The horrors of the workhouse
By Anna Bartlett, BBC Northamptonshire
Workhouse: the very word conjures up images of Oliver Twist, Mr Bumble and a plate of gruel. But did you know that workhouses were not just a staple of Victorian Britain, but still existed officially until 1930?
Still as recently as the mid 1940s, workhouses took the form of institutions for the elderly, chronic sick, unmarried mothers and vagrants. For inmates of these institutions, life was no different to the workhouse conditions of the past.
George Holt from Corby remembers it all too well. In 1929, George's mother was considered destitute, so three-year-old George and his mother were moved into an institution in Oldham near Manchester. A neighbour had reported their family home as overcrowded, and overrun with children.
"I cannot imagine anything worse than what we all went through."
George Holt
George was later routinely separated from his mother and from the age of five was moved to a home for infants.
George says that during his time at the home for infants, he was expected to work to earn his keep and he rarely saw his own mother.
"You were looked after by two "so-called" mothers. Day to day life involved home work. You didn't have a carpet in those days and I had to scrub the floor in the proper manner, with the grain. Breakfast was very basic. Porridge, very thick, no sugar, no milk. And at night time you had 2 slices of bread with jam."
The discipline within the workhouse was very strict, and George was subjected to severe punishments. "Oh it was murder. I have a mark on my hand to prove what happened to me. This so-called mother, we had to call her mother, nothing else. She used a hairbrush, put my arm under her arm, held it tight, and she'd rattle you with a hairbrush with a wooden back. You can imagine the pain."
Life in the workhouse was very hard, yet George always looked forward to the monthly visits from his mother. His memories of these fleeting visits are still fresh and he saw them as a relief from his agony.
"You had to sit in an oblong shaped room, where the so-called mother had her eye on the whole lot of boys and their mothers. There wasn't such a thing as a hug and a kiss before she went - that was not on. You weren't allowed to do that."
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George Holt says today we live in luxury and wealth and take for granted what today is considered normal.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/northamptonshire/content/articles/2008/07/23/workhouse_person_profile.shtml