DEATH IN THE WORKHOUSE
The workhouse was a word that sent a shudder through every generation up topre-war times. This may not have been so before 1834 when many villages,including Clavering, had their own little poor-houses where life could still be harsh, but at least they were still inside their own community. In 1834 all the village workhouses were closed down and eventually sold off, their inmates carted off to the big Union workhouse in town, in this case Saffron Walden Union workhouse in Radwinter Road (recently converted into luxury apartments!). The sad stories of workhouse life are told in my book 'The well-ordered town: a story of Saffron Walden 1792-1862' in which the closure and sale of Clavering workhouse (now The Guildhall next to the church) is described.

Once the New Poor Law came in, going into the workhouse became a shameful and upsetting experience. Nevertheless many people had no choice, although many stays were quite short. Typically families would go in temporarily during harsh winters when there was no work, then come out again when conditions improved; poor mothers might go in for their confinement if there was no one to look after them at home; orphans and illegitimate children with nowhere to live ended up there, and the Guardians tried to educate them and find them a trade; and of course the Union workhouse became an old people's home, as so many families migrated or emigrated, leaving their parents to fend for themselves.

As the workhouse continued into the 20th century, it increasingly became the place where poor people ended their days. Although this is a very sad subject, it is part of the harsh reality of life in those times. I thought it might be useful to family historians reading this site to have a list of the 49 Clavering people who died in the Saffron Walden workhouse, of which a separate record exists for 1868-1899 among the Guardians' records. ©Jacqueline Cooper

Clavering people who died in Saffron Walden workhouse: 1868-99

Abrams, Sarah, age 60, April 23 1868
Ayers, Mary, 76 in 1895
Bailey, William, 73, Mar 13 1886
Banks, Elizabeth, 66, Nov 27 1886
Barker, Eliza, 74 in 1895
Bernard, Sarah, 81, Sep 30 1888
Bond, Emma, 76, 1898
Boyton, Hannah, April 9 1879
Brooks, Richard, 76, Nov 15 1870
Burgess, David, age 3 years, 2 May 1880
Burgess, Mary, 12, Jan 16 1888
Burgess, Philip, 76, Jan 23 1887
Burgess, Wm, 61 in 1898
Bush, Susan, 77, Feb 24 1882
Button, Mary, 73 April 5 1870
Cakebread, David, 58 in 1895
Cakebread, John, 86 in 1898
Cakebread, Wm, 64 in 1891
Chesham, Lydia, 63, Oct 22 1876
Chesham, Mary, 76, Sep 2 1888
Clark, Ann, 80, 21 June 1870
Cole, Sarah, 76, Oct 24 1879
Frances, Keziah, 77, Mar 6 1881
Francis, James, 75, 4 Jan 1874
Goodwin, Edward, 21 in 1895
Hayden, Sarah, 67 in 1890
Hollingsworth, Richard, 91, Nov 19 1876
Key, Aaron, 75 in 1895
Law, Walter, age 4 months, Mar 15 1885
Law, William, 90, Jan 22 1879
Law, William, 83, Feb 8 1887
Monk, Jabez, 58 in 1890
Moore, John, 81, Mar 25 1887
Newland, Harriet, 25, June 2 1878
Newman, Charles, 60, Sept 1 1870
Piggott, Elizabeth, 72, Jun 29 1888
Rogers, Charlotte, 40 , Nov 18 1874
Rogers, John, 73, May 29 1883
Rumball, Hannah, 81 in 1899
Rumble, Stephen, 78, Feb 4 1881
Sell, George, 79, April 17 1874
Sell, John 67, July 5 1883
Shaw, Jonah, 62, Nov 8 1888
Smith, Eliza, 69, Sep 3 1881
Smith, James, 78, Sep 27 1887
Taylor Daniel, 78 in 1892
Taylor, Thomas, 74, in 1889
Taylor, William, 81 in 1890 or 1891
Wright, James, 20 Sept 1868