Workhouse Visiting Society facts for kids

The Workhouse Visiting Society was a group started in 1858 in England and Wales. Its main goal was to make life better for people living in workhouses. Workhouses were places where poor people who had nowhere else to go could live and work. This society wanted to help these people feel better morally and spiritually. A woman named Louisa Twining, whose family owned the famous Twinings tea company, helped create this group. It started as part of a bigger organization called the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science. The society stopped its work in 1865.

How the Society Started

Louisa Twining's Early Work

Louisa Twining first learned about the difficult conditions in workhouses in 1847. She heard about them from an old family nurse. In 1853, Louisa visited a workhouse herself. She saw that it was very crowded. There wasn't enough food, clean water, or medical care.

After her visit, Louisa wanted to help. She asked the Strand Union Poor Law Board for permission. She wanted a group of women to visit the workhouses. At first, they said no. But Louisa argued that it was important for women to care for the elderly, children, and sick people. The Poor Law Board then changed its mind and allowed the visits.

Spreading Awareness of Workhouse Conditions

By 1857, Louisa Twining began telling everyone about the poor conditions in workhouses. She encouraged the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science to start a visiting program. This program would offer comfort to the people living in workhouses. It would also make the public aware of the problems. Louisa even talked to Catharine Tait, who was also visiting her local workhouse.

The Workhouse Visiting Society's Impact

Forming the Society

The Workhouse Visiting Society officially began in 1858. Louisa Twining became its first secretary. By 1860, the society had 140 active members. These members visited 12 workhouses in London. There were also smaller groups in other parts of England. In 1863, the main office was in Bloomsbury, London.

What Members Did

The members of the society showed kindness to the people in workhouses. The society worked hard to tell everyone about the bad conditions. They even published their own journal. This journal helped to show how poor the nursing care was in workhouses.

The society also influenced important people, like Lord Shaftesbury. He was a politician who started to care about workhouse issues. One challenge for the society was that it didn't have enough members. There were too many problems in workhouses for them to fix alone. The society eventually closed down in 1865.

The Society's Journal

Between 1859 and 1865, the society published a journal. It was called the Journal of the Workhouse Visiting Society. This journal shared letters and reports about issues in workhouses.