To find out more about workhouses in general, click on the image above.
Many
of the poor people in the area who got into difficulties were simply too
ill to work. In the workhouse they would at least
be seen by a doctor.
In the early years of the workhouse medicine was not very advanced though,
and the workhouse itself could be a problem.
With
inmates living together in wards, disease could spread through the workhouse
quite quickly.
The inmates' diet was also limited, and this meant they had little resistance
to disease.
In 1817 over 60 inmates died,
and 26 of them died in one measles outbreak !
At another time inmates were sent out of the workhouse when smallpox was
discovered there. (See the picture of a smallpox
victim, above right)
Drawing
by
Rob Davies
