New ITV Series Secrets from the Workhouse - Page 5 - Genealogists' Forum

Margaret in Burton · #41 26-06-13, 17:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merry

Brian Cox was a bit scary when he asked the expert if she thought his ancestor was a malingerer!

I thought the poor woman looked petrified. He was so aggresive I thought he was going to thump her as if it was her fault.

Lynn the Forest Fan · #42 27-06-13, 06:19

She probably didn't dare suggest that his relative had been a malingerer!

Shona · #43 02-07-13, 10:40

Interesting review of the first episode. Echoes many of my thoughts.

http://myblogs.informa.com/jvc/2013/...-25-june-2013/

kiterunner · #44 02-07-13, 10:47

Thanks for that, Shona. It is certainly a lot more balanced and sensible than the programme was. Part 2 tonight clashes with "Luther" so I shall have to record it and watch it some other time.

JBee · #45 02-07-13, 12:40

Thanks Shona - very interesting and a lot more believable.

ElizabethHerts · #46 02-07-13, 15:45

I have two ancestors who were Masters of the Workhouse and it has always worried me as they can be greatly maligned. I know the one in Portsea was highly regarded and I genuinely feel he and his wife were trying to help those less fortunate.
It's a relief to read something more balanced.

Olde Crone · #47 02-07-13, 21:39

I agree with the article Shona has linked, apart from a slight reservation about outrelief. Yes indeed, many people did receive out relief, but it wasn't quite the pink and fluffy alternative to the workhouse which that article implies.

Out relief was administered just as harshly as the workhouse and it consisted of people having to beg for it. It was merely subsistence - a few loaves of bread, maybe the odd pair of boots here and there, but the recipient was expected to sell everything they had in order to pay their rent and when ALL their possessions had gone and they could not pay their rent, then the workhouse was all that was left to them. Out relief was really only a short term stop gap, in the case of accidents or illness or short periods of seasonal unemployment.

I do have a distant relative who was a Relieving Officer. Rather creatively, I thought, he employed on his farm anyone who had the surname Holden, rather than see them a drain on the rates!

OC

Merry · #48 04-07-13, 06:11

My favourite part of episode two was BTB learning about her mother's half-sister who had been traced living in Australia, where she had been "transported" for the crime of being poor. BTB's mother had written to the authorities asking if there was any way that her sister could be returned to the UK, only to learn it would cost £32-36. Of course this story was sad and I was supposed to be welling up at the injustice of "the system", but couldn't manage it because of BTB's husband!!! I don't know if I missed any part, but I only saw a man as disinterested as a person could possibly be whilst BTB desperately tried to get him to show some emotion!! He looked like someone who had been told he had to stay awake an hour after taking his sleeping tablets!

What a pity BTB didn't earn her £140million a bit sooner - she could then have paid the £32.

I wasn't convinced by the idea that Felicity Kendal's relative was sent back to the workhouse because some busy-body census enumerator had discovered she was married and not a widow, changing "Wid" to "M" on the census sheet. Surely it's more likely she lost her job when it became clear she was pregnant again, but with no husband in the picture to support her?

Margaret in Burton · #49 04-07-13, 07:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merry

My favourite part of episode two was BTB learning about her mother's half-sister who had been traced living in Australia, where she had been "transported" for the crime of being poor. BTB's mother had written to the authorities asking if there was any way that her sister could be returned to the UK, only to learn it would cost £32-36. Of course this story was sad and I was supposed to be welling up at the injustice of "the system", but couldn't manage it because of BTB's husband!!! I don't know if I missed any part, but I only saw a man as disinterested as a person could possibly be whilst BTB desperately tried to get him to show some emotion!! He looked like someone who had been told he had to stay awake an hour after taking his sleeping tablets!

Totally agree Merry.

Shona · #50 04-07-13, 07:58

Here is Mary Liddell in 1901 with Albert Edward.

http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/78...l=ReturnRecord

Like Merry, I was a tad dubious about the spin put on the story of Mary Liddell. How do we know she had an affair and was sent to the workhouse by her husband, John? The couple may have parted. Was John around in 1901 and if so, did he describe himself as being a widower? What happened to the couple's nine children?

The 1901 census lists Mary as a dressmaker. Perhaps she was boarding there rather than being employed as a servant.

When she got pregnant again (with Claude), she went to the workhouse for the birth. The changing of W to M on the census, I feel, had little to do with it.