Why were workhouses introduced?

Answer 1

In Britain, work houses were introduced after the Poor Act. Originally, the poor of an area was the responsibility of the parish (i.e. the church), and were cared for using donations from local parishioners. Clearly, the standard of care for people varied wildly, with some people housed in monasteries and convents, while others were more or less left to starve.

After the industrial revolution, huge numbers of people flocked to the cities to man the machines in factories. This left the small parishes unable to cope, and so the Poor Act established workhouses as prisons for the poor. And prisons they were: they were almost always segregated, keeping husbands, wives and children apart under pain of strict punishments. Beatings were common, and food and rations were so poor that inmates frequently starved. An oft-quoted example is Andover Workhouse, where food was so scarce that inspectors found inmates in the mortuary eating the bone marrow of their deceased peers!

Answer 2

Workhouses were introduced in the 17th and 18th centuries in England as a way to provide assistance to the poor and control welfare expenses. They were meant to act as a deterrent to laziness and encourage people to seek employment. Workhouses were also seen as a way to separate the deserving poor from the able-bodied poor.