Secrets from the Workhouse

[oldbluefox]

Did anybody see Secrets from the Workhouse on ITV last night?

Now that was poverty. What hard lives those people led. It makes you realise just how far we have come in the past 100 years.

[Dancing Queen]

I saw bits of it Foxy, makes you realise how lucky you are

[oldbluefox]

We knew a chap who used to walk with us who went to school barefooted. He would only be in his early 70's now. My dad (one of 12) used to go to school in his brother's hand me down football boots with the studs taken out.
By comparison even the poorest are wealthy beyond belief.

[Gill W]

I watched that programme, as I have a family connection with the workhouse system.

My great grandparents met in Mile End workhouse, in East London.

Not as inmates, but they worked there. My great grandfather was a relieving officer (admitting people to the workhouse or paying poor relief) and my great grandmother was a teacher.

It makes me slightly uncomfortable that they were involved in administering a system which now seems harsh, but at the time it would have been the norm. They were just doing their job

[Kendhni]

Did anybody see Secrets from the Workhouse on ITV last night?

Now that was poverty. What hard lives those people led. It makes you realise just how far we have come in the past 100 years.

Saw parts of it .. similar to another documentary they did a while back.
You are correct that it shows how far we have come, but sadly many other parts of the world have not made the same advancements we have ... it also shows that some people these days do not realise just how lucky they are.

[Jan Rosser]

Did anybody see Secrets from the Workhouse on ITV last night?

Now that was poverty. What hard lives those people led. It makes you realise just how far we have come in the past 100 years.

Saw parts of it .. similar to another documentary they did a while back.
You are correct that it shows how far we have come, but sadly many other parts of the world have not made the same advancements we have ... it also shows that some people these days do not realise just how lucky they are.

You are both right we are very fortunate today - my mother who is now 90 had a very poor childhood. Her mother was widowed and my mother's 9 year old sister died of TB - they had no money and fortunately family took them in - the alternative was the workhouse. Families rallied around each other in those days - it was a close knit community but the nightmare of the workhouse hung over most people. When the pit was sunk in the valley my great grandfather was killed leaving his wife with five children - what a struggle that must have been to keep the family together.

Luckily my mother went to a grammar school although she tells me it was a real struggle for my grandmother but a good education could lift you out of poverty by giving you the tools to seek work. To this day mum doesn't waste anything - sell by and use by dates are often ignored - my sister and I say she has the constitution of an ox. She is the most unselfish person I know despite her hard upbringing she rarely treats herself to anything preferring to treat the family instead.

[Boris+]

I missed it - meant to watch it, but got caught up watching Mighty Ships. Sorry - the ship in question sparked a whole load of discussion which meant time online and the whole evening got spent doing that. I hope I can watch it on catch-up tv (the workhouse thing).

Em

[Silver_Shiney]

Is it available on catch-up TV? I would have liked to have seen that, I didn't know it was on (I watch very little TV)

[Susan Watt]

My mother in law had several strokes a couple of years ago which left her with cognitive problems. She has carers that visit 4 times a day to make sure she takes her medication and eats. We did try to persuade her to go into a home but she's having none of it. We don't know we could cope without the carers.

[Boris+]

Hi Alan,

I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment - I think (and hope) it's on catch-up tv!

Em

[Silver_Shiney]

Thanks, Em, I've found it, watched it and set up the rest of the series to record.

Terrible conditions, indeed.

What it didn't say was that if a child was orphaned, he or she could be sent to the workhouse. Several of the children that "we" looked after were "rescued from the workhouse" and, indeed, one or two workhouse managers applied for an orphan to transferred out to the orphanage.

[qbman1]

I saw it last night. Awful conditions and dreadful to think that only 70 years ago we were still treating people with such indignity and, yes, cruelty.

I do, however, have a bit of an issue with the programme itself. I personally feel there was far too much emphasis on the so called "celebrity" angle. Did we really need Barbara Taylor Bradford doing her drama queen bit and Brian Cox was hamming it up so much I thought he was auditioning for his next Hollywood blockbuster !

[david63]

I too caught up with it last night and didn't realise that the last workhouse was only closed down in 1948. Although it appears hard, and cruel(which it was), it has to be looked in the context of the times, which were a lot harder than now, and not by present day standards.

What I did find interesting was that although there was a stigma attached to "going in" the workhouse it did not prevent some from "using" the system by going in when they were ill or when having a baby - it seems that nothing has changed and that it is something inbuilt in some of the population.

There was also a glimmer of hope - it was stated that at the time of the workhouse Britain was one of the top, if not the top, trading country in the world yet still had many hundreds of thousands of extremely poor - something not didsimilar with the likes og India and China today.

[qbman1]

There was also a glimmer of hope - it was stated that at the time of the workhouse Britain was one of the top, if not the top, trading country in the world yet still had many hundreds of thousands of extremely poor - something not didsimilar with the likes og India and China today.

I think you are right there, David, it was a case of the population being either very rich or very, very poor with very little in between

[Silver_Shiney]

I saw it last night. Awful conditions and dreadful to think that only 70 years ago we were still treating people with such indignity and, yes, cruelty.

I do, however, have a bit of an issue with the programme itself. I personally feel there was far too much emphasis on the so called "celebrity" angle. Did we really need Barbara Taylor Bradford doing her drama queen bit and Brian Cox was hamming it up so much I thought he was auditioning for his next Hollywood blockbuster !

I agree about the celebrity angle - they never seem to have Joe Public on these programmes. On the other hand, it can be a very emotional experience to read the actual documents detailing why your ancestor was admitted to an institution, be it the workhouse or an orphanage and, having seen many people in that respect, I do not think the emotions we saw last night we anything other than authentic. I'd be inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt on that one.

[AngieT]

Thanks, Em, I've found it, watched it and set up the rest of the series to record.

Terrible conditions, indeed.

What it didn't say was that if a child was orphaned, he or she could be sent to the workhouse. Several of the children that "we" looked after were "rescued from the workhouse" and, indeed, one or two workhouse managers applied for an orphan to transferred out to the orphanage.

I missed the programme so will catch it later. Your comment makes me think of my ancestors Alan. I am doing my Family Tree & I found that my great, great, great grandparents died leaving 6 children aged 4 to 16. The eldest 3 (girls including my great, great gran) went into service whilst the youngest 3 went into the Workhouse (it's now a medical museum attached to our largest hospital). The youngest, Alice Grace, died in the workhouse at the age of 9 & is buried in the cemetery opposite the hospital. The story goes that my great, great gran was very upset that she couldn't afford to bring Alice into her home when she got married and started her own family. A very sad part of our family history. I also found on my husband's side that one of his great grandfathers ended his days in the same workhouse - something we find very sad as he had 8 children & not one of them took him in!

[qbman1]

I saw it last night. Awful conditions and dreadful to think that only 70 years ago we were still treating people with such indignity and, yes, cruelty.

I do, however, have a bit of an issue with the programme itself. I personally feel there was far too much emphasis on the so called "celebrity" angle. Did we really need Barbara Taylor Bradford doing her drama queen bit and Brian Cox was hamming it up so much I thought he was auditioning for his next Hollywood blockbuster !

I agree about the celebrity angle - they never seem to have Joe Public on these programmes. On the other hand, it can be a very emotional experience to read the actual documents detailing why your ancestor was admitted to an institution, be it the workhouse or an orphanage and, having seen many people in that respect, I do not think the emotions we saw last night we anything other than authentic. I'd be inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt on that one.

I'm probably a bit of an old cynic SS, but I would never trust an accomplished actor's "emotions"

[Silver_Shiney]

I missed the programme so will catch it later. Your comment makes me think of my ancestors Alan. I am doing my Family Tree & I found that my great, great, great grandparents died leaving 6 children aged 4 to 16. The eldest 3 (girls including my great, great gran) went into service whilst the youngest 3 went into the Workhouse (it's now a medical museum attached to our largest hospital). The youngest, Alice Grace, died in the workhouse at the age of 9 & is buried in the cemetery opposite the hospital. The story goes that my great, great gran was very upset that she couldn't afford to bring Alice into her home when she got married and started her own family. A very sad part of our family history. I also found on my husband's side that one of his great grandfathers ended his days in the same workhouse - something we find very sad as he had 8 children & not one of them took him in!

We've found that many families from that era were large and couldn't afford to take another mouth in to feed. It is sad and you would have hoped that respect for their elders would have caused folks to maybe make more of an effort but if you are desparately poor yourself.... who knows? I was looking at a record yesterday - the two girls concerned had an older sister, but she was in service so would have been wholly unable to care for her younger siblings. She did at least make the effort to get them transferred out of the workhouse to us.

[Boris+]

Finally I have managed to see the episode in question. I didn't think very much of it - were viewers supposed to feel sorry for the celebrities?

Em

[Silver_Shiney]

Feel sorry for the individuals who "lived" there by all means, but it was another time, another era.

[oldbluefox]

I thought the celebrities spoilt it - ham over-acting which was totally unnecessary. As others have said by today's standards it was harsh but there was actually a very caring underbelly to what they were trying to achieve and even in those days they were able to identify 'malingerers', a reality which was so abhorrent to Brian Cox. My goodness, they labelled his ancestor a malingerer! Whatever next! Clearly some of them, for whatever reason, played the system.

[Silver_Shiney]

I've just watched the concluding part of this documentary. I think the point was well made that attitudes in the Victorian era (and later) were very different to what they are now.

Having hosted many people these last six years researching their family histories, I have no doubt that the emotions displayed by the celebrities were genuine.