Gents Mag 1806 p.104
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Gentleman's Magazine 1806 p.104
3. 1802, Sept. 25th, debtors, 3; felons, &c. 4 men, 3 women; lunatic 1. Kendall, Sept. 27, 1802. My dear friend, I have just been visiting the workhouse at this place, (Kendall) and am much pleased with the industry, oeconomy, and cleanliness of it, but the ceilings are too low, and the kitchen improperly placed. Doctor Haygarth's rules to prevent infectious fevers are stuck up in various parts of the house, and by the attention of the managers, health is preserved, and labour productive; for none are suffered to be idle who are capable of working. Paupers in the house 99, of these there are children under 5 years of age 22; old and unable to work 12; sick 5; at work 60. P.S. The children of the workhouse in Kendall have not their best interests compromised for immediate gain; they are not considered as mere machine, and care is taken to cultivate and improve their minds; and easy opportunity is afforded by means of the READING SCHOOL, of giving to the children of the poor a decent education, without taking them from productive labour. The book is considered as a relaxation from work, and both succeed better; this is most particularly exemplified here; the children not only enjoy the privilege of mixing with other children, and of being raised from a state of extreme degradation, but at the same time earn more than when they confined within the precincts of the house. From the account which I have seen, it appears, that forty-five children have so conducted themselves, as to have received premiums this year (1802) amounting to 14l. 5s. 2d., and to contemplate their decent appearance, and the manner of behaviour, must be truly gratifying to every philanthropist *. The connexion between gross ignorance, profligacy of character, and abject poverty, is easily traced; for a very large majority of those, who have come under my observation as a magistrate, for felony, or misdemeanours, or vagrants, or to filiate bastards, or even to be examined respecting their settlements, are unable to write their own names. Yours, truly, JAMES NEILD. |
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* What an excellent example does not this present to
the guardians of the workhouses of Bury St. Edmund's and
Norwich! And the reflections of Nield in his account of
Kendall, drawn from long and deep experience, demand the
serious regard of every guardian of the poor, and of every
magisttrate in the United Empire. J.C.L.
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