Blog post written by Anita Auer (16 April 2020)
On 16 June 1832 Henry Goodwin sent a letter from his new place of residence in New York to the overseers of the parish of Bradford on Avon. He asks the overseers “to send my wife and cheldren to New York in America as I was Ablige to leave them with you trade being so bade I could not soport them I was forst to sell all the goods I had to com my self”. While many of the paupers applying for out-relief had travelled to different places in England to find work, it is unusual to find a petition for out-relief from somebody who had migrated to the new world. Henry Goodwin, who describes himself as apprentice to a cabinet maker, clearly states in his petition that he could not support his family and had to sell all goods in order to travel to New York. As he mentions that he left his wife and children with “them”, we may assume that they stayed in the workhouse in Bradford. Henry Goodwin notes the following: “I find I can soport them if I had them with me – But it will be A long time before I shall save enof money to send for them the lest expence to you whould be to send them at once”. Goodwin is therefore optimistic to support his family in the new world but he cannot pay for their travel fare. In hope that the overseers will pay the fare, Godwin notes as follows: “I shall stay in New York tell Septr then I shall go to the State of Oyho Oiho if you send them please to send me word when and what ship that I may not go before they com I ham very sory to make this Apell”. Unfortunately, we do not know whether the overseers paid for the fare and whether Henry Goodwin was ever reunited with his family in the New World.
We can however give you an impression of what life was probably like for his wife and children in the workhouse through contemporary reports and surveys, some of which can for instance be found on the workhouses webpage. In the 1797 report The state of the poor; or, an history of the labouring classes in England, from the conquests to the present period [… ] by Sir Frederick Morten Eden, the following is mentioned in relation to the workhouse in Bradford on Avon (1797: 783):
“In 1784, an Act of Parliament was paſſed, to enable this pariſh to appoint a general overſeer, with a ſalary of £ 100. A year. Mr. Rainey, a gentleman of conſiderable property, has filled the office ever ſince that period; but accepts only £ 60. a year. Under his ſuperintendance the Poor are either relieved at home, or maintained, and employed in a work-houſe, which, although an old building, has been much improved by him. The apartments are now exceedingly neat and comfortable: the Poor are kept clean, and well fed: they muſt, however, perform with diligence the work aſſigned them: idleneſs, and diſhoneſty, are inevitably puniſhed, either by depriving the offender of a meal, or ſubjecting him to the moſt degrading offices in the houſe. Nor are the out-poor leſs cloſely attended to; if they are idle, get drunk, or otherwiſe miſbehave, or refuſse to ſend their children to ſervice, at a proper age, they are immediately ordered into the houſe. Badging the Poor is ſupposed to have been of ſervice in reducing the Rates. Mr. Rainey, from his knowledge of law, often prevents uſeleſs litigations; and, from being acquainted with the character and circumstances of every perſon who applies for relief, can diſcriminate, very fairly, between ſelf-created, and undeſerved, poverty.
The following is the Courſe of Diet obſerved in the Work-houſe:
| Breakfaſt. | Dinner. | Supper. | |
| Sunday. | Onion-broth, which is made of water, onions, oatmeal, and the fat of meat broth: no meat broth is uſed. | Meat, and vegetables. | Bread and cheeſe. |
| Monday. | Ditto. | Bread, and cheese. | Ditto. |
| Tueſday. | Ditto. | Same as Sunday. | Ditto. |
| Wedneſday. | Ditto. | Same as Monday. | Ditto. |
| Thurſday. | Ditto. | Same as Sunday. | Ditto. |
| Friday. | Ditto. | Same as Monday. | Ditto. |
| Saturday. | Ditto. | Ditto. | Ditto. |
2 lbs. of bread are allowed, every day, to thoſe who work out of the houſe; and 1 1/2 lb. to thoſe who ſpin: children receive a quantity proportioned to their ages. The cheeſe is not weighed.”
The Eden survey gives a fair amount of detail of the situation at the workhouse in Bradford on Avon as well as other workhouses in England. The pauper petitions in our collection provide us with snapshots of people’s lives and allow us to investigate their language use based on the respective letters. In addition, we often dive into social and educational history to better understand the background of the letters and their authors/writers.