Machynlleth Inmate
- a poor person living in the workhouse. The above entry from 1862
concerns Jane Pryce, just two years old,
and reads: This poor child had no
family left in the world. The Union’s main concern was who
would pay the 5p per week it might cost if the Matron had to see to her
daily care.
The workhouse
An
abandoned child in the workhouse
Among
the entries in the dusty records of the Machynlleth
Union are occasional references which remind us of how harsh
life in the Victorian workhouse must have been.
A family which had to go into the workhouse was split
up, the women and children being housed separately from the men.
This must have been very hard indeed for poor families, but there are cases
even worse than this in the records.
Maintenance
- care of.
"The clerk was directed to write to the Poor Law
Board to enquire whether they would sanction the allowance of 1/- [5p]
weekly for the maintenance of the infant child out of the workhouse, its
mother having absconded, considering the trouble to which the Matron might
be subjected in the event of there being no inmate capable of taking proper
care of the child."