WORK 'HOUSE. the name given to municipal institutions, in England, In which pau pers are supported and maintained. The earliest mention of them is to be found in shit. 13 and 14 Car. II. c. 12, authorizing workhouses to be erected in the cities of Lon don and Westminster, to which rogues and vagabonds might lie committed, by any two members of the "workhouse corporation," a board created by the act, with the view of restraining them from predatory habits. and compelling them to work for their living. The provisions of this act were, for the first time, carried into effect in the reign of William and Mary, when a corporation, headed by the lord mayor of London, fitted up a house in Bishopsgate street as a workhouse, one part of which, called the keeper's side, was devoted to the purpose contemplated by the act of Charles IL—viz., the reception of vagrants and disorderly persons committed by two governors; while in the other part, called the steward's side, poor children were lodged, and taught various employments and branches of education. A. very few workhouses were afferwari erected by local acts, but their general adoption throughout England was first provided for by act 9, Goo, I, c. 7, by which the churchwardens and overseers of the poor in any parish or town, were empowered, with consent of the majority of the inhabitants, to establish a workhouse where the .poor were to be lodged and maintained. Two or more parishes might unite in having one workhouse, and one parish might contract for the maintenance of its poor in the workhouse of another. Under this statute buildings began to be erected and hired all over the country, with great zeal, for workhouses, in which the whole poor were housed, industrious and profligate alike. Out-door relief, which had been prohibited by the above statute, was re-introduced by 36 Geo. III. c. 23, and before long became the rule under a variety of systems, by which assistance was carried so far as to be a bounty on indolence. The poor-rates rose immensely, and it became the subject of general complaint, that the able-bodied out-door pauper enjoyed a degree of comfort which destroyed all stimulus to exertion. The result was the passing of statute 4 and 5 IV. c. 76, which has remodeled the whole administration of the poor-law, and greatly extended the workhouse system. The commissioners appointed by that act, and the public board substituted for these commissioners in 1848, and made permanent in 1867, have been empowered, under certain restrictions as to consents, to order workhouses to be built, altered, or enlarged as they see fit, and may make by-laws for their government, which the justices are to enforce. The various workhouse officers,
including master, matron; schoolmaster, schoolmistress, nurse, porter, and superintend ent of out-door labor, have all their proper functions assigned them. Persons having an order, either from the board of guardians, the relieving officers, or the overseers, are at all times entitled to admission; and in cases of necessity, applicants must be admitted without an order. If the house be full, the master is bound to refer the applicant to the relieving officer, whose duty it is to find him relief elsewhere. Casual poor way farers. admitted by the master or matron, are to be kept in a separate ward; and by 34 and 33 Vict. c 108, the guardians of every union are bound to provide within their re spective unions casual wards with such fittings as furniture as the poor-law board, in their judgment—regard being had to the number of casual paupers likely to require relief—shall consider necessary. There are various statutory enactments regulating the discipline of workhouses. Refusal to work at any suitable employment, intoxication, or other misconduct, is punished with imprisonment and hard labor, not exceeding 41 days. A pauper absconding with clothes or other property belonging to a workhouse, is liable, under 7 Vict. c. 101, and 13 and 14 Vict. c. 101, to imprisonment and hard labor. The usual rule, in accordance with which man and wife arc separated, is, by 10 and 11 Vict. c. 109, relaxed when they are above 60 years of age. By 11 and 12 Viet. c. 110, persons professing to be wayfarers or wanderers are to be searched on ad mission, and any money found on their persons is to be applied to the common fund of the union; and any applicant for relief concealing such money is to be punished as a dis orderly person. In every workhouse a register is to be kept of young persons under 16 years of age, who are hired as servants or bound apprentices, and the relieving officer is bound to visit them twice a year and inquire into their food and treatment. By 31 and 32 Vict. c. 22, a register of religious creeds is to be kept in every workhouse. By 29 and 30 Vict. c. 113, the poor-law board is empowered to direct the guardians to provide proper drainage, sewers, ventilation, fixtures, furniture, and medical and surgical appli ances in every workhouse.