The Union Workhouse

This page contains three articles. The first by Frances Sabine whose interest is that her Great Grandmother lived there for a period. The second article is by Margaret Ingram whose maternal Great Grandfather was Thomas Lovelock who was on the Board of Guardians. The third is taken from the web page of Peter Higginbotham with his permission. You can find the full details of many other Workhouses at Peter's web site http://users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/index.html

KINGSCLERE WORKHOUSE - By Frances Sabine

My own interest in the Kingsclere Workhouse stems from the fact that my great-grandmother, Harriett Lovell, spent over three years there with her mother Elizabeth and two sisters. According to the Admission Registers, Elizabeth had apparently been 'deserted by her husband' a farm labourer, in 1850, and although her mother, Mary Wythe, was dead, her father James was still living locally. Why did he not take her in? Was there not enough room in his cottage at Playstow Green, where he lived next to his son James and his young family? Perhaps he could not afford to keep a daughter and three children. So Elizabeth and the children entered the workhouse in March 1850. Luckily the story had a happy ending: by May 1853 Elizabeth and family had left Kingsclere and reappeared in West Ham, London, in 1871, complete with husband William, a dock labourer. Had he gone to find work on the dock expansion? How did he come back for them? What happened in the intervening years? I may never know.
Harriett was five when she entered the workhouse, her sister Jane was nine and baby Mary was a year old. I wanted to find out what their life was like, so I investigated the records in the Hampshire Record Office. The Minute Books of the Board of Guardians of Kingsclere Union give many details of the decisions made and some glimpses of the effect on the inhabitants. Quotations taken directly from these Minute Books are reproduced here in red.
Kingsclere Workhouse was built, or enlarged from the original workhouse building, in 1835-6, as a direct result of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. Like most workhouses, it had a Master and a Mistress, a Porter, a Schoolmaster and a Schoolmistress. Life was not very pleasant, but it was not intended to be. All able-bodied people who sought poor relief were to be given it, but unlike in the years before 1834, only within the workhouse. The previous system of 'outdoor relief' was considered too lax and expensive. If the workhouse conditions were seen to be grim, only the most destitute would be forced to enter
Food was basic, but enough to keep the inmates alive. The following list gives the tender for supplies recorded by the Master for the 27th September to 27th December1851

Mutton - workhouse	5d
Ox Heads and Hoofs	3/-
Shins of Beef	3/-
Suet	4d
Sheep's Heads	10d
Mutton - Kingsclere district	5d
Bacon	6d
Lard	6d
Hair Brooms	12/- 16/- 18/- doz
Scrubb. Brushes	8/- 10/- 12/- doz
Candles	4¾d
Butter	7¾d
Cheese	4¼d
Pease	5/-
Sugar	4d
Rice	1½d
Pepper	1/-
Tea	3/6d
Arrowroot	8d
Salt	2/-
Mustard	9d
Vinegar	1/4d
Starch	4½d
Soda	1/-
Blue	1/-
Mop Heads	9/-
Soap	4½d
Flour	£1-9-0d
Coffins for the year	8/-

It does not make appetising reading, especially the fact that much more seemed to be spent on brooms, brushes and mops than on meat - and that mainly ox heads and shin of beef.
The 'occasional' poor, or vagrants, were especially disapproved of, and their lives were made harsher than those of the more 'deserving' poor. On 24th April 1849, it was ordered:

That the master of the Workhouse do set every adult person not suffering under any temporary or permanent infirmity of Body being an occasional poor Person who shall be relieved in the said Workhouse in return for the Food and Lodging afforded to such person to perform the following task of work-
To pound Flints into Two Gallons of Sand or Grit for Mortar or
To pound Gravel Stones into Four Gallons of Sand and Grit or
To pump Water for Two Hours with Intervals of rest or change.

As a teacher myself, I was particularly interested in the school which was attached to the workhouse. According to the 1834 Act, the Union had to provide at least three hours per day schooling with a schoolmaster or schoolmistress. This was well in advance of the 1870 Education Act in which the principle of compulsory elementary education was first established. Schools were expected to teach children "reading, writing, arithmetic and the principles of the Christian religion and such other instruction as may fit them for service and train them to habits of industry and virtue." However, the standard of education in workhouses often left a great deal to be desired.
The Schoolmaster and Schoolmistress held important posts, with the Schoolmaster being paid more than the Schoolmistress. In previous years, the post of Schoolmaster and Porter had been combined, with some saving on lodging for the Union. On the 26th February 1850, it was recorded that

'Jane Howell having been on probation as schoolmistress from the 9th February was this day elected to the office at the salary of Twenty Five Pounds, with 2 rations Coals, Candles and Lodging.'

Two years earlier, the standards at the school were firmly criticised by the Guardians. On November 7th 1848 it is stated:

'…it having been ascertained by the Board this day that the boys and girls are very deficient in intellectual education. The Board have directed that both the Boys and the Girls shall be employed during the Winter Months for Two Hours and a half each day in industrial education including Knitting for the Boys and Needle Work for the Girls under the management of the Schoolmaster and Schoolmistress.'

More criticism was yet to come. On 4th June 1850, the minutes record that:

'The Inspector of Schools, Mr Ruddock, attended the Board, and on his recommendation the following Books were ordered to be procured:
12 (copies) (book) IIId, 12 sequel to IId, 21 IId of the Reading Books published by the Irish National Board of Education and a Black Board on Easels'

Presumably the school was found deficient in teaching the first R! However, Harriett certainly learned to write neatly at the Workhouse School, for she signed the marriage register in 1870 with a beautiful hand.

References:
At Hampshire Record Office:
Kingsclere Board of Guardians Minute Book - PL3/11
Kingsclere Union Workhouse Records - PL5/7

THE UNION WORKHOUSE by Margaret Ingram

Originally there was a poor house on the northwest side of the churchyard. In 1836 the Union Workhouse was built on 4 acres of land, Fosberry's Piddle. It would appear that this land once belonged to Robert Higham. The cost of building the Workhouse was £3500 and it was situated near the roundabout on the by-pass and the garden was parallel to Newbury Road. It was enlarged in 1850 at a further cost of £1100, giving accommodation for 300 inmates, but there were only 143 in 1851 and this had decreased to 82 by 1890 and still further to 42 in 1931. There were 112 inmates in 1872 and 974 non-residents who received relief with the average daily cost of 5d, in 1905 there were 69 inmates and 266 people receiving relief who lived in their own homes, with the average daily cost being 6½d.
The inmates could come from 16 parishes as far apart as Baughurst to Highclere and Litchfield. In 1859 the Board of Guardians were meeting weekly, alternatively at the Workhouse and at the Carnarvon Arms, Whitway, near Burghclere. When my (Margaret Ingram's) great grandfather was on the Board early in this century he used to leave his pony and trap at Lower Mill. He was Thomas Lovelock.
In 1859 the expenditure amounted to £5900. It is interesting comparing prices and in 1867 Mr Penford the local butcher supplied necks of mutton for 7d. per lb.; Mr Prior the local grocer butter at 11½d. per lb., cheese 6d. per lb.; Mr Sidery another grocer supplied sugar at 4d, rice 2d., bread 7d fro a 4lb loaf; Mr Rolfe coal at 19/- a ton; Mr Wells port wine at 12/- a gallon, brandy at 24/- a gallon and ale from Mr Drake at 1/- a gallon. In the following year coffins were 10/- each and home cured bacon 9d. per lb. By 1902 bread had actually gone down in price to 4½d, raisins and currants were 4d a lb and salt 2/6 per cwt. Officers had a better quality meat than inmates, their meat cost 9d per lb against inmates at 8d.
In March 1868 a nurse was appointed for a salary of £22 a year and 5/- a week instead of "Rations". In 1874 the following appeared in the Newbury Weekly News - "A schoolmistress is wanted by the Kingsclere Union to teach children in the Workhouse. The salary will be determined by the Board of Guardians and will not exceed £35 a year." In July 1886 Miss E Jefferies from Salisbury was "elected as an industrial trainer". [In 1881 census Eva Green form Glastonbury, Somerset was the trainer - ed]
It appears from press cuttings that Kingsclere was quite a good area to be in as there were several people who paid for "treats" for those unfortunate enough to live in the Workhouse. In 1886 to celebrate Ormonde winning The Derby, John Porter, who trained the horse, gave a "substantial dinner" consisting of roast beef, veal, ham, roast leg of mutton and plum pudding. Children were given sweets and oranges and the adults ginger beer. Each person was given 6d and plum cake at teatime. "At bedtime three deafening cheers were given to Mr and Mrs Porter". A month later the children spent the day at Highclere Castle where they were given beef, pork and plum pudding. Games were played and they had swings and they didn't reach Kingsclere until 9.30p.m.
They were not forgotten at Christmas and in 1893 the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon gave the men tobacco and the women tea and sugar. The children received a present from the Christmas tree given by Ladies Margaret and Victoria Herbert. Rev H Munn gave a Magic Lantern show, which men of 78/80 years had never seen before. A few days later Dr Reginald Maples gave toys and sweets to the children. On New Years Day presents were given by Dr Edwards and Miss F Holding and others and were entertained by the Master and Matron
At Christmas 1903 the Workhouse was decorated with evergreens, flowers and pot plants. For breakfast the residents were given ham and tongue and for dinner roast beef, turnips, brussel sprouts, potatoes, plum pudding, oranges, nuts, beer, minerals, tea and snuff.
The establishment closed down about 1957. Hungarian refugees came but did not stay. Mentally handicapped children came for two summers taking part in sports in the grounds.

Up to 1834
No information.
After 1834
Kingsclere Poor Law Union was formed on 3rd June 1835. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 18 in number, representing its 15 constituent parishes as listed below (figures in brackets indicate numbers of Guardians if more than one):
Ashmansworth, Baughurst, Burghclere, Crux Easton, Ewhurst, Hannington, Highclere, Itchingswell [Ecchinswell], Kingsclere (3), Litchfield, Sydmonton, Tadley, Woodcott, East Woodhay (2), Woolverton [Wolverton]. Later Addition: Newtown (from 1894)

The population falling within the Union at the 1831 census had been 7,885 — ranging from Ewhurst (population 38) to Kingsclere itself (2,532). The average annual poor-rate expenditure for the period 1832-35 had been £6,500 or 16s.8d. per head of the population.

The Kingsclere Union workhouse appears to have been the result in 1836-7 of a substantial enlargement of an existing parish workhouse at a site on the Newbury Road to the north of Kingsclere. In 1836, the Poor Law Commissioners had authorized the sum of £4,225 for the construction work for which the architect was George Adey. The resulting layout produced two courtyards with a supervisory hub at the centre. The workhouse location and layout are shown on the 1911 OS map below.

Kingsclere Workhouse site, 1911.

The buildings have now been completely demolished and the site is empty. [There is in fact a new development being undertaken at the site at the present time. It has until recently been used as a coal merchants storage yard - ed]

Records
Hampshire Record Office, Winchester. Holdings include Guardians' minute books (1835-1930); Admissions and discharges (1874-79, 1907-50); Births (1866-1930); Deaths (1866-1956); Creed register (1902-14); Punishment books (1871-1936); Inmates property register (1914-49); etc.