The Workhouse Population of the Nottingham Union, 1881-1882

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine and analyse the resident population of the Nottingham Union Workhouse during a 12-month period beginning on Lady Day 1881. Using data drawn from the workhouse admission and discharge registers this study analyses the seasonal pattern of admissions and discharges as revealed by the registers, and also considers how this pattern might be related to the local economy. The Nottingham region had been a beacon of good practice in the treatment of the poor in the years leading up to the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, but soon became a centre of resistance to the New Poor Law. Local politics and the textile trade cycle not only prevented the legislation from being fully implemented after 1834, but also dictated the economic and social conditions which prevailed in Nottingham in the later nineteenth century. The population analysis is based not only on the relevant admission and discharge register data, but also includes a study of the workhouse census information for 1881. The incidence of birth in the workhouse is also assessed together with the use made of the workhouse by women for giving birth and 'lying-in'.