The Poor of Bedminster and the Union Workhouse

Bedminster Poor-House January 11th 1833

N.B. All new applications for relief to be made to this house on Wednesdays (at nine o’clock) in the forenoon.

The majority of workhouses were built between the years 1835 and 1840. Usually they consisted of a cheerless looking two-storey block, built around a courtyard, with vegetable gardens lying behind. At the front, a narrow gate guarded the porter’s lodge, which had a large bell hanging above it. The premises were nearly always surrounded by a high wall.

On the 26th September 1837 Mr John Dadley contracted to build a workhouse at Long Ashton on behalf of the Board of Guardians of the Poor of Bedminster Union. The architects were George Gilbert Scott and William Bonython Moffatt of Charlton Chambers, No 12 Regent Street, London.

The first election of Guardians had taken place on the 11th April 1836 and the Union was formed on the same date.

The first meeting of the Guardians took place on the 12th April 1836 at the Red Cow Inn, Bedminster. (This was not far from the location of the old Poor-house).

The parishes constituting the Bedminster Union were as follows; the numbers in brackets are the number of Guardians for that parish.

In the Bristol Mirror of March 2nd 1839 the following advertisement requesting tenders for the supply of provisions and clothing for the Bedminster Poor Law Union, appeared.

Good Ox beef, consisting of such joints as may be ordered for the Master’s and Matron’s table; also Shifts and Sticking pieces, the Shifts not to weigh less than 40 lbs and the Sticking pieces not less than 30 lbs. The deficiency, if any, to be made up alternatively from the prime and coarse parts of other similar joints.

Also a separate tender for beef, consisting of such joints as may be ordered for the Master’s and Matron’s table and the fore-quarters of prime Ox beef.

As may be seen from the list, Bedminster Union covered a considerable area of North Somerset.

Under the Bristol Corporation Act of 1897, parts of the parish of Bedminster (excluding Bishopsworth), Long Ashton. and Easton in Gordano, were transferred to the City of Bristol in 1898 and consequently came under the Bristol Board of Guardians. The remaining parishes continued to be known as the Bedminster Union until the 25th of March 1899, when it was renamed the Long Ashton Union.

(Later known as Cambridge House it became Farleigh Hospital about 1962)

It had been originally intended that the Overseers of the Poor should be persons of property. However, it was generally the case that the higher a person’s social standing, the less inclined he was to assume the duties of this unpaid, time-consuming office. More often than not, gentlemen and others of substance preferred to pay a fine, rather than take up the post, thereby increasing the burden of those who really had neither the time nor interest for the job - the small tradesmen and farmers. When the job was thrust upon them, the latter group did just enough of their duties to get by, involving themselves as little as possible in parish business.

It was not unknown, when the position of Overseer was unpaid, for the early Overseers to pocket some of the Parish Poor Money for themselves. In addition, as many of the officers were either uninterested, or incapable, of undertaking some of the tasks, they contracted for an outsider to provide a particular branch of service i.e. Doctors - or joiners to provide coffins at a fixed rate.

Contracts were also given to persons to convey all vagrants back to their own parish and even to run the workhouse. The latter arrangement was not to the advantage of the poor and it was more usual, than not, for the contractor to line his pockets at the expense of the ratepayer, as well as the needy.

In these early days Overseers were obliged to submit their accounts, within four days from the end of their office, to the justices. It was seldom that the figures produced were queried.

The Poor Rates

By 1830 the soaring cost of the Poor Rates had given rise to discontent on the part of those who were obliged to subscribe to them. The general opinion was voiced that a drastic change in the Poor Laws was overdue. This was not so much due to the amount spent nationally on the poor, but rather against the unequal distribution of the rates. (A not altogether foreign phenomenon of the present day). Agricultural communities tended to be the hardest hit financially and in Sussex, for example, the rate was 23 shillings in the pound; twice the national average.

Some parishes had attempted to solve the problem by abolishing out-door relief altogether, insisting that all paupers reside inside the workhouse. Here, because of the strictness of the regulations, few found themselves able to tolerate the conditions imposed upon them and left. In other instances, those in charge of workhouses considered that applicants who were mere cases of distress should be refused, unless aged, infirm or impotent. The Poorhouse, more than ever, came to be looked upon with dread by the labouring classes.

After much discussion, in March 1834, a Report of the Royal Commission was published. This, originally drafted by a journalist, Edwin Chadwick, was re-written and became the blueprint for the Union Workhouses.

In order to secure continuity of policy and administration - a situation not likely to occur under the compulsory system of electing unwilling Overseers, Assistant Overseers were employed at a small salary. Later, at the institution of the Union, the various officers had to provide a bond at their time of applying for the position in which they were interested.

In July 1848 the record shows a declaration for Relieving Officer by Benjamin John Room, of Bedminster. Sureties were put up on his behalf by Daniel Crabtree, Grocer and Tea-dealer of Bedminster, and Joseph Tomkins, Yeoman, of Bedminster. The Bond was for £80.

The following note was attached to the application.

'Sir, we hereby certify that Mr Daniel Crabtree and Mr Joseph Tomkins are living and solvent to our belief'

Signed Robert Phippen - F.V. Jacques - Churchwardens of Bedminster.

Another bond of the 14th June 1859 for Master of the Workhouse was that of William Allies

(who was successful) of Long Ashton, with sureties on his behalf by

Edward Wolff Chadwick of Long Ashton, Solicitor, and Charles Herbert of Lower Court, Long Ashton, Gentleman. The bond was for £100.

The position of Clerk to the Guardians was held in high esteem for the bond required, on the 7th September, 1868, was for £400. The applicant in this case was Mr Henry O’Brien O’Donoghue of Bristol, Gentleman, with a surety from Marcus Samuel Cam Rickards of Bristol, Gentleman. The applicant was successful and held the position until at least 1883.

The records show similar applications for the years 1845 to 1874.

The duty of the Clerk to the Guardians, apart from general administration, was that of appointing medical officers for each district The salary for Union doctors was much lower than that of Prison doctors and a surgeon, for example, was paid about £250 in the Prison Service, compared with a salary of £78 in the Union.

Initially, workhouse Masters, more often than not, were recruited from former policemen and army N.C.O’s. However, their zest for military type discipline did not go down at all well with civilian paupers. Some masters from this type of background were notorious for their cruelty towards the inmates of their ‘house’, often withholding the meagre rations to which they were entitled. But, it must be added, some Masters were men with a sense of vocation, who held their post for a number of years. In spite of what these might wish to do to help those under their care, they were only able to do as much as the Poor Law Regulations permitted.

It would appear that William Allies, who was Master of the Bedminster Union Workhouse from 1845 to 1866 was not an unkindly man. He is mentioned in 'Rural Rides' by the 'Churchgoer' (circa 1850).

Bedminster Union Workhouse

When I had taken my seat in the chapel attached to the Bedminster Union Workhouse, and saw the old people totter in and occupy their places, I could not help saying to myself, ‘What on earth can there be left in life for these poor people - to make them care for it?’ There are the young, they have the hope and prospect of better days; these four walls will not, in all probability, bound their sphere until they are bourne out of them to a pauper’s grave.

But the old people - what have they to care for: what have they to interest them? What a total vacancy they must endure. The very regularity and certainty with which their food is provided for them, by depriving them of all solicitude on that head, must increase the apathy of their dismal existance

It was then past five o’clock and the falling evening began to fill the long empty rooms with thickening shadows; making the double lines of beds appear somewhat spectral in the gloom; and seeming as chilling in their rigid regularity as if it were impossible that anybody could warm in them.

As I followed the Master down the centre of those long-drawn apartments, with a depressing sense of their dreariness, which was not at all diminished by our sounding footsteps and the deepening shadows, I noticed the cover-lid of one of the beds move as I passed and, on looking again, I saw it was occupied by an old man, the sole evening inmate of those long, lonely rooms. When I thought of the crescent of faces around the fire below, which I had just seen, the utter desolation of the poor bed-ridden creature struck me as solitary and wretched to the extreme.

‘That is a poor huntsman, sir’, observed my friend Allies, seeing me pause, ‘He was many years in the service of Mr Assheton Smith, and having had his legs and arms broken by falls, I don’t know how often, now suffers dreadfully from rheumatism’.

Unhappy remnant! thought I. So this is the fate of the old huntsman; break his bones and then let him crawl to the door of the nearest Poorhouse. The old hunter is better off, when his work is done, he is turned into the paddock; but the human animal as soon as he is used up, is turned off to be knawed by rheumatism until death divorces him from his suffering in a Union Workhouse.

This report speaks for itself and also shows, by what was reported and how it was reported, that some men, at least, had sympathetic emotions towards those less fortunate than themselves.

It is possible to list various Masters of the Bedminster Union Workhouse from their signatures in the Register of Deaths Book.

These were:

1866 William Allies - 1868 James O’Hara - 1873 Haydon Stone

1892 Haydon Stone -1899 V. Spencer - 1902 G.Heath

1905 R. Brown - 1909 I. Hole

Workhouse staff

The Matron of the Workhouse was often the wife of the Master. Her principal duties appear to have been that of accompanying the doctor on his rounds and to superviser the nurses, many of whom were paupers lacking any formal training for the job.

The Master and Matron between them only commanded a salary of about £80. Prison Governors were paid, on average, £600 per annum; the highest recorded salary for a Master is £150. Where the matron was separately employed she was paid, in the prison service, £125, but only £50 in the Workhouse. Other occupations were similarly paid at lower rates.

Long hours were another contributory factor to Workhouse staff grievances, for there was little provision made for time off or regular holidays. It could be said that staff were as fully confined to the premises as the inmates.

Schoolmasters were under particular pressure for, unlike a normal school, they had no long vacations to look forward to and this, coupled with the small salary they received, caused many to leave the Poor Law Service after a short time.

In 1840 Henry Doggell was confirmed as schoolmaster to the Bedminster Union but, by the 25th February 1841, he must have resigned, for his place was being taken by William Cox at the salary of £23 p.a. He, in turn, had left by February 1842, when Samuel Weaver was appointed in his place. The Poor Law Commissioners, obviously perturbed at this quick turnover of the teaching staff, wished to know why William Cox had resigned. Samuel Weaver, on appointment, was given double rations in addition to his £20 p.a.

In July 1843 Elizabeth Cooksley was appointed schoolmistress, on the resignation of Fanny Royal, at a salary of £15 p.a. and double rations. By December Miss Cooksley had resigned and her place was taken by Fanny Lock. Again the Poor Law Commissioners queried why a member of the teaching staff had left after such a short period.

In October 1840 the Bedminster Guardians asked the Poor Law Commissioners for permission to pay one shilling a week to a pauper, so that he could instruct boys in shoe-making. The Commissioners refused, stating that 'The parish which maintains him there (in the workhouse) is entitled to his labour in return'. They went on to suggest, however, that the Guardians take him on as a member of the staff of the establishment. His salary would then be charged to such and he would no longer be a pauper. The man was eventually engaged at £2-12-0 p.a. plus his maintenance and clothing.

This was an instance, among many recorded, which shows that while the Poor Laws were fairly rigid, those who applied them could look for a humane solution when the occasion justified it.

This is shown further in the case of Mary Deacon, whose petition to the Commissioners was as follows.

The Humble Petition of Mary Deacon

That your petitioner is the wife of John Deacon residing in the parish of Portbury in the Union of Bedminster, Somerset.

That she has nine children and is again to be confined. That her eldest daughter, Mary Ann Deacon, was seduced and was confined two months ago of a bastard child - that your petitioner has tried every means to induce the Board of Guardians either to receive her daughter and her bastard child into the Union House, or to allow any relief out of the House, but that the Board of Guardians have always refused to permit her said daughter to reside in the House or to be relieved out of it.

That your petitioner’s daughter is, and has been, a low desponding way and that your petitioner has been restrained from turning her said daughter out of your petitioner’s house from a thorough conviction that her daughter would put into practice what she has threatened to do. viz, to commit suicide - and on these grounds your petitioner being unable to support her said daughter, has prayed that she might be received at the Union Workhouse, but that her prayer is, and has always been, refused. Your petitioner hopes your humble Board will take the case into consideration and make such an order as you may think right. And your petitioner as in duty bound will ever pray.

Signed Mary Deacon.

The Poor Law Commissioners sent a copy of this petition to the Bedminster Board of Guardians, asking for their observations and wanting to know on what grounds the girl and child were refused admission. The Guardians replied that, in their consideration, an able-bodied woman was capable of supporting herself and child without parochial assistance.

In their judgement, which showed more compassion than that of the Board of Guardians, the commissioners stated that the Guardians should rarely refuse an application for entry into the Workhouse, and not to over enquire into the circumstances of the applicant. Apparently realising, more so than the local Board, that no one was likely to apply for admission unless they were absolutely compelled to do so.

Sometimes, however, they allowed the local authority to use its own judgement for a particular situation. As in the case of a pauper who had been banned from receiving a newspaper, the 'Weekly Despatch', because the discussion in its pages concerning the Poor Law was controversial. They stated 'The Guardians and Master should stop entry of any such paper, should they consider it to incite insubordination amongst the inmates'.

On January 5th 1839 the following advertisement was placed in the ‘Bristol Mirror’ by the Clerk for the Bedminster Union.

Bedminster Poor Law Union

Notice is hereby given that the Board of Guardians of this Union will proceed to the election of fit and proper persons to fill the situations of Porter and Nurse at the new Workhouse situate in the parish of Long Ashton, on Tuesday the 15th instant.

The salary of the Porter will be £20 p.a. and the salary of the Nurse will be £20 p.a., with coals, candles and provisions the House affords, without stint as to quantity.

Testimonials as to character and qualifications to be left at the Clerk’s office on, or before, Monday the 14th instant and the parties applying must appear personally before the Board of Guardians on Tuesday the 15th instant at 11 o’clock in the forenoon, when the election will take place. The Porter is expected to enter on the duties of his office immediately.

Signed - Joseph Harper - Clerk

The position of Porter does not seem to have been a satisfactory one and does not appear to have attracted anyone from outside the Workhouse for, on the 9th June, 1842, the Commissioners were questioning the judgement of the Bedminster Guardians in allowing a pauper, Thomas Taylor, to act as Porter at the age of 75.

The situation came to light when Taylor complained to the Commissioners that he had received no pay for the job, pointing out that the previous porter had been paid 8d a week. He said he was being paid lOs 6d a quarter, for officiating in the chapel, and had previously been a porter at the Bristol Infirmary and at Dr. Fox’s, Brislington..

Taylor’s complaint to the Commissioners must have antagonised the local Guardians because on the 23rd July 1842, James Colliers was appointed porter in his place. (The Commissioners wanted to know why Taylor had resigned but, no doubt, the Guardians used the Commissioners’ original remark concerning Taylor’s age as the reason). Colliers was appointed at a salary of £2-2-O p.a. with clothes and double rations provided.

The lot of a Workhouse Porter was not always an easy one and it has been said that they, as a class, were sympathetic to the unfortunate poor who sought admission, but were inclined to be hard on vagrants and tramps. The Bedminster Union Porter in 1876 had Shad rack Wedlock to contend with.

Wedlock, on the 7th of January of that year, was recorded in the Offences and Punishments Book as being drunk, using the most disgusting and abusive language and threatening to cut the porter’s throat. For this offence he was sentenced to 21 days hard labour.

On the 8th August 1876 he was again reported for using foul language to the porter while drunk, then tearing up his own clothes. When, in September, he struck the porter with his stick, Wedlock was given 2 months hard labour. There do not appear to be any more reports concerning him for the year 1877, so one might assume that he had left the Workhouse for a period. However, no doubt to the vexation of the Workhouse Porter, he was back in January 1878, his usual drunken and abusive self; which condition earned him a reprimand from the Magistrates.

For a similar offence on the 27th February he was given potatoes and water, instead of meat, for one day. This appeared to be the story of Shadrack Wedlock’s life. For a later offence in November 1878 he was again put on potatoes and water and when, on the 26th of November he threw food in the yard and was insolent to the Master, he earned himself one month’s hard labour. He was, of course, exceptional in his behavior for, although other inmates committed similar offences, they were never so consistent as he.

Workhouse Offences

A cross section of offenders and their punishments is taken from the Offences and Punishment Book.

December 18th 1871.

John Sampson - given 21 days in Shepton Mallet prison for refusing to work.

Ada Smith - for refusing to work - locked up for four hours.

Clara Allen - for swearing during prayers and neglecting to clean herself - 10 hours on bread and water.

Caroline Dudley - for refusing to work and being dirty in her person, 7 hours in the lockup on bread and water. For creating a disturbance in the Porter’s Lodge and refusing to go to the tramp’s ward - 14 days hard labour.

It was a common punishment for women to be put on bread and water, instead of a meat dinner, for one day. When in 1876, a boy, Thomas Clarke, had his ears boxed and received 4 strokes with the cane from the schoolmaster, the then Master of the Workhouse, Mr. Haydon-Stone, made a written comment in the book that he ‘Wished to express an opinion on such mode of punishment, and begged to decline being called to witness the like again'.

March 27th 1878.

William Shakespear - a vagrant - for refusing to do the work as ordered him, was given in charge of the police but was later discharged by the magistrate.

Comment: 'This man had lost an eye and he refused to break stones for fear a piece of one should hit him in the other and blind him, but offered to do other work. The magistrates expressed an opinion that the doctor might have been sent for.

Some of the women in the Workhouse appear to have been a little more outspoken, or offensive, than their male counterparts.

8th August 1878.

Hart Thomas - showing her person to the women in the bedroom and telling them in a loud voice to 'Look at that' She then went to Mrs Cavill’s bed and, tuming from her, bent forward and broke wind in a most offensive manner. Given 21 days hard labour.

Comment: She had done this before ‘most filthy woman’.

20th November 1878.

Sarah Tranter - Using foul and disgusting language and, with a knife in her hand, threatening to ‘rip open the bastard guts’ of Rose Brooks'.

22nd November 1878.

Selina Williams - refusing to work and telling the nurse to; ‘kiss her backside and put her nose up it.’ Making use of the same language to Matron. 14 days hard labour.

Sometimes the local Guardians were inundated with people claiming relief. Such an occasion was in December 1841. In a letter to the Poor Law Commissioners they pointed out that 200 to 300 workmen in a large Iron and Shipbuilding Manufactory had been discharged by their employers; that a large number of them had large families and belonged to the parish of Bedminster. Their request to grant outdoor relief was confirmed by the Commissioners. Shortly afterwards, in June 1842, the Workhouse was full. The Board of Guardians suggested that all able-bodied paupers be put on stone-breaking in a yard to be provided by the Guardians. This was agreed.

This practice of labour-yards increased during the 1860’s throughout the country. Those attending every day and completing the prescribed tasks, were given a weekly allowance, usually a third in kind. The workers retumed home at night.

A note of the year 1843 refers to a burial fee claimed by the Rev. Edward Burges of Portbury. He claimed that a pauper, who died in Bedminster Workhouse, but of Portbury Parish, had been interred by him and a burial fee of £1-1-0 was due. The Poor Law Commissioners said the claim was valid as the incumbent was within his rights to refuse burial unless the fee was forthcoming.

As early as Elizabethan days statesmen had decided that a form of apprenticeship was the way to equip poor children for life and thus obtain economic independence. It was generally felt that a person so trained could be expected to maintain himself and not, therefore, impose upon his parish for assistance.

There were two methods of affecting apprenticeships. One was voluntary on the part of the master and took the form of a business deal between himself and the Overseer and Churchwarden. The other was compulsory, the master being forced to take the child by the officers of the parish. With compulsory apprenticeship the child was confined within the parish concerned and people who refused to take the child were fined. The collection of these fines was used by some parishes as a means of revenue, when masters decided to pay these instead of taking an apprentice.

The costs of the premiums were borne by the parish. Children were bound out at an early age and usually only accepted by the poorer class of tradesman. Girls, usually rejected by the better class of employer because of their background, often became streetwalkers or thieves.

One of the most notorious of trades to which young boys were introduced at the early age of five or six, was that of chimney sweep for, being small, they were able to climb the narrow restricted chimneys.

It was rather unfortunate too, in many cases, that when a poor lad had been apprenticed within another parish, thus gaining a 'settlement' the parish lost all interest in his welfare. Apprentices in parishes other than their own had usually been taken on by tradesmen who had little work for them, or any intention of teaching them the trade, being only interested in the premiums the apprenticeship brought them. Sometimes the master went out of business, bankrupt, or absconded.

Bedminster Union Apprentices

The following are Bedminster Union Apprentices for the years 1856 to 1867 inclusive.

1856 George Derrick - age 13 - mother Elizabeth. Lives Union Workhouse of the parish of Bedminster.

Bound to John Savery - Baker - Parish of Bedminster, for 7 years at a fee of £2. To live and work at Mr Savery’s house, Somerset Parade, Cathay (Redcliff).

1855 Abraham Pimm - age 14 - orphan residing at the Union. Parish of Bedminster. Bound to William Chorley, Cordwainer of the parish of Long Ashton. For 7 years at a fee of £3.

1858 Henry Abraham - age 14 - orphan residing at Union. Parish of Bedminster.

Bound to Thomas Farr, confectioner - Westbury-on-Trym.

For 7 years at a fee of £3-15-0.

1861 Henry Abraham was bound to Richard Huxtable - Baker, of Bedminster, for 5 years at a fee of £1-0-0. The reason for the transfer was that Farr had absconded.

1860 Henry George Johnson - age 13 - parish of Bedminster. Bound to Charles Coles - tailor - Hill Street, St. Pauls, Bristol - for a term of 7 years.

1863 Thomas Weekes - age 14 - parish of Bedminster - Bound to William Bowden Shoemaker of Nailsea.

1864 John Bowden - age 14 - deserted by his mother and father - parish of Bedminster. Bound to John Landown - Boot and shoe maker of Portishead.

1864 John Johnstone - age 13 - orphan - parish of Bedminster - Bound to James Lenthall - tailor - St Mary Redcliff - to live with master - Bound for 5 years.

1864 Richard Staddon - orphan - parish of Bedminster. Bound to William Bowden of Nailsea - shoemaker - for 7 years.

It was stated that he would be paid 4d a week for the first two years; 6d a week for the following two years, then 1/- for the remainder of the term. (This was standard payment in most apprenticeships).

1867 William Hollyman - age 14 - Bound to Robert Snook Harrison - Baker - of No.1 Spring Street, Bedminster. To live and work at the same address and to be allowed to attend St Luke’s Sunday School. The payment was as before.

Apart from sending out boys from the Workhouse to become apprentices, other young persons were put out to work. Between the years 1851 to 1867 the following have been recorded. Some entries which were illegible, or incomplete, have been omitted.

July 26th 1851- Henry Masters - age 15 - put out to John Grist - Woodcutter.

June 1852 - Elizabeth Reynolds - age 14 - put out to Sarah Bishop - Milkseller of the ‘Whitehouse’, Bedminster.

January 1852 - Matilda Masters - age 13 - put out to Maria Hile - Tailoress - Charlotte Street, Bedminster.

15th July 1853 - Mary Ann Cox - age 15 - put out to James Webber Boucher - Gentleman -Rose Cottage, Bedminster.

14th February 1854 - Sarah Selway - age 14 - put out to Robert Millard - Baker - Brown’s Row, Bedminster.

May 1855 - George Masters - age 13 - put Out to P. Tennear - Tailor - East Street, Bedminster.

May 1855 - May Ann Youd - age 13 - put out to Emma Reeves - Bookshop - Whitehouse Street, Bedminster.

29th October 1855 - Henry Davis - age 14 - put out to John Duffen - Gentleman - Bedminster.

14th May 1857 - Robert Moon - age 14 - put out to Robert Lock - Shoemaker - Bedminster.

12th September 1857 - Henry Smith - age 12 - put out to Robert Williams - Shoemaker - Bedminster.

September 1857 - Elizabeth Bailey - age 14 - put out to Eliza Clark - Engineer.

July 1858 - Eliza Lyons - age 14 - put out to Robert Joshua - Shoemaker - Bedminster.

August 1866 - Henry Pope - age 13 - put out to George Challinger - Farmer.

January 1867 - Thomas Smele - age 15 - put out to Charles Gillet - Milkman.

April 1867 - Charlotte Main - age 12 - put out to William Pearce - Publican.

May 1867 - Albert Brian - age 13 - put out to Henry Wildegoose - Harrier.

Bristol Orphanage Census 1851

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