Part 1/11:
The History of Poverty and Workhouses in 19th Century England
In 1848, an unsettling scene unfolds in a grim workhouse in Huddersfield, Yorkshire. As the masters divide the incoming poor by gender, separating parents from children and husbands from wives, the living conditions become evident: thin mattresses occupied by bodies, crushing despair filled the air. Sick individuals shivering from typhoid lie next to corpses, and living women are seen burning with fever, far from the promised beds and food. This portrayal captures the harrowing realities faced by many during this period, marking a stark contrast between the expectations of assistance and the brutal severe conditions within these institutions, which were meant to provide refuge for the poor.