The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph or more.
Today’s offering is a round metal disk, measuring just over 2 cm, which bears the name Chorlton Union Workhouse on one side and has a small ring fastener on the back.
And it is a button from the uniform of an inmate of the workhouse.
It was found by Frances Farrow on her allotment just off Nell Lane and was about 80 centimetres below the surface.*
There is no date on the disc, but it will date from between 1837, when the Chorlton Union was established, and 1930, when the workhouses were abolished.
And I think we can narrow that timeline, because from 1837 the Union’s workhouse was situated in Hulme, until it was replaced by the new one on Nell Lane in 1855.
It is easy to forget that for most of the 19th century and into the 20th, many who became old, sick or unemployed had no alternative but to seek help by entering the workhouse. These were grim institutions nicknamed Poor Law Bastilles and were predicated on the idea of less eligibility which maintained that the conditions inside the workhouse had to be so austere that only the very desperate would apply.
Despite this, many saw the workhouse as just one of the alternatives which they might be forced to consider. In the industrial north this might be because of trade fluctuations which closed factories, while in the countryside it might be during the quiet times between sowing and harvesting crops.
I have no idea who the button belonged to or where they came from, but Didsbury was one of the townships within the Chorlton Union. As such those seeking relief might have to apply to the Stretford Road Workhouse, or after 1855 the one in Withington.
Location; south Manchester
Pictures; the Workhouse disc, 2020, found by Frances Farrow
*Plot 40A, Southern Allotments, Nell Lane, Frances Farrow and Akram Dadafarid
And it is a button from the uniform of an inmate of the workhouse.
It was found by Frances Farrow on her allotment just off Nell Lane and was about 80 centimetres below the surface.*
There is no date on the disc, but it will date from between 1837, when the Chorlton Union was established, and 1930, when the workhouses were abolished.
And I think we can narrow that timeline, because from 1837 the Union’s workhouse was situated in Hulme, until it was replaced by the new one on Nell Lane in 1855.
It is easy to forget that for most of the 19th century and into the 20th, many who became old, sick or unemployed had no alternative but to seek help by entering the workhouse. These were grim institutions nicknamed Poor Law Bastilles and were predicated on the idea of less eligibility which maintained that the conditions inside the workhouse had to be so austere that only the very desperate would apply.
Despite this, many saw the workhouse as just one of the alternatives which they might be forced to consider. In the industrial north this might be because of trade fluctuations which closed factories, while in the countryside it might be during the quiet times between sowing and harvesting crops.
I have no idea who the button belonged to or where they came from, but Didsbury was one of the townships within the Chorlton Union. As such those seeking relief might have to apply to the Stretford Road Workhouse, or after 1855 the one in Withington.
Location; south Manchester
Pictures; the Workhouse disc, 2020, found by Frances Farrow
*Plot 40A, Southern Allotments, Nell Lane, Frances Farrow and Akram Dadafarid
Hi Andy, I like the nod to Neil Kinnock in your headline! A very interesting story. Andrew
ReplyDeleteThanks Andrew ..... well spotted
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