On a recent walk around Shoreditch I came across this handsome-looking building on Hoxton Road. It turned out to be part of a Victorian workhouse….

Shoreditch Workhouse

Parish Relief Offices in Hoxton Road

Under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 what had been known as ‘outdoor relief’ (i.e. money, food or clothing given to people in their homes) was replaced by the workhouse. All parishes were required to provide a workhouse. Many smaller parishes pooled their resources to be able to do this, uniting parishes into ‘Poor Law Unions’, administered by a local Board of Guardians. A major building programme began and by 1850 London had 30 workhouses.

Block A

In fact, the parish of St Leonard’s in Shoreditch already had its own workhouse before this law was passed, completed in 1777. However, by 1847, inspectors found the building badly overcrowded and insanitary. Major modernisation followed in 1849, including a new infirmary wing on Hoxton Street. Then in 1861 the Board of Guardians commissioned a new workhouse and an infirmary with 350 beds on the same site, together with a health centre at the Hoxton Street end of the site. Completed in 1866, this is the building we see today. The main block of the new building on Kingsland Road (Block A) contained the administrative offices and accommodation for female inmates. It is built in the grand French Second Empire style much used in mid-19^th century town halls, stations and commercial buildings. The exterior features lots of carved stonework, tall mansards with patterned slate coverings and decorative iron cresting, unusual in buildings intended for use by the poor. To its rear,

Dining-hall and day rooms from the north
 

Block B is more austere and contained the dining hall, which doubled as a chapel – central to institutional life - and dayrooms. Male accommodation was located at the west end of the building. The Parish Relief Offices (completed before the rest of the building in 1863) fronted onto Hoxton Road. In 1871, the Shoreditch Guardians made further alterations to provide an infirmary and dispensary in a separate building at the north-west of the site (now demolished).

Shoreditch workhouse site c.1873
 

Poverty was rife in Shoreditch throughout the 19^th century and, as everywhere in London, there was a chronic shortage of housing for the very poorest. This situation was further aggravated by the construction between 1867 and 1887 of large numbers of factories and warehouses, to make way for which many local people had to be evicted. But even those living in the meanest of hovels (such as Shoreditch’s notorious Old Nichol slum) would do their utmost to escape the feared workhouse.            

Charles Booth's poverty map
 

                                                                  

The 1881 census records the following: of the 676 inmates of St Leonard’s workhouse around half were widows or widowers and around 70% were over 60. The regime was a harsh one - after all, these were ratepayer-funded institutions. The rules, uniforms and regimentation underscored the principle that this type of relief was for the truly destitute, not the merely indolent. Regular prayers were said. Meals consisted mainly of bread, cheese and gruel, with meat served three times a week. Inmates took their meals sat on long benches, all facing forwards.

Segregation was strictly observed – not only were men and women separated, but parents and children too. Though the law was later relaxed to allow couples over 60 to stay together, evidence shows this was a rare concession. Inmates wore coarse, heavy uniforms. Discipline was strict and misdemeanours severely punished.






Men were put to work stone-breaking and women did oakum-picking. For this the paupers got no pay but received instead a meagre food allowance - 4lb of bread (if married) plus a 2lb loaf for each child.

Stone-breaking
 

Oakum-picking
 

 

Despite the people within its walls being designated ‘inmates’, the workhouse was not a prison – you could leave whenever you wished. Some people were known as “in and outs” (those who entered whenever they hit hard times), but for many their stay lasted forever.

                                                                                    The Shoreditch workhouse survived until 1930 when the LCC took over and incorporated its buildings into the infirmary which later became known as St Leonard’s hospital. In 1934, the buildings were condemned but WW2 halted any improvement work. It remained a general hospital until 1984 when the in-patient facilities were closed. It has since been developed as a primary care centre for the coordination of community services. Both Blocks A and B, and the Relief Offices building are Grade ll listed.

References:
Info/map/workhouse plan: http://www.workhouses.org.uk
Sarah Wise, The Blackest Streets (2009)
Liza Picard, Victorian London, The Life of a City (2005)