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The
jobs inmates were forced to do was
deliberately made to be tedious. Householders
within the union area surrounding a workhouse
did not wish to pay to keep idlers, so work
was seen as a means of keeping them busy, as
well as subsidising the cost of relief
provided by the union.
A strict
timetable was adhered to within the house to
ensure everything ran properly.
Rise at 5:45am
Breakfast at 6:30am - 7am
Work 7am till 12 noon
Lunch from 12 to 1pm
Work from 1pm – 6pm
Supper and wash 6pm - 6:30pm
Bed at 8pm
Types of work
Gardening, sewing, corn milling, sack making,
stone
crushing (for road building) and oakum picking
were all typical jobs done within the
workhouse. Bone crushing had also been done
until it was banned in 1845 following a
scandal whereby the inmates of a specific
workhouse were forced to eat the flesh from
the non-animal bones to satisfy their
starvation.
However it was
typically cooking that was the main job
performed by the able-bodied inmates, whilst
the aged and infirm were expected to care for
and teach the children. This in-house regime
being a great part of the foundation of the
workhouse.
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