Hoole Social Welfare

Chester Union Workhouse - 57 Hoole Lane, Chester

On 26 April 1872, the Local Government Board in Whitehall, London, ordered the Guardians of the Chester Poor Law Union (formed in 1869) to purchase, for a sum of money no greater than three thousand five hundred pounds, the land on Hoole Lane described as “Three fields in Hoole Lane, in the Township of Hoole, in the County of Chester, belonging to the Trustees of the late Thomas Brassey, Esquire, containing and area of 16a. 1r. 24p. statute measure, and being numbered in the Tithe Map 20, 21, and 22.” This was part of the estate of the late Thomas Brassey, the great railway engineer and contractor, who had undertaken the building of Chester Railway Station. The order is in the Record Office in Chester.

The Local Government Board directed that the land be conveyed to the Guardians of the Poor of the Chester Union, and their successors, to build a Workhouse, its Schools, and a Hospital; whatever was necessary in later years for the relief of the Poor of the area covered by the Chester Union.

The new buildings were to replace the ‘House of Industry’ near Chester’s Roodee, which was no longer suitable for use as a workhouse.

• The Workhouse and its other buildings were to be big enough to hold 450 persons, men, women, and children, ‘properly classified’ (families were separated on entry). It was to cost no more than £15,750.
• The School was to be suitable for the reception and the maintenance of 150 poor children, costing no more than £5,250.

• The Hospital Infirmary was to cost no more than £3,500.

Documents discovered at the National Archives in Kew

Plan of all the Workhouse buildings, 1911 Ordnance Survey Map

Hoole History & Heritage Society discovered the original plans for all the buildings on the Workhouse site and later children’s homes in Ministry of Health documents at Kew.

The discovery explained the development of the workhouse buildings and the site over decades in the period leading up to the First World War.

The plan chosen for the workhouse building itself was the winner of an open competition, submitted by W Perkin and Sons. The new Workhouse, opened in 1878, had a large T-shaped main building facing to the east, with a separate Infirmary to its west and a School to the south.

The original gates of Chester Union Workhouse were at, what is now, the entrance to Housesteads Drive, on the right of which was the gatemen’s lodge. The drive went through a receiving block, under a gothic arch, to the main block, which later became the main part of Chester City Hospital. The buildings were imposing, built of red brick, and the main block had a ‘water tower’, topped with a spike on a spire.

The two gate posts of the original Workhouse entrance at Housesteads Drive today

Workhouses like Hoole's, that took in vagrants or ‘casuals’ were popularly known as 'Spikes' because of the actual spike, clearly visible even from a distance, mounted on top of the building.

The spike was the symbol to vagrants that poor relief and one night’s accommodation in return for work was provided at the workhouse. The occupants of the vagrant wards, or casual wards were classed as the "casual poor", or just "casuals".

The routine for those entering a casual ward began in late afternoon by joining the queue for admission. A ‘Spike’ had only a certain number of beds and late-comers might find themselves turned away.

The workhouse system clearly expressed Victorian values and attitudes towards the poor. It degraded the poor to dissuade them from entering the workhouse. For people of that generation being admitted to the workhouse was the last resort, and a source of great shame. It was the same for the inmates who were born there.

When the Workhouse building opened in 1878, the taskmaster obtained 100 tons of stone for the able bodied and casuals to break, not for any immediate purpose, but to make them labour for their accommodation and food.

It was not until 1904 that children born in the Hoole Workhouse could have ‘57 Hoole Lane’ recorded as the address of their birth on their birth certificates. It was much later, in 1920, that those who died there had an address, instead of ‘died in the workhouse’, recorded on their death certificates.

The School

By the time the workhouse building was opened on Hoole Lane, elementary education was being provided for some poor children in the parishes of the Chester Poor Law Union.

Originally, workhouses received and maintained poor boys and girls who were segregated from their families and from each other on entry, or at birth. Schooling at Hoole Workhouse was based on rote learning by the children. The workhouse teachers were ’paid by results’ and their work was inspected before their pay was authorised by inspectors.

In 1900, the Chester Poor Law Union erected a central children's home on the Wrexham Road together with smaller cottage homes at Upton Heath, on Long Lane, in Saughall on Hermitage Road, and in Dodleston on Main Road. All these distinctive buildings still exist.

The Chapel

Building plan for the Chapel of St James the Less

The plans we discovered included those for the Chapel of St. James the Less, opened in 1880, as an extra-parochial chapel serving the workhouse. Frederick Anderson, of Hoole All Saints, was appointed as Chaplain to the workhouse in 1875, for which he received £50 per annum. From 1880 – 1900 the deaths of 1,350 people were recorded in the burial register. By 1900 the burial ground was full.

Picture of the Chapel of St James the Less today

The Infirmary

Harsh conditions were noted in the 1894, the British Medical Journal commission's report on Hoole. A patient in the workhouse infirmary had recently died and a pauper employed as a night attendant had been found guilty of manslaughter due to his rough handling of the patient while unsupervised by the sole nurse who was occupied in another block.

On 27 August 1917, Chester Union Workhouse became a Chester War Hospital, its inmates were displaced and ‘imbeciles’ were sent to the Asylum (the “Deva") in Upton. In 1919, at the end of the First World War, the Ministry of Health succeeded the Local Government Board.

Changes

The Local Government Act 1929 abolished the Poor Law Unions and transferred the functions of the guardians to the County and County Borough Councils, working through new Public Assistance Committees.

The transfer became effective on 1 April 1930. The institutions transferred to the Corporation included the Union Workhouse, Hospital, and Chapel in Hoole Lane. At that time, a clear distinction was made between the workhouse buildings and the hospital: they were administered separately, and referred to respectively as St. James's House and St. James's Hospital.

The hospital increasingly came to be known as the ‘City’ Hospital and on 1 January 1937, under the Local Government Act 1933, the hospital came into public use and was transferred from the Public Assistance Committee to the Public Health Committee. It was incorporated into the National Health Service in 1946, immediately after the Second World War, when it was transferred to the Hospital Management Committee of the Regional Hospital Board.

The National Assistance Act 1948 abolished the Poor Law. Previously, in 1947, the re-organization of hospital and public assistance services in Chester included the closure of the city Isolation Hospital in Sealand Road (built in 1899 for the Chester Poor Law Union area) and the transfer of this hospital to the Public Assistance Committee in exchange for the public assistance institution, St. James's House, at Hoole. The inmates of St. James's House at Hoole were transferred to the former Isolation Hospital, henceforth known as Sealand House. The children's home on the Wrexham Road became the responsibility of the Children's Committee and it continued to be used as a Corporation children's home until 1958, and the property was sold in 1959.

This meant that the City Hospital now comprised the whole of the former workhouse buildings at Hoole when these were transferred to the Regional Hospital Board in 1948.

During the 1950s, the City Hospital's services expanded considerably. A paediatric unit, a department for diseases of the chest, and a modern chest clinic were established, in addition to a pathological laboratory, and an X-ray department.

Cheshire County Council took over responsibility from the Regional Health Board in 1974, and, when a new West Cheshire Hospital Wing was opened in 1983, the City Hospital ceased to be a general hospital, specialising in geriatric care. Unsurprisingly, many local families in Hoole have connections with the building they grew up calling the City Hospital.

Chester City Hospital main building from the south-east in the 1990s

The hospital closed in 1991 and was subsequently demolished.

Flookersbrook, Newton & Hoole Female Friendly Society

The following account of the first procession of the Flookersbrook, Newton & Hoole Female Friendly Society appeared in the Chester Courant at Whitsuntide 1816.

Chester Courant Article 1816, transcribed

Similar reports were to appear in succeeding years, the last one found being in 1843 when the society’s name appears to have changed to The Ermine Female Club. In the first few years the church services were held at St. Oswald’s in Chester Cathedral, later St. John’s Church was the venue and in 1840 the newly built Christchurch in Newtown was used. Sermons were given by various members of the local clergy including the Rev. Archdeacon Clarke of Chester Cathedral; Rev. Isaac Temple, Vicar of Plemstall; and Rev. G. Pearson of St. Olave’s.

After the processions, dinners were given by prominent local people, initially Thomas Walker at his premises at the tanyard in Flookersbrook; by John Lightfoot at Brookside; and later by Jospeh Newall at his wheelwright’s business in Brook Street. In 1820, the dinner was “served up by Mrs. Monk the wife of the landlord of The Ermine, after which dancing commenced on The Green and continued until 6 o’clock when tea was served. To prevent intrusion lady non-members and gentlemen paid 2 shillings each for tea, if dancing only, 1 shilling.” In 1818 “the pleasures of the day terminated with feelings of regret by all who participated in the music fete”. In 1840 they concluded the evening by having “a right good merry dance”.

Although these annual events were reported as the highlight of the society’s activities, there is unfortunately no other information on what the Society did or how it was organised. In February of this year, Stella Young, who had researched Neston Female Friendly Society gave a presentation on the way in which that Society had operated and because there were many similar societies nationwide, it is likely that our Society ran on similar lines.

Friendly Societies (the title is still used by some companies today) were set up to provide insurance for its members in the event of illness or disability, and benefits were paid to its members; female friendly societies were able to respond to particular circumstances such as pregnancy, childbirth and female ailments; note the surgeon (then the term for a doctor) taking part in the procession. Young female servants in trouble and elderly employees e.g. cooks and maids unable to work any longer could be helped.

In Neston, monthly subscriptions (premiums) were paid according to age, 6 pence if under 20, 8 pence between 20 and 25, 1 shilling between 35 and 40 etc. Like present day insurance there were rules as to eligibility.

Benefits included:

• For sickness: 4 shillings weekly after being unable to work for 1 week on producing an Order from the Surgeon such allowance to be continued for 6 months if ill for so long; if longer only 2 shillings and 6 pence.
• In old age: a weekly allowance of 2 shillings and 6 pence.
• On death: if a member for 6 years £2, for 8 years £4, for 10 years £6 providing she had a child or children born in lawful wedlock or other relatives dependent upon her support; otherwise, in no case more than £2.
• In childbirth: on the birth of a child 5 shillings.

[It is noted that the only rule found of our local Society was “all women lying in are to bring a certificate of the baptism of their children by a Minister of the established Church”. This was quoted in a letter in the Chester Chronicle on November 1816 from a ‘dissenter’ who disagreed with the rule and who then received a rebuke in the paper from a ‘friend of the Church’.]

The Surgeon was appointed on a salary of £15 per annum to attend all the benefitted members in case of sickness and to find them proper medicines.

The Neston Society appointed a lady patroness, stewardesses, a secretary and trustees. The Flookersbrook, Newton & Hoole Society reflected this pattern of organisation and those who took part were clearly from well to do families of the area and many of the names are recognisable.

Emma Anne Blackburne section of Stained Glass Window, Chester Cathedral

Emma Anne Blackburne memorial on Stained Glass Window, Chester Cathedral

The prime organisers were the Hesketh family who lived at Newton Hall. Henry Hesketh Senior was a notable City wine merchant related to the Liverpool branch of the family who, as a part of Offley Campion Hesketh Co., owned vineyards in Portugal and records of the Port of Chester show him importing port wine on a regular basis. His son, Henry carried on the business and his wife became the President of the Society. One of their daughters Emma, then aged 23, is credited with the establishment of the Society, designing the beehive insignia, ensuring white shawls edged with green were worn and that wands (long sticks) surmounted by evergreens were available. Emma married Rev. Thomas Blackburne in August 1819 and then lived in his new Parish of Eccles. Following her husband’s sudden death in 1847 she settled at Spring Hill in Boughton. She died in April 1886 aged 91 and a stained-glass window in Chester Cathedral is dedicated to her memory. Research by the Borthwick Institute for Archives at York University into her role following the first fatal railway accident, which involved Liverpool MP William Huskisson at the opening of the Liverpool to Manchester line in September 1830, and more details of her life, can be found at https://borthwickinstitute.blogspot.com/2019/09/william-huskisson-and-vicaress-of-eccles.html.

The lady patronesses were Lady Broughton who lived at Hoole House and was well known for her gardens there; Lady Kilmorey, the wife of the Lord of the Manor of Newton; and Mrs. T. Cotton a member of a prominent local family. Other members included the sisters, Mrs Francis Bagnall and Mrs. Maria Moore who owned the land on which Moor Park was built; Mrs. Tonna a sister-in-law of the Hamiltons; Miss Brittain a member of the prominent land holding family; Mrs. Walker nee Catherine Lightfoot, the wife of Thomas Walker; and Miss Broster daughter of John Broster of Brook Lodge, printer, publisher, historian. In 1820 a Miss Brown (Browns of Chester) is listed and in 1823 Mrs. Sedgwick who had moved into Hoole Hall.

Nationally, a number of female friendly societies continued to exist for many years, using their local Church as a focus. This area did not have its own Church until All Saints opened in 1867. The coming of the railways in 1840 saw the social pattern of the area changing completely probably explaining the disappearance of Flookersbrook, Newton & Hoole Female Friendly Society.

Procession ot Neston Female Friendly Society

The coming of sewers to Hoole during the mid-19^th century

There was a crisis of sanitation that led to The coming of sewers to Hoole in the mid-19th century. The article addresses Hoole's population, housing conditions, epidemics, Public Health Acts, the development of the sewers themselves, and the people involved.

Bishopsfield Lecture Hall and Reading Room

Hoole Baptist Church with original front entrance

Most of the building which is now Hoole Baptist Church (Hoole Lighthouse Centre) in Westminster Road was originally built as a Lecture Hall and Reading Room. It opened in 1863. Sited on Peploe Street (as Westminster Road was formerly known), in this original role it was described as being located in Bishopsfield, the early name for this part of Hoole derived, it is believed, from the land vesting in St. Werburgh’s Abbey during the medieval period. The name appears on some maps but only survives today in the modern social housing known as Bishopsfield Court on School/Walker Streets. Peploe Street was re-named Westminster Road in 1893.

The Concept

The only public building in Bishopsfield at that time was Christchurch National School, also on Peploe Street, which had opened in 1855. It was largely due to the efforts of three men, Rev. R.D. Thomas, the Minister of Christchurch, Rev. David Adams, a Chester City Mission worker and Frank Palin, a local resident and land surveyor who designed the building, that this “general place of public resort” was made available.

The Reading Room concept had evolved out of the national adult education development that accompanied the industrial revolution. Numerous mutual improvement societies and institutions aimed at offering instruction to the working man sprung up. In particular, the Mechanics Institute movement offered classes in scientific and technical principles to underpin processes workers were operating. They became famous for their libraries and newspaper reading rooms but, although filling a gap, they had mixed success. For example, although one had been proposed for Chester as early as 1810, it was 1834 before it launched and then struggled financially. After 21 years it closed, re-opening briefly in 1856. The fees were pitched too high, and they failed to supply the less academic level of learning opportunity for the average worker.

Reading Rooms, often in smaller out-of-town locations were aimed at combining education and leisure, although run on similar lines. It is unclear whether there was any demand from Bishopsfield residents, increasingly railway workers, retail traders and artisans. Rather, maybe it was an idea that reflected middle-class attitudes towards local society, the growth of these institutes being set against a background of a vigorous temperance movement. The sponsors were usually the local “great and the good” who acted as fund-raising organisers and managers and Bishopsfield’s hall was no exception. Provided for “harmless and rational entertainment”, it became the second public building in Hoole. However, as early as 1867, complaints about the tone of content being too ‘religious’ were the subject of letters to The Cheshire Observer.

Design and costs

It was intended that one apartment of considerable dimensions, apparently 53’ long and 28’ broad would be used as a reading room and place for public meetings and lectures on six days a week and on Sundays “serve as a theatre for the delivery of addresses by the city missionaries and others”. Yet, it was apparently intended to be non-sectarian as was made clear seven years later when the Cheshire Observer issued a correction after it had been reported that Vicar of Hoole had assisted at the stalls of the Christmas Bazaar.

Cheshire Observer 1870 - illustrating the non-sectarian nature of the building

The external style of the building was described as Plain Roman ornamented with blue and red bricks and being quite novel. It was designed by Frank Palin and built by Thomas Lockwood who was a local resident and partner in the building firm Lockwood & Farrimond. It was calculated to accommodate from 500 to 600 people, being “light, comfortable and spacious”. The total cost of the building was about £500 of which only £200 had been raised by voluntary subscriptions. Money was borrowed to build the room and was to be paid off in monthly instalments. An extra cost incurred in September 1868 when the Trustees were asked to pay £10-2s-8d as their apportionment of the costs of paving and kerbing New Peploe Street, as it was then known.

Foundation stone laying ceremony

Foundation stone, laid 1863, partially obscured by modern pavement

Rt. Hon. Earl Grosvenor 1863

The foundation stone was laid by the Rt. Hon. Earl Grosvenor on Friday 7th August 1863.

A newspaper report describes the procession which preceded “this imposing and important ceremony”, the 49th Regiment providing the music.

1863 Foundation stone-laying procession

Beneath the foundation stone was placed a box containing a newspaper and several of ‘Her Majesty's coins’. The silver trowel presented to Earl Grosvenor was provided by Lowe’s, Chester’s well-known goldsmiths. The provision of reading rooms was seen nationwide as being very important and an extract from the Chester Chronicle of 25th July 1863 summarises Hoole’s position:

“The district considered both in regard to the character of its population and its distance from the City has strong claims upon the public for such a provision.  It is in fact an urban population upon a rural site with the thirst for knowledge and self-improvement which should stimulate example and the growing intelligence of age.  It has been the misfortune of more than a few of our suburban districts to have attained far too large a growth and extent before any suitable provision has been made for their harmless recreation and rational entertainment. Under these circumstances the public house and its appendages have presented attractions far too strong for resistance, and thus habits have been formed which have ruined the character and effectually stopped the way to the advancement in life of many a hopeful and promising young man”.

The building was formally opened with a tea for a large number of people on Tuesday 24th November 1863.

Activities

The books in the Reading Room were donated locally and it was supplied with newspapers and periodicals, the Cheshire Observer providing free copies. A reasonable rate of only one shilling per quarter was charged. In the first year, nine lectures were held in the Hall plus a musical entertainment which was “a complete success”, the latter type of event appearing to be particularly popular. Disappointingly the Reading Room was less successful with only 60 members whose “attendance and payments were irregular”.

1869 - A typical report of a Reading

Successive anniversaries reported the same trends, although the Lecture Hall was being used for meetings, lectures and concerts. However, there were exceptions. A “Magical Photograph”, used to illustrate a lecture on “Natural History, or a Glimpse of the Wonders of Nature” by local resident chemist, E. Hassall, was favourably contrasted with “ineffective” similar events elsewhere in the city.

In April 1869, the room was crowded for the last “Readings” or entertainments in the current series and there was much merriment and enjoyment with extended applause for some contributions.

1868 - Building used for a political meeting

The Hoole Local Board, inaugurated on 25 March 1864, met there and, contrary to the claim of its intent to be non-sectarian, the building was occasionally used for political meetings.

“Penny Readings" - a mixture of songs, prose and poetry – were arranged on Tuesday evenings. At the height of their popularity in the 1860s, they were deemed “rational recreation” for the price of a penny admission, so accessible to the working man, as was the possibility of opening a savings account by depositing one penny. In February 1867 a branch of The Chester Penny Bank opened at the Hall, this later transferring to Westminster Road School.

1869 Christmas Bazaar

Bazaars and fetes were held for fund-raising purposes, an advertisement in 1869 showing the ladies of the largest houses in Hoole and Newton as patronesses.

Indeed, that Christmas the Ladies Committee, by decorating and displaying the three Christmas trees raised enough money to fund some alterations that were already required to make the room more comfortable. A beam was removed, gas fixtures were raised, and ventilation improved. As a result, the Cheshire Observer reported that increasing numbers were benefitting from using the venue with its good supply of papers and periodicals. This had improved from two years earlier when an anonymous letter written to the same newspaper complained that the reading material consisted of “old novels and the men think it a waste of time to read them”. The quality of the reading material available was confirmed later when a list of 400 books to be sold was published.

The immediate problem though was to pay back the loan and during the years 1865 to 1867 a great fund-raising effort went into organising a Grand Bazaar and Industrial Exhibition at the Music Hall in Chester in January 1867. Many distinguished patrons and patronesses were approached to give their support, as were manufacturers and industrialists to display their wares and craftsmanship. A description of the stalls and their contents appears at the end of this article. £468 was raised over 4 days.

• Advertisements with names of patrons of the Grand Bazaar
• 
• 

Closure of Reading Room

The optimistic newspaper reporting could not disguise the fact that the use of the Reading Room continued to be poor and became an increasing concern of the Trustees for the next few years.

By 1870 attempts to attract more subscribers to the Reading Room were deemed to have failed. These had included a penny subscription, the provision of a bagatelle table and permitting smoking in the building. Even allowing free entry had resulted in the average attendance of six extra persons. The loss on keeping the Room open for reading over two years was £63-15-0. It was resolved in January 1871 that the Reading Room should be closed. Sad confirmation of the closure appeared in an advertisement in August 1873 for the sale of its books and the ill-fated bagatelle table.

August 1873 Advertisment for the sale of Reading Room contents

The Hall continued to be available for hire. Occasional concerts, especially in aid of charity, carried on. For example, an amateur concert, the proceeds of which were to be used for providing coals for the local poor was organised in the same year.

The Building is sold but remains useful

The Lecture Hall Trustees permitted the Hoole Local Board to use the adjacent yard for storage of road maintenance equipment and materials and, with the Trustees’ permission, in November 1871 the Board installed a well and pump for inhabitants who had no pure water, paying the Trustees one shilling per annum to do so. It was built by Mr. Killon of 5 Seller Street.

By 1873, Mr. Arthur Potts of Hoole Hall had acquired the building and yard from the Trustees. The Board approached him for a formal grant of the land on which the well and pump had been installed, but he refused. The Board agreed to give up most of the yard except for a small area at a new rent of £1 per annum.

The following year the Board received a complaint that one of their members and a former Lecture Hall Trustee, Mr. Henry Richards, was using the public pump for the washing of his cart, the residue going back into the well, making it not conducive for public use. Mr. Richards conducted his business as baker and grocer from 1-3 Charles Street, providing a delivery service. The discolouration allegedly caused by his activity meant local inhabitants had stopped using the well, but the Board’s Surveyor discounted this. It was December before the water was running clear again.

1878 Closure of the public pump

By 1878, Mr. Richards had acquired the whole of the property, constructing a cart shed and stable on the yard. He suggested that the well be closed as it was of no use, but “was a source of mischief and damage to its surroundings”. The Board's Surveyor agreed with Mr. Richards saying that its principal use “was by small children pumping water on even smaller ones. The houses in the neighbourhood were now all supplied with town water” and the pump was closed with Mr. Richards having enclosed the site.

More information on the Richards family can be found in the article The Baker and the Accountant.

1896 Lecture in support of the Temperance Movement

The Lecture Hall continued to be used for meetings and concerts. On Tuesday 1st March 1881 it was used for a concert “of a very successful character” with “full attendance” to raise funds for All Saints’ Church Sunday Schools. An amateur dramatic performance over two evenings of a comedy in November 1881 aimed to support the General Infirmary and the General Station Cricket Club. Meetings of political parties and temperance organisations are also reported as taking place in the 1880s and 90s.

In 1883, Ebenezer Baptist Church of Milton Street held a mission meeting there, which was so successful that weekly services were established, and a branch of the Baptist Church was formed. The Church eventually became the principal user and purchased the property in 1911 (see Hoole Baptist Church).

Another Reading Room

In 1891 the Hoole Literary Institute opened in Faulkner Street. Col. Hammersley, the Chief Constable of Cheshire, whose residence was Hoole Lodge, and who was a member and one-time Chairman of the District Council, was its instigator and first President. Charles Belfield and John Dinwoodie were successive Secretaries. The Institute was reported to have some 100 members, 40 attending its Annual General Meeting in October 1892. Lectures were organised and weekly meetings of members held. Besides books there was a billiards table, a draughts club and even a football team was organised. Fund raising concerts were held to support it. The Institute appears to have been accommodated on the upper floor of 10 Faulkner Street before that became the Headquarters of Hoole Liberal Party. It seems however to have been even more short-lived than its predecessor, no records being found after December 1895.

Details of the Grand Bazaar and Industrial Exhibition 1867

Details of the Grand Bazaar and Industrial Exhibition 1867

Details of the Grand Bazaar and Industrial Exhibition 1867