For most people living in Upchurch during the 19th century, work was hard, physical and seasonal, particularly on farms where most residents worked and where crop failures, bad weather and low prices caused farmers to periodically lay workers off. For those in poor families suffering long term unemployment support from the parish became available but with the introduction of Poor Law Reform in 1834, the system of poor relief was removed from the parish and became the responsibility of the workhouse.
The Milton Union was established just north of Sittingbourne in the village of Milton Regis in 1835 and was overseen by an elected board of twenty guardians. Upchurch, along with seventeen other local Swale villages came under its jurisdiction. The idea was to encourage able bodied people to work by making conditions in the workhouse harsh. However, not all those who entered were able bodied. Those with mental disorders, sickness, old age and infirmity, pregnant women and orphans also found their way in. Old age pensions and sickness benefit didn’t exist in those days so if a man couldn’t support his family or get help from relatives’ entry into the workhouse was almost inevitable.
To enter the Milton Union, poor people could make their own way there, attend the weekly meeting of the Board of Guardians or apply to the relieving officer who visited their parish each week. They could also be ordered there by the parish overseer. Upon arrival, newcomers were stripped, bathed, covered with flea powder, issued with a uniform and registered as able bodied or sick. People stayed there for varying amounts of time according to their circumstances and could be released at their own request if they sought work, signed off by the medical officer if they recovered from sickness or by death.
A basic diet of bread and cheese was served for breakfast and the main meal although meat and vegetables were sometimes served with the main meal. Water was the only drink available for inmates except for old people who were allowed to drink tea. Therefore, the workhouse was designed to be a deterrent, offering back breaking, gruelling work like picking oakum, smashing stones or cutting wood.
In the early years, from 1834 to 1870, only a relatively small number of Upchurch residents spent time in the workhouse for different reasons. For example, in 1835, Rosetta Coveney, aged seventeen, entered the Milton Union, although when given leave to attend church on February 7th, 1836, she failed to return. In 1835 the Union admissions book recorded William Brinstead, a widower aged 79, described as ‘wholly disabled’. He spent his entire old age as an inmate in the union.
Milton Workhouse 1887.
Thanks to Peter Higginbotham for use of the photograph.
For more information on the history of the workhouse,
In 1840 eleven Upchurch people were admitted to the Milton Union, including the Maud children who had been deserted and left as orphans, Daniel Luckhurst with bad legs, Mary Seager with no place to live, James Clark with ague and Mary Pepper for having a ‘bastard.’
There is little evidence of misbehaviour by workhouse inmates from Upchurch but there was an exception in May 1841 when Mary Seager, formerly an agricultural worker from Wetham Green, was sent from the Milton Union to Canterbury jail for 21 days due to ‘bad conduct’. According to the union record book, she refused to pick oakum and was sent to the magistrate for ‘the most violent language to the Master and two of the Guardians.’ She periodically returned to the union, then in June 1853, after being registered as destitute, was again committed to prison for refusing work offered to her. From 1848 to the 1870s, she became a frequent visitor to the Milton Union for reasons which included sickness, rheumatism, destitution and no place to live.
Some Upchurch people eventually died in the Milton Union, like Mary Grigsby, who first entered the institution in 1836 and eventually died there of old age in 1859. In 1862 Sampson Scamp died there from unknown causes after spending various periods inside due to destitution. On July 7th, 1862, James Muggeridge was admitted by order of the village overseer because of fever. He died there several days later on July 12th.
Sometimes a girl who got pregnant out of wedlock could be turned out by her family and sent to the union on the order of the parish overseer. This is what happened to Mary Grundy on June 19th, 1862. An illegitimate child was usually entered in the admittance column of the union register as ‘bastard,’ a stigma that remained for life.
Some people only stayed in the workhouse short term due to seasonal unemployment. On July 31st, 1838, Upchurch resident John Hughes with his wife and five children were admitted but they were discharged on August 8th. James Watts was admitted, with his wife and four children on April 13th but only stayed until April 21st.
Ultimately, the workhouse was a last resort for most able bodied people because they viewed it with a sense of social stigma and dreaded the thought of going there, in the same way as going to prison. However, the institution served its purpose for desperate and needy people right up to the 1920s, when it finally came to an end.
About David
David was born and raised at Ham Green and still lives there today.
He writes from personal experience about Upchurch village life and the changes that have taken place over the years.
David's book, Memories of Upchurch, is a very readable and detailed historical study of the village and is available direct from David at: david3702001@yahoo.co.uk price £12 + postage and packing.
