Christmas in the Workhouse Written by Pam Preedy. ‘Please Sir, I want some more.’ Who amongst us doesn’t recognise these words when Oliver Twist, an orphan, drew the short straw to ask for more food? Although this story by Charles Dickens was not set at Christmas, it illustrates one of the horrors of the workhouse – hunger. Poverty had always been a problem. It was generally believed that poverty was the fault of the poor because they were lazy and feckless. With the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII,…
Tag: Workhouse
Inmates of the ‘Grim Grey House” given a holiday… stories from the Workhouse
Workhouses, like the one in Bromley (now the PRU hospital), often organised holiday outings for the inmates. This article reports their annual outing in 1918 to the park at Hollydene in Keston, which the ‘poor folk’ were given to their disposal for the day. The article highlights the restrictions to food, high prices and rationing which had to be adhered to, but also the generous donations of toys, in spite of the high prices, and other supplies from local residents. But in spite of all this, the ‘poor folk’ still had…