Huddersfield workhouse scandal

The Huddersfield workhouse scandal concerned the conditions in the workhouse at Huddersfield, England in 1848. The problems included overcrowding, disease, food, and sanitation, among others. A report, for instance, described the workhouse as "wholly unfitted for residence for the many scores that are continually crowded into it, unless it be that desire to engender endemic and fatal disease. And this Huddersfield workhouse is by far the best in the whole union."^[1]

On investigation, the conditions at Huddersfield were considered to be worse than those in Andover which had hit the headlines in Britain two years earlier. This previous scandal gained notoriety due to extreme abuses with accounts citing workhouse inmates getting so hungry they had resorted to chewing on the bones that they were grinding down for fertilizer.^[2] These two incidents contributed to the growth of demands for social reform as reflected by later developments such as the intensified public discourse on the Poor Law.^[3]

References

^ Fowler, Simon (2014). The Workhouse: The People, The Places, The Life Behind Doors. South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword History. p. 129. ISBN 9781783831517.
^ McNee, Alan (2015). The Cockney Who Sold the Alps: Albert Smith and the Ascent of Mont Blanc. Brighton: Victorian Secrets Limited. p. 78. ISBN 9781906469528.
^ Korte, Barbara; Regard, Frédéric (2014). Narrating Poverty and Precarity in Britain. Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 94. ISBN 9783110367935.

External links

53°39′23″N 1°47′30″W / 53.6564°N 1.7917°W / 53.6564; -1.7917

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[1] Fowler, Simon (2014). The Workhouse: The People, The Places, The Life Behind Doors. South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword History. p. 129. ISBN 9781783831517.

[2] McNee, Alan (2015). The Cockney Who Sold the Alps: Albert Smith and the Ascent of Mont Blanc. Brighton: Victorian Secrets Limited. p. 78. ISBN 9781906469528.

[3] Korte, Barbara; Regard, Frédéric (2014). Narrating Poverty and Precarity in Britain. Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 94. ISBN 9783110367935.

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v t e Poor laws of the British Isles
Poor laws by territory	England and Wales Scotland Ireland Isle of Man	Nantwich workhouse
Old Poor Law	Vagabonds and Beggars Act 1494 Tudor poor laws Poor Relief Act 1597 Poor Relief Act 1601 Poor Relief Act 1662 Relief of the Poor Act 1696 Poor Relief Act 1722 Relief of the Poor Act 1782 House of correction Overseer of the poor Poor rate Poor relief Buttock mail
Relief systems	Outdoor relief Speenhamland Labour Rate Roundsman Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor
New Poor Law	Royal commission (1832) Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 Poor Law (Scotland) Act 1845 Less eligibility Workhouse Workhouse test Board of guardians Outdoor Labour Test Order Outdoor Relief Prohibitory Order Poor law unions Opposition Book of Murder Scottish poorhouse
Changes after 1834	Poor Law Commission Poor Law Board Local Government Board Andover workhouse scandal Huddersfield workhouse scandal Union Chargeability Act
Decline and abolition	Liberal welfare reforms Royal Commission (1905–09) Majority Report Minority Report Interwar poverty National Assistance Act 1948
Other	Christmas Day in the Workhouse Historiography of the Poor Laws Timeline of the English Poor Law system Poor Relief Act List of poor law unions in England List of poor law unions in Wales List of Irish poor law unions