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Llandeilo Workhouse - Punishment Book

Punishment Book, 1878-1907

Carmarthenshire County Archive
Record Number: Abercennen 526
Workhouse Punishment Book, 1878-1907

Llandeilo Workhouse punishment bookThe Llandilofawr Union Workhouse punishment book (Carmarthenshire County Archives Service)

It hardly needs saying that the entries made in the punishment book of Llandeilofawr Union workhouse are a one-sided account of relations between inmates and the workhouse authorities. Those who compile official records may not necessarily have balance and fairness in mind as they write. And while the transgressions of the inmates are recorded in detail, along with the punishments meted out to them, the book is silent on the conditions the inmates had to endure, conditions which may even have been a contributory factor to their offences. Corrective institutions have improved dramatically since the dark and dismal places of incarceration built and run by the Victorians, but even today periodic revelations of serious abuses, physical and sexual, against inmates in children's homes, mental institutions and prisons are a stark reminder that terrible things can still go on once a door has slammed shut and the key is turned.

The punishment book of Llandeilofawr workhouse records only the offences committed by inmates but, unsurprisingly, is silent on any that would undoubtedly have been committed by the authorities themselves.

In return for their stay in the workhouse inmates had to undertake backbreaking work in near-prison conditions (conditions in Carmarthen workhouse were described by the decidedly pro-establishment Times as being actually worse than prison).

The daily routine laid down by the Poor Law Commission was as follows:

Wake
6 am
Breakfast
6.30-7 am
Start work
7.00 am
Dinner
12-1 pm
Finish Work
5 pm
Supper
6-7 pm
Bed
8 pm
In the winter inmates had the luxury of rising an hour later at 7 am.

Many inmates were to become long-term residents of the workhouse. A Parliamentary report of 1861 found that, nation-wide, over 20 percent of inmates had been in the workhouse for more than five years. These mostly consisted of elderly, chronically sick, and mentally ill paupers. Able-bodied men often had to spend their working day breaking stones, while the women and children were made to scrub and clean the workhouse premises, and do all the laundry, cooking, washing and countless other domestic chores in return for their food and accommodation. It was the women inmates, also, who made the uniforms that had to be worn while in the workhouse. Most of the work, in other words, was self-generated and was of no use to the community beyond the workhouse walls.

Technically, inmates at a workhouse were resident there voluntarily and were not therefore prisoners, so they could leave whenever they chose by giving the required notice, usually three hours. That most inmates had no homes or work to return to was the only reason they stayed at all, or usually returned if they ever did leave. The most common cause for a family applying to the workhouse was eviction from their rented hovels and the workhouse was always the very last resort.

This situation left the authorities with a legal conundrum: if an inmate did leave (or 'abscond', as the punishment books term it), technically they were committing no offence. No authority likes to be without the powers to administer punishment, however, and workhouses were no different, resorting to considerable ingenuity in finding justification for chastising anyone who had the temerity to forsake its tender embrace. If anyone left the confines of a workhouse while still wearing the uniform that all inmates were required to wear, then the poor absconder could be, and often was, charged with theft of workhouse property. Some workhouses also increased the notice period, and absconding is a common entry in the Llandeilofawr punishment book.

The inmates included men, women, children, wives, the elderly, the chronically sick and lunatics, and the records of Llandeilofawr workhouses deposited in the Carmarthenshire County Archives record births as well as deaths - unmarried pregnant women were often hidden away in the workhouse to cover up the shame such a predicament brought on their families.

In Llandeilofawr the most common offences committed by inmates were general insubordination and unruly behaviour - swearing, refusing to work, threatening behaviour towards staff and other inmates, petty theft of inmates' property, absconding while wearing Union clothes, and drunkenness, though occasional minor assaults took place. The punishments were usually those invoked under articles 129 and 131 of the Poor Law codes, which meant solitary confinement with reduced food rations for periods from a few hours to a few days. The phrase "locked up for 24 hours with bread and water" is a recurring one in the punishment books kept by each workhouse. Sometimes, however, inmates were sent for trial before the local magistrates where, without fail, they would receive prison sentences with hard labour.

Here is a summary of the entries found in the punishment book of Llandeilofawr between 1878 and 1907, concentrating on three inmates: one William Evans, aged 47 and deaf and dumb; David Jones, aged 13; and David Davies, aged 62. These three between them are responsible for 31 of the 50 entries in the punishment book. A mere snapshot though this book may be, nonetheless it offers a fascinating glimpse into life in these legendary institutions.

Jan 17 1878
Mary Williams, aged 45.
Offence: threatening to crumble an inmate's head, disobeying the Matron, and swearing at the Master with her fist in his face. Punishment: placed in the Refractory cell until the assistance of a constable was obtained to have her removed to the Town cell.

The punishment meted out to a friend of Mary Williams just two days later reveals a particularly vindictive streak in the authorities:

Jan 19 1978
Mary Evans, aged 33
Offence: using abusive language to those who gave evidence against her friend Mary Williams (who was committed) and disobeying the officers.
Punishment: kept on bread and water for 24 hours when she promised not to do such a thing again.

Less than a year later Mary Williams was to incur the wrath of the workhouse authorities yet again, and once more prison was the consequence:

Dec 15 1879
Mary Williams, aged 46
Offence: Refusing to cleanse her person. Punishment: sent away to a constable. She was committed to prison for 21 days.

The punishment meted out to Mary Williams seems inordinately harsh for such a trivial offence - refusing to wash - but her entry for January 17th 1878 above is the very first recorded in the punishment book, so there may have been earlier incidents which could have contributed to her prison sentence. This was certainly the case with two other inmates - William Evans and David Jones - who also earned custodial sentences after breaking the workhouse rules many times.

Work for an able-bodied inmate was compulsory, regardless of age. Being locked away in solitary confinement for refusing to work was common enough in Llandeilo workhouse, but wouldn't the very elderly - a 73 year old, for example - be exempted from work? Answer: no, and here's the entry in the punishment book to prove it:

Sept 23 1904
David Jones, age 73
Offence: Constantly refusing to work when ordered to by the Master.
Punishment: Applied Article 129 of the Poor Law Orders towards him from 4 pm till 9.40 am in the Receiving Room.

William Evans (deaf and dumb) aged 47

During the period records of punishment were kept (1878-1907) three inmates seem to have been responsible for a particularly high number of incidents. The first involves one William Evans, aged 47 at the time of his first appearance in the punishment book. The entries against his name describe this unfortunate man as being deaf and dumb and he makes eleven appearances between June 21st 1878 and March 25th 1886. In most cases he received the customary punishment of solitary confinement and reduction of his food rations but on two occasions he finds his way into prison for his troubles plus a spell in a strait jacket for good measure. He first appears in the record on June 21st 1878 on a drunk and disorderly charge. On Jan 9th 1879 he is "refusing to work and threatening the hall porter". On February 3rd 1879 he is "refusing to work unless paid", a not unreasonable request, while on March 27th 1879 the pattern is repeated when the entry against his name reads "refusing to work and threatening the Master". On April 25th the story is the same again, but August 29th sees an escalation in his defiance when he "used violence towards the master and porter, was drunk the previous night after coming from a funeral and stole one of the boys' caps and refused returning it. The cap was found by a boy in the town."

The workhouse regarded this as serious enough to warrant a spell in prison and the punishment book records him as being put in charge of the police for which "he was committed in prison for 14 days."

On November 25th 1979 he is up to his old tricks again when he is recorded as "threatening the Master and Matron with a hammer" and similar threats follow on March 18th 1880. For a while he is replaced by another inmate as the thorn in the authorities' flesh, a 13 year old boy, David Jones, who appears in the punishment book 13 times from May 24th to August 4th 1880 (see below). Until this boy is dispatched to a two-year prison sentence we hear nothing from William Evans until, once again, he exercises the writing skills of the workhouse Master when he assaults a fellow inmate on 7th April 1881. On August 2nd 1881 he receives the usual solitary confinement and reduction of food rations for refusing to work yet again, his most common infringement. He seems to have gone quiet for a year, but on July 16 1882 he is " Creating a noise in the ward when the inmates were in bed and refusing to leave the ward at the Master's request. At 9.15 am he locked or bolted himself in the Work Room, consequently the door had to be broke open where he attacked the Master and the men, who came to his assistance, with a hammer ." For this " He was placed in the Straight (sic) Jacket Straps until a policeman arrived to take him and charged. Was subsequently committed to few days in prison ."

This appears to have done the trick for a while, as we hear nothing of him for four years until, on March 25th 1886, he is again refusing to work. His punishment is 48 hours bread and water after when he disappears from the pages of the punishment book completely.

Our understanding and treatment of handicapped people has improved considerably since the dark days of the Victorian workhouse, and the frustration this deaf and dumb man must have felt at not being able to even explain himself is all too easy to imagine. In any situation there will always be some brave souls who decide to stand up to authority. Those who have the power of speech can at least communicate their grievances and express their feelings to others (even if nothing gets done), but the deaf-mute William Evans would have had no recourse to any such release of his pent-up frustrations.

David Jones, aged 13

This boy is to cause more trouble in just two months than William Evans managed in eight years. From May 24th to August 4th 1881 he makes 13 appearances in the punishment book for various offences of theft and damage to workhouse property and fellow inmates' clothing. The usual punishments had no effect whatsoever on him and after two months he was brought before the Llandeilo magistrates on August 7th 1881 where, the punishment book records, "he was committed to prison for a month and afterwards to two years in a reformatory."

While at the workhouse his punishment included two sessions in a strait jacket, a night in the 'Receiving' room with his father in attendance, with another incident resulting in "his parents giving him a good thrashing". To see just how disturbed this child's behaviour was it's best to transcribe all his entries in the punishment book:

May 24, 1880
(17)
Offence: Stole a book of the value of 6d and endeavouring to escape detection, burnt it. Repeated thefts committed by him.
Punishment: Applied Article 131 of the Poor Law Codes towards him from 2.30 pm til 8.30 pm in the Receiving Room. Observation: Admitted the offence.
July 10, 1880
(18)
Offence: Cutting 4 of the Boys' best trousers with a knife. Also, a pinafore and a scarf were afterwards detected. Considerable damage committed by him in a few minutes.
Punishment: Applied Article 129 of the Poor Law Codes for 48 hours and also Article 131.
Observation: Admitted the offence. D.M.
July 17, 1880
(19)
Offence: Tearing two of the Boys' best caps and threw them in the closet. Also threw some clothing through the window to the wet while the boys were sleeping and threw others through the ventilator to the Garret.
Punishment: Applied Articles 129 and 131 of the Poor Law Orders for twelve hours towards him in the Receiving Room.
Observation: Admitted the offences and brought most of the articles back. D.M.
July 19, 1880
(20)
Offence: Throwing some of the children's clothing out through the window and others into the Garret while they were in bed.
Punishment: Applied articles 129 and 131 of the Poor Law Codes for 12 hours to him. He began kicking and beating the door and was subsequently place in the straight (sic) jacket straps for about 3 hours which made him more quiet during the remainder of his confinement.
Observation: Admitted the offence and returned the articles. D.M.
July 22, 1880
(21)
Offence: Throwing some of the other boys' clothing through the window after they had undress. Punishment: His father in charge of him at night at the Receiving Room.
Observation: he is very closely watched or very likely more mischief would be committed by him. D.M.
July 23, 1880
(22)
Offence: Took some stones with him and placed them under his pillow and when the children were about asleep threw them through the window and broke a pane of glass.
Punishment: Was placed in a straight jacket for about an hour and afterwards discharged until he slept.
Observation: he wanted his brother to join him in jumping out of the window and run away.
July 24, 1880
(23)
Offence: Splitted open a pair of stockings at rising time and threw others through the window into the rain. Also, flung another pair of stockings into the closet and hit his brother with a stone on his head until the blood flowed.
Punishment: His parents gave him a good thrashing.
Observation: Incorrigible in a workhouse
July 25, 1880
(24)
Offence: Splitted a bed-sheet through the middle. No wearing apparel was left in the dormitory
July 26, 1880
(25)
Offence: Was discovered outside the Bedroom window with his feet on the front-door sill about jumping down. Had a sheet and counterpane with him.
July 29, 1880
(26)
Offence: Threw the Chamberware [chamber pot] through the window. It dashed to pieces. Also climbed on an idle bedstead until his life was in danger and tried Whide (?) himself there while the other boys were asleep.
Opinion of the Guardians thereon: At a meeting of the Board of Guardians on 31st July 1880 it was resolved that proceedings be taken before the Magistrates for the purpose of putting the boy into Neath Reformatory
Aug 1, 1880
(27)
Offence: Tore a pinafore and a towel also a lead water pipe
Aug 2, 1880
(28)
Offence: Smashed two panes of glass with a piece of timber.
Aug 4, 1880
(29)
Offence: Removed the Brick-work and Grate in the Boys' day room.
Punishment: Taken before the Magistrates Aug 7th 1880.
Observations: He was committed to prison for a month and afterwards to two years in a Reformatory. D.M.

Opinion of the Guardians thereon: At a meeting of the Board of Guardians on 31st July 1880 it was resolved that proceedings be taken before the Magistrates for the purpose of putting the boy into Neath Reformatory.

(Source: Llandeilofawr Workhouse Punishment Book, 1878-1907, Carmarthenshire County Archive, Record Number: Abercennen 526)

While young David Jones was undoubtedly a nuisance to all concerned, especially his fellow inmates, today his behaviour is recognisably due to some serious behavioural disorder such as autism or hyper-activity. There's little to gain from employing hindsight to condemn the past when we are still guilty of similar abuses today, and learning from the mistakes of our forebears would be the ideal course of action were it not also a rare one.

As time wore on the entries in the punishment book seemed to change in nature and by the turn of the twentieth century absconding is by far the most common offence. On Monday 14th July 1900 one David Davies, aged 61, was "sent on a message to Trapp for a few bars of soap and did not return till Wednesday night, the worse for drink. 12 hours bread and water". Something seems to have been going on at this time because at the time when David Davies absconded three boys aged 13,12 and 8 "instead of going to school absconded and walked to Llanelly where they were seen wandering about by the Police and locked up". The Master retrieved them the following day, for which he "applied 6 strokes with a birch" to the two older boys and 2 strokes for the 8 year old.

In fact all the entries in the register between 19th June 1889 and May 25th 1904 were for absconding. One inmate in particular, David Davies aged 50 at the time of his first offence in 1889, seemed to have a particularly fondness for the taste of freedom, with an equal fondness for the taste of quite a different substance:

David Davies

Registry entry number in brackets

Jan 12, 1889
aged 50 (35)
Offence: Drunk and disorderly and threatening an old man named James McLean.
Punishment: Applied article 129 of the Poor Law Orders towards him for 48 hours.
June 10, 1889
aged 50 (36)
Offence: Left the house on morning of Monday 10 June in workhouse clothes but did note return until Saturday 15 June in a drunken state and attempted to strike the master on his admission.
Punishment: Applied article 129 of Poor Law Orders towards him for 48 hours.
July 14, 1900
aged 61 (39)
Offence: Sent on a message to Trapp for a few bars of soap and did not return till Wednesday night, the worse for drink.
Punishment: Applied Article 131 for twelve hours bread and water.
May 15, 1901
aged 62 (41)
Offence: Absconded with the Union clothes and sent home by the police.
Punishment: 12 hours bread and water and kept in the Receiving Room.
Sept 24, 1901
aged 62 (42)
Offence: Absconded with the Union clothes and sent home from the cells for which the Guardians had to pay for his lodgings and food.
Punishment: 24 hours bread and water.
Sept 13, 1901
aged 62 (43)
Offence: Absconded over the garden hedge before breakfast and sent home by the police, 17th Inst. The Guardians had to pay 2/6 for his lodgings and food.
Punishment: 24 hours bread and water.

(Llandeilofawr Workhouse Punishment Book, 1878-1907, Carmarthenshire County Archive, Record Number: Abercennen 526)

The last entry, for March 4th 1907, is of two men fighting: Joe Powell, aged 77 and Lewis Edwards, 48, with the older man receiving cuts to the head. Their punishment? Withdrawal of their tobacco rations for two weeks! As ever, damage to property or defiance of authority results in greater punishment in our society than injury to people, at least in a world where the violent assault of an elderly man receives a lesser punishment than refusing to work or causing minor damage to property.

Register of Sickness and Mortality 1838-1849

Another of the documents preserved in the Carmarthenshire Archive Services is a much more sombre record indeed. The Register of Sickness and Mortality 1838-1849 is its title (record number: Abercennen 671) and it contains a record of all patients admitted to the workhouse hospital during this period. Just the first page of the entries for 1838 gives us a glimpse into this grim world:

Name Age Treated for
Thomas David 82 Ulcerated leg
Jemima Lewis - Inflamed eyes
Elizabeth Williams - Severe cold
Rachel Morgan 11 Intermittent headache
Hannah Bethel - Atrophy
Jane Howells 30 Ascites
David Jones 67 Cancer
Mary Jones 17 Idiot
Anne Jones 25 Consumption
Mary David 59 Distorted back
Elizabeth Jones 53 Scrofulous leg
David Davies 20 Scrofula
Catherine Davies 14 Scrofula
Thomas Griffiths 39 Declines
Mary Christmas 84 Anasarcous
William Rees - Ascites

Note: In the 19th century some diseases were given different names to those used today. Consumption is the modern tuberculosis, or TB. Ascites is the accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity, causing swelling. Scrofula is a disease with glandular swellings, probably a form of tuberculosis. Anasarcous means a general accumulation of fluid in various tissues and body cavities. Atrophy is a wasting away of the body through under-nourishment, ageing, or lack of use; becoming emaciated.

31st March 1930: The End?

On 31st March 1930 the administration of Llandeilofawr workhouse passed from the administration of the Poor Law Guardians and into the hands of Carmarthenshire County Council in the form of the Guardians Committee of the Public Assistance Committee of Carmarthenshire County Council. These Guardians were now elected county councillors responsible, in theory at least, to the electorate of the county. The Board of Guardians, in contrast, had been elected by local landowners and rate-payers, ie, property owners only, and brought all their social prejudices and attitudes with them.

For some time little changed at Llandeilo workhouse except the name but in time the building, like many other former workhouses throughout the UK, evolved into a more recognisable modern hospital, before it was finally demolished in the 1970s. A care home, Awel Towy (Towy Breeze) now stands on the site. (The hated Carmarthen Union workhouse at Penlan, Carmarthen, was used as an emergency hospital between c. 1941 and 1945; the hospital had an annex at Cilgwyn Llangadock, Carmarthenshire.)

On the occasion of the ending of the workhouse system, the Board of Guardians used the opportunity for a celebratory junket at the ratepayers' expense. "Llandilo Board of Guardians' Farewell" was how the Amman Valley Chronicle headlined the event in its edition of 3rd April 1930, continuing:

The members and officials of the Llandilofawr Board of Guardians met for the last time at the Union Board Room, Llandilo. On the commencement of business, those present left for Crescent Terrace, where a group photograph was take, and later they adjourned to the Gwili Restaurant, where a repast was provided.

After "Justice having been done to the inner man, and the tables cleared" the Guardians embarked on a lengthy round of self-congratulatory speeches. One retired Board member, a Reverend John Bevan, had misgivings about the passing of the workhouse system: "Commenting on the new system, he said he did not think it would be as humane as the old … instead of being an improvement, he was afraid it would be otherwise." Some people inhabit a different version of reality to the rest of us. Perhaps he was lamenting the loss of all those paid junkets now that his place on the Board of Guardians was no more; we'll never know.

The Reverend Bevan's claim that the Board of Guardians acted in a 'humane' manner during its lifetime doesn't quite hold up to closer scrutiny. Only four years earlier the Llandeilofawr Board of Guardians had acted quite inhumanely - and illegally - during the seven-month lockout of British miners that followed the failed nine-day general strike of 1926. In the south of Llandeilofawr's jurisdiction were the mining communities of the Amman valley, then part of the parish of Llandybie. By now Boards of Guardians, as well as overseeing workhouses, also paid out poor relief to claimants in the general community. The Ministry of Health had issued a circular stipulating that wives of strikers could claim 12 shillings poor relief plus four shillings for each child (the striking miners themselves could claim nothing). The Llandeilofawr Guardians, however, paid out only ten shillings and 2/6 respectively to families of striking miners in the Amman valley where, by the beginning of September 1926, a total of 1,165 people were in receipt of relief.

(Source: Guardians of the needy found wanting: a study in social division during the industrial crisis of 1926, David James Davies BA, Carmarthenshire Historian, 1982.

What happened next?

Local government structures are subject to change at a rate which can bewilder those of us who merely pay our council rates:

Abercennen (later a hospital) and Caeglas children's home, also in Ffairfach, were in Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire. In 1871, the Local Government Board Act established a central government department with responsibility for poor relief and public health. Medical duties and the care of children and the elderly were divided between the Ministry of Health, created in 1919, and the County Council Social Welfare Committee, by 1948. Before a new Social Services Committee was established under the Local Authority Social Services Act, the last meeting of the Health and Social Services Committee was held in January 1971. When the local government was reorganized in 1974, health functions were transferred to the Dyfed Area Health Authority.

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