Were all Workhouses a Bad Place?
A Workhouse The Poor Law Act of 1834 was a legal act that completely stopped the poor from getting assistance unless they were in dire need of it. It labeled the poor as 'lazy' as well as saying that it was their own faults for becoming poor. Before the act, the poor had received charity from the wealthy but after the government passed this act, the rich began viewing the poor as lazy and dirty scum. From 1834 to the early 1900s, more and more people were being forced into various Workhouses. Charles Dickens writes negatively about Workhouses, saying that they are awful places run by greedy masters who starve the residents. In his book "Oliver Twist" he describes the fictional orphan- Oliver- pleading the the master for more food but receiving nothing but a harsh punishments. However James Howard, a resident of Swansea's cottage homes (a branch of the Workhouse), went on from the home with a scholarship, attended Cardiff University, later becoming a ch...