The Relief of the Poor
The system of providing relief for the poor and this included the injured and disabled without family to care for them had not substantially changed since the 17th Century. Only the number of people requiring assistance rose. Houses or cottages were provided for the relief of the poor in Central Rotherham and some of the surrounding villages, eg Whiston, Bramley, Rawmarsh, Laughton. Other methods were used; for example one of my nth great grandmothers was a widow with several young children. The local parish found her a job as a tollgate keeper and a cottage to go with it so she could provide for her family.
In 1834 Parliament passed the Poor Law Amendment Act which grouped parishes into Poor Law Unions. The Rotherham Poor Law Union covered an area from Wath southwards to Aston. The Union officially came into force on 3 July 1837 and was administered by an elected board of guardians, 31 in number. The union covered the following areas:-
- West Riding of Yorkshire: Aston-cum-Aughton, Bramley, Brampton Bierlow, Brampton-en-le-Morthern, Brinsworth, Catcliffe, Dalton, Greasborough, Handsworth (2 representaives, now in Sheffield), Hooton Levett, Hooton Roberts, Kimberworth (2 representatives ), Laughton-en-le-Morthern, Maltby, Orgreave, Ravenfield, Rawmarsh, Thrybergh, Tinsley, Treeton, Rotherham (2 representatives), Swinton, Ulley, Wath-upon-Dearne, Wentworth, Whiston, Wickersley.
- County of Derby: Beighton (now in Sheffield).
The board of guardians originally leased the old workhouses in Rotherham (the Crofts), Rawmarsh and Laughton. From then on poor relief was only granted to the needy if they agreed to move into the workhouse. Here there was complete separation of the sexes, even married couples (presumably so that there were no more children to be a burden on the poor rate). Entry into the workhouse was the last act of the desperate: that or starve to death.
In 1838, the Feoffees sold five acres of common land at the top of Alma Road for the sum of £1000 to the Rotherham Poor Law Union in order to build a new workhouse and replace the old cottage workhouse which was now totally inadequate. The relief of poverty and treatment of the sick seem to have been in the hands of the Union after that. The building was erected 1838/9 and was also used as an hospital as well as a workhouse. A separate infirmary was added followed by another infirmary building in 1886/8.
In 1894, a major rebuilding of the workhouse took place. This provided a new master's house and offices, board room, vagrants' and receiving wards, lunatic wards, able-bodied blocks, dining hall, new foul wards and isolation hospital, workshops, and stables. In time only the hospital function remained. My grandmother went into hospital here in 1970 because she was very ill. In her ramblings she accused us of putting her "in t'workhouse"
which was the worst thing that could be done to anybody of her generation.
More about Rotherham Workhouse can be found at www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?Rotherham/Rotherham.shtml.