Ancestry UK

The Lancet Reports on Workhouse Infirmaries 1865-7

In 1865 and 1866, a self-appointed "commission" from the medical journal The Lancet visited a number of London workhouse infirmaries. The commission's reports exposed the poor standards of care, comfort, and sanitation that existed in many of the establishments they visited. The sometimes scandalous revelations led to major improvements in workhouse medical care, and also the creation of the Metropolitan Asylums Board which took on the provision of capital-wide care for the poor in the matters such as the treatment of infectious diseases. In 1867, the Lancet also carried out a small number of visits to provincial workhouses. Extended extracts from all the reports can be viewed via the links below. In some cases, these are included within the general page for each union.

Metropolitan Workhouses
Provincial Workhouses

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