Wandsworth and Clapham Workhouse and Poor Law Union

Putney had a workhouse from 1729. The first Wandsworth workhouse was built in 1730 on East Hill, on ground leased from the local lord of the manor, Earl Spencer. The parish of Holy Trinity, Clapham, opened a workhouse in around 1732. A parliamentary report of 1776 listed parish workhouses in operation in Battersea (accommodating up to 70 inmates), Putney (70), Streatham (30), and Wandsworth (120).

After 1834

The Wandsworth and Clapham Poor Law Union was formed on 25th March, 1836. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 19 in number representing its 6 constituent parishes as listed below (figures in brackets indicate numbers of Guardians if more than one):

Surrey: Battersea (3), Clapham (6), Putney (2), Streatham (2), Tooting Graveney (2), Wandsworth (4).

The population falling within the Union at the 1831 census had been 33,090. The average annual poor-rate expenditure for the period 1833-35 had been £16,519 or 10s.0d. per head of the population.

By the end of the ninenteenth century, Wandsworth and Clapham was London's largest union, with a population of more than 350,000 — a twelfth of the capital's total. The Wandsworth and Clapham Union was renamed the Wandsworth Union in 1904.

St John's Hill Workhouse

The Wandsworth and Clapham Guardians leased another site from Earl Spencer on the north side of St John's Hill where a new union workhouse was erected in 1838-40 to designs by George Ledwell Taylor. It broadly folowed the popular cruciform layout with an entrance block at the front, behind which lay the inmates' accommodation wings radiating from a central hub, with four yards for the different classes of pauper (male/female, old/young). A detached infirmary was erected at the north of the main workhouse building. A small block containing the porter's lodge stood at the entrance to the site on St John's Hill. The workhouse location and layout is shown on the 1866 map below:

In 1868-70, a much larger infirmary was erected at the north of the workhouse site on the ground previously used for the workhouse's gardens. It comprised four three-storey ward pavilions linked to a central four-storey administration block.

After 1886, when a new workhouse was opened at Garratt lane, St John's took on the role of union infirmary. Substantial changes and additions were made to the buildings, including a nurses' home in 1898 at the north-east corner of the site. The later layout of the site is shown on the 1916 map below.

After its enlargement, the St John's site provided 32 general wards of various sizes, and 10 special rooms or wards for isolation cases. There were also four large day-rooms which, owing to overcrowding, were pressed into use as wards. The nursing staff comprised 63 female and 4 male nurses, plus other officers and servants. The wards were similar to those of other modern infirmaries of the period, except for being longer and having their fireplaces at the centre rather than at the sides or ends of the wards — the large wards had four fireplaces, each of which warmed a quarter of the space. One ward was set apart for children, varying in age from a few days old to eight or ten years. In 1895, the total number of inmates was 3,559, of whom 2,921 were new cases; 2,501 patients recovered from their ailments, and 435 (12.2 per cent) died.

One celebrated inmate of the Wandsworth Union Infirmary was a Mrs. Blower who in 1896, at the age (it was said) of 107, was reckoned to be the oldest workhouse inmate in the country. She was still active and cheerful and regularly ran the length of the workhouse ward. She could read without the aid of glasses and could recall many events in history which occurred a century earlier. Her son (or her 'boy' as she referred to him), a mere youth in his eighties, was also an inmate of the Wandsworth workhouse.

In 1930, the site came under the control of London County Council and became St John's Hospital. In 1948, following the introduction of the National Health Service, it became a geriatric hospital and continued in use until the 1980s.

The Garratt Lane / Swaffield Road Workhouse

In 1886, a large new workhouse was built at Swaffield Road, off Garratt Lane, in what was then open countryside. It was designed by TW Aldwinckle and broadly followed his previous design for the nearby Lambeth workhouse.

Proposed design for Garratt Lane workhouse - bird's-eye view from north-west, 1886.

The buildings consisted of a central administration block which also contained separate dining rooms for males and females, together with kitchens and a chapel. Flanking this were three-storey dormitory pavilions, with males placed at the east and females at the west. Separate areas were allocated to inmates of good and bad character. On the women's side, a separate nursery block was provided at the west of the main building and a separate children's block to the north-west. The men's side included a stone-yard where the able-bodied broke up blocks of stone. Receiving wards were located either side of the entrance driveway from Swaffield Road. The full design provided accommodation for 1200 inmates, but only a cut-down version for 650 was actually built. The architect's plan is shown below (click on the image for a larger version).

A large casual ward block lay to the north of the workhouse, with its entrance facing to the west. The two-storey front portion contained offices and staff rooms at the centre, with stores and sleeping cubicles to each side. To the rear was an unusual semi-circular array of thirty sleeping and stone-breaking cells. A dining-hall and kitchen lay at the centre of the building, linking the entrance block to the stone-breaking cells. Further stone-breaking yards lay at the northern corner of the site.

The workhouse is approached by a long carriage-way, on the left of which are the casual wards, the garden being on the right. At the end of the drive are the porters' lodges, one on each side of the gate. Important-looking gas lamps are placed at intervals along the drive and two surmount the gates at the entrance to the workhouse grounds. The chief centre of attraction in the whole of the buildings is the chapel. For what reason this splendid building was erected in red brick with ornamental stone dressings, while yellow bricks were good enough for all other parts of the workhouse, the Board of 1884 perhaps could say; at any rate, they heard enough about it from the ratepayers at the time.
   The administrative block is situated under and beyond the chapel. The men's day-rooms and dormitories are in a separate block to the left of the chapel, and the women's quarters are on the right, also separated. Communication with either block from the master's quarters and offices is made by covered corridors. The dormitories are large, airy rooms, having windows on both sides. Though plain, they are spotlessly clean, and the beds are as comfortable as one could wish to have. The bedding for old people — those over 60 — consists of a cocoanut fibre mattress, a flock bed, two sheets, two top blankets, one under blanket and counterpane, pillows and bolsters. Inmates under 60 years of age have the same bedding with the exception that the flock bed is missing. The dormitories and day-rooms on the female side of the house are, of course, more comfortable than those provided for the males. Some of them are very tastefully decorated, and in all there has been an attempt to make workhouse life as pleasant for the "old ladies" as the rate-payers will allow. A very large proportion of the inmates are feeble and incapacitated from work, and hence the crowded state of the house.
   The dietary throughout the house has been well chosen both with regard to quality and quantity, and there is a greater variety of food than is allowed by most boards of guardians. At three o'clock every afternoon the aged and infirm men and women have afternoon tea, at which they are served with 1 oz. of bread, ¼ oz. of margarine, and ½ pint of tea. Once a month all the inmates are supplied with about 10 ozs. of cooked fish, and during the summer months lettuce or cress is given from time to time. The children of all ages between two years and 16 are each day provided with lunch, consisting of plain cake, and jam or syrup is occasionally given instead of margarine.
   Although oakum-picking and stone-breaking are still continued in the casual wards, where there is accommodation for 55 inmates (42 male and 13 female), useful employment as at Mitcham Workhouse has for many years been in vogue. The workshops are built in a row at the back of the workhouse. They consist of a bakehouse, engineers' shop, tailors' shop, carpenters' shop, and smithy. A paid skilled mechanic is placed in charge of each shop, and the remainder of the staff are inmates of the workhouse. All the painting and repairs to woodwork and stonework are done by the inmates, as well as the repairing of boots and clothing. New garments and boots (with the exception of house boots) are contracted for. The bakehouse supplies both the workhouse and the infirmary with bread, turning out for this purpose nearly 2,000 loaves a week. Machinery is used for kneading the dough. The washing for the infirmary as well as the workhouse is also done by inmate labor in the splendid laundry. Most of the work is done by machinery, which is of a most complete and elaborate nature. Over 14,000 pieces are washed in the laundry every week. A fortnight ago the Board decided "that the following articles required be made at the workhouse:— 345 bed trays, 231 ft. of coir mats, 61 bed boards, 12 housemaids' boxes, 4 pairs of folding steps, 1 form, 12 store boxes."
   There are two separate blocks for children — one for babies from a fortnight to two years of age, the other for youngsters above two years old. The block for the latter is separated into male and female sides. The number of children in residence varies. Sometimes there are five and at other times 50. It is from this home that the schools and convalescent homes are supplied with children. In the home for the younger children there are no male and female sides, and the little ones, all dressed pretty much alike, may be taken for girls. Mothers who have been confined in the lying-in ward are allowed to nurse their children in the babies' home when their infants are a few weeks old. Their alternative is to go back to their own homes. About 140 children are born in the lying-in ward each year, a large proportion of whom are the children of unmarried parents. The ward is in a one-storey building, about fifty yards distant from any other part of the workhouse. It is quiet, neat, and comfortable, and is in charge of a certificated midwife.
   The master and matron, Mr. and Mrs. Hodge, have been in the employ of the Board for many years. The expenditure in respect of the workhouse last year was £22,064.

The site was taken over by the London County Council in 1930 and became Brocklebank LCC Institution. The buildings have now been demolished.

Tooting Home, Church Lane, Tooting Graveney

In 1897, new workhouse accommodation was provided for the 'deserving' old and infirm at a site lying between Church Lane and Rectory Lane in Tooting. The buildings, dating from 1888, were formerly St Joseph's Roman Catholic college. The property was acquired by the Wandsworth Guardians for £40,000 with another £30,000 being spent on alterations to the building. A contemporary report described the accommodation:

The grounds are about acres in extent, and when they have been laid out, with the drives in course of construction, will be a great source of pleasure, especially as many boards find that their old men have a great taste for gardening. The building consists of a basement, two floors, and an attic, which will no doubt be used for storage.
The kitchen is well furnished with three big coppers, an excellent range, and the usual fittings. There are also, of course, scullery, pantry, and subsidiary storerooms. There is a clothes storeroom next to this, and needle-room, with various dormitories and smaller rooms. Leaving the basement, and going up to the ground floor, we find apartments for the master and matron, the committee-room, and offices. There are also two large wards with 42 beds in each, and smaller wards, some of which have as few as seven beds, not counting one or two one-bedded rooms for nurses and possibly invalids. The first floor repeats the design of the ground floor, and contains, as well as the wards, the day-rooms. The recreation-room is an excellent one, and will be very bright as a rule, though it lies north and south. Each ward is named after one of the guardians. The beds have wire spring mattress with overlay of hair, flock bolster and feather pillow, three blankets and white counterpane. Each bed has a comfortable chair beside it, and each ward has bath-room and lavatory attached, and each ward has a day-room corresponding with nurses rooms at hand.

The establishment became known as the Tooting Home and in 1901 accommodated 605 inmates.

In 1903, temporary hospital wards with beds for 102 males and 102 females were added at the north-east of the site. The single-storey wards were arranged in a pavilion-plan layout, with four wards placed each side of a central linking corridor which ran parallel with Church Lane. The layout of the site is shown on the 1916 map below.

During the First World War, the buildings were used as the Church Lane Military Hospital.

Church Lane Military Hospital entrance from the west, c.1915.
© Peter Higginbotham

In 1930, the site was taken over by the London County Council and, as St Benedict's Hospital, provided care for the chronic sick.

The hospital closed in 1981 and housing now occupies the site. The only reminders are the entrance gateway on Church Lane, and the main block's portico and clock tower which have been preserved in the grounds of the modern development.

St James' Road Infirmary

In the early 1900s, rapid growth in the population in the Wandsworth area resulted in an increase in the demand for poor relief. Remedies considered included the farming out of poor-relief applicants to other Unions, and the removal of Battersea from the union. Instead, the union purchased the site of the St James' Road Industrial School from the Westminster union for £21,000. The school was originally erected by St James' parish in around 1852 to house juvenile offenders. By 1884 it could accommodate almost 200 children.

In 1904-5, the existing buildings were converted to act as a branch of the Garratt Lane workhouse, known as the St James' Road Branch Workhouse. In 1910, a new pavilion-plan infirmary was erected on site, on ground that had previously formed the workhouse gardens. Designed by James S Gibson, the new buildings comprised a central two-storey administration block linked by a long corridor to three-storey ward pavilions at each side, with female wards at the north, and male wards at the south. At the end of each side was a double pavilion containing 204 beds. Half-way along each side was a single pavilion with 96 beds, designed in a way to allow later expansion into a double pavilion. Each pavilion had WCs in projections partway along the block. The ends of the pavilions had large bay windows and sunning balconies. The existing workhouse buildings, which fronted onto St James' Road, were retained alongside the new infirmary.

In 1930, the infirmary was taken over as a general hospital by the London County Council. In 1931-5, the original single pavilions were doubled up, and the old workhouse blocks replaced by a new central complex. This contained out-patient, casualty and admissions departments at the west, X-ray and physiotherapy departments at the north, and staff quarters at the south.

The hospital closed in 1988 and the buildings demolished in around 1992. The site has now been redeveloped for housing.

Swaffield Road Intermediate Schools (Earlsfield House)

In 1902-3, a large "Intermediate Schools" building, designed by Landsell and Harrison, was erected on Swaffield Road opposite the workhouse entrance. The foundation stone was laid on March 18th, 1902, by the Revd. Hubert Curtis, Chairman of the Wandsworth and Clapham Board of Guardians. The Schools, later adopting the name Earlsfield House, was opened on 12th June, 1903. The building was initially licensed to accommodate up to 150 children, although soon became overcrowded with up to 180 in residence and thirty sleeping on the floor.

Other Children's Establishments

Wandsworth and Clapham was part of the North Surrey School District. The District's membership varied but after 1884 the only other member was the Lewisham union. In the 1890s, almost six hundred children in the care of Wandsworth and Clapham union were at the North Surrey District School at Anerley. Another hundred of the union's children were boarded out in various parts of the country, 80 were in institutions at Margate, 18 were at a convalescent home in Sandgate, and 100 were at Catholic schools. The union also sent many of its parentless children away to Canada.

Wandsworth and Clapham, Surrey, London

Up to 1834

After 1834

St John's Hill Workhouse

The Garratt Lane / Swaffield Road Workhouse

Tooting Home, Church Lane, Tooting Graveney

St James' Road Infirmary

Swaffield Road Intermediate Schools (Earlsfield House)

Other Children's Establishments

Staff

Inmates

Records

Bibliography

Links