22-03-2014, 10:33 AM
1
Secrets from the Workhouse
Did anyone else watch this programme on ITV3 last evening??? Brian Cox (the actor) was in this programme as his Grandfather had been frequently admitted to the Workhouse. Brian Cox, like myself became very angry at the 'system' that caused such distress to his Grandfather.Patsy dalin' - I commend the second part of this programme to you - in conjunction with the book you recently purchased 'To Build Jerusalem'. If, having watched the programme and seen the photographs in the book you'll become a 'Socialist' rebel like me.
22-03-2014, 11:03 AM
3
Re: Secrets from the Workhouse
Originally Posted by Uncle Joe
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Did anyone else watch this programme on ITV3 last evening??? Brian Cox (the actor) was in this programme as his Grandfather had been frequently admitted to the Workhouse. Brian Cox, like myself became very angry at the 'system' that caused such distress to his Grandfather. Patsy dalin' - I commend the second part of this programme to you - in conjunction with the book you recently purchased 'To Build Jerusalem'. If, having watched the programme and seen the photographs in the book you'll become a 'Socialist' rebel like me.
22-03-2014, 11:04 AM
4
Re: Secrets from the Workhouse
Joe, me old pal, me old beauty, it was capitalism that created the surplus wealth that enabled the workhouses to be done away with and replaced by a universal education system, health system and welfare system (and created the program you watched to get angry about).Like all ism's it needs a system of checks and balances to make it work but capitalism is far more effective and efficient at doing this than socialism as Russia has already discovered and China is discovering.
It is not perfect but it works.
22-03-2014, 11:29 AM
5
Re: Secrets from the Workhouse
Having done ancestry for quite a few years now I must say that the Work House wasn't all doom and gloom.If you didn't go into the workhouse when poor you would be found dead on the streets. Most people who entered the work house were poverty stricken or orphaned or ill or pregnant.
It was the only place poorly people with no money could go to get any treatment as all the workhouses had an Infirmary. You also had the
in and out people. Those with a small income job in the city would be called outers and they just went back to sleep at nigt as they had no house or family to go to. Inners were people who were able to work for the workhouse like cleaning or cooking for it and looking after ill people in the Infirmary. Those with terminal illnesses were able to be looked after in the building. It wasn't the best thing but it was better than living on the streets and starving due to no job or a roof over your head.
From 1908 when there were still Work houses, a elderly couple were able to claim a old age pension. I have found quite a lot of elderly with the man living in the work house and the woman living in their house. This is because the pension had to be given to each of them at the full price as a single person and not shared at the lower rate as a couple.
So on the whole the workhouses saved a lot of peoples lives and they lived longer than if they were not there. They also provided some form of schooling for the children. Wouldn't work nowadays I know but for some people it was a saviour.
I saw the programme about Brian Cox end of last year and again I felt like saying to him, but Brian without that place for the kids to go they would have died before they got older.
22-03-2014, 11:37 AM
6
Re: Secrets from the Workhouse
Originally Posted by Bruce
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Joe, me old pal, me old beauty, it was capitalism that created the surplus wealth that enabled the workhouses to be done away with and replaced by a universal education system, health system and welfare system (and created the program you watched to get angry about).Like all ism's it needs a system of checks and balances to make it work but capitalism is far more effective and efficient at doing this than socialism as Russia has already discovered and China is discovering.
It is not perfect but it works.
22-03-2014, 11:49 AM
8
Re: Secrets from the Workhouse
Originally Posted by Meg
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I watched the programme some time ago when it was originally screened.My grandmother's generation was terrified of the prospects of the workhouse, it was a prospect which hung over many for most of their lives.
Yes Meg darlin' - what was once the 'workhouse' here in Brighton became the General Hospital, but my own Grandmother was terrified of it (even as a hospital) and still, till the day she died (in that hospital) referred to it as the workhouse.
22-03-2014, 02:01 PM
9
Re: Secrets from the Workhouse
I remember my grandmother talking about the workhouse we had here in Kevin's Street, now St. James Hospital, she was a domestic servant in Liverpool before she came to Dublin and got married, many 'Old Maid' friends of hers ended up there, very sad way to end a long working life devoted to one employer.I am a great fan of Brian Cox, a lovely man, he's so multi talented, he can act any part to perfection.
I remember your thread Patsy.
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