way to leave.
Samuel was lucky, he was a single man. Married women - in 1901 - still could not leave without the permission of their husband.
Samuel was described as a pauper. Why was this? He was presumably able bodied at the time - I've seen nothing in the other records to suggest that he was an invalid. Maybe 1901 was a period of great unemployment.
Another area I must research.
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