An early bonfire night in 1899

The Union workhouse in Westhampnett came to a sad but dramatic end on the 3^rd November 1899.  It was a stormy night with gale force winds raging but all seemed calm when the master of the workhouse, Mr Moore, made his final inspection of the evening.  All 115 inmates were in bed and the staff had retired to their rooms for the night.  An hour or so later the Moores were woken by the sound of a crash and on inspection they found the attics were on fire and the ceiling to the cooks bedroom, which was fortunately unoccupied, had fallen in.  They woke the three nurses who quickly dressed and began removing the inmates including the mother and her newborn child from the lying in ward and a ten year old boy ill with typhoid who was carried out by another inmate.  Many of the inmates were elderly or infirm, they were confused by the chaos and had to be carried or coaxed out of the burning building into the howling gale and torrential rain, the staff were helped by some of the able bodied inmates such as William Waller and Joseph Frampton.  The newly constructed iron staircases at each of the building enabled quick evacuation of the building.

Meanwhile in nearby Chichester there had been a dinner held for the Corporation of St Pancras which included senior members of the fire brigade.  Their evening was interrupted by the arrival of a cab driver who had seen the fire at Westhampnett and driven at speed back to Chichester to raise the alarm.  The firemen, Captain Budden and Lieut. Gambling, commandeered the cab drivers horse and harnessed him to the fire engine, they rang the fire bell and the remainder of the fire brigade arrived promptly and they were soon at the scene of the conflagration.

The workhouse alarm bell was rung but the raging storm limited its effectiveness to such an extent that labourers asleep in neighbouring cottages slept on unaware of the drama until woken by others banging on their doors.  Dr Bostick did hear the alarm but by the time he arrived the inmates had already been removed from the building.  He got the workhouse's own fire engines out but found that the lengths of hose would not connect together rendering them useless.  The fire brigade also faced problems - this time the lack of water.  Although connecting the workhouse to the water mains had been discussed a year earlier it had been decided it was too expensive to undertake the work but it now cost them the workhouse as the water from the well was soon exhausted and little could be done to save the main building.

Westhampnett workhouse after the fire

Once everyone was out there was an attempt made to retrieve as many goods as possible from the ground floor which was still clear of the fire whilst Moore ran back in to turn off the boiler fearing an explosion when the fire reached it.  The fire was allowed to burn itself out which it finally did at 8am the following morning.  All the inmates had been safely removed although one of them, Thomas Gilbert, died shortly afterwards from shock and fright.  Overnight, whilst the fire still burned, inmates were collected by other nearby workhouses and hospitals who offered to rehome them.  It was fortunate that the workhouse, which had a capacity of 569 inmates, had only 115 at the time of the fire and even more fortunate that the fire escapes had been installed as there was little doubt at the time that if they had had to rely on the internal central staircase they would not have been able to get everyone out in time  However if the workhouse had been connected to the mains water supply it might also have been possible to save the building which had originally been Westhampnett Place and had ancient and grand origins before its conversion in 1835 to the workhouse.

Source: The Observer and West Sussex Recorder - November 8th 1899 (page 5)

Work and working class women

According to the 1881 census only 42% of women worked, but that doesn't mean that the other 58% were sitting around with their feet up.  It simply reflects that women's employment was seen as unimportant and negligible.  This is because it was often seasonal, part time, poorly paid or a support role for their father or husbands own work.

Many women worked in a domestic environment, taking care of their own home or other peoples.  Elizabeth Burtenshaw was typical, she was born in 1866 in Albourne to John Burtenshaw, an agricultural labourer but by the age of 15 years she was working as a servant for Simeon Gumbrill.  For blacksmith Simeon employing a servant was a step towards middle class status. 

Many women in Sussex would have worked on the land, taking care of their own vegetable patch, working alongside their husbands or fathers or as seasonal help.  Ruth Gutsell worked as dairy maid in Upper Dicker (Arlington) before she married but whilst the 1871 census entry suggests she is no longer working it is highly likely that she is still working. 

The industrial revolution gave women a new work opportunity.  Sussex was not at the heart of industrial growth but it was not unaffected.  There were many new developing industries along with pre-existing industries.  Women of all ages could work in a factory and it was a work opportunity that was available to many married women as well as single women.  The paper factory in Stedham employed many local women including Ann Burns, a 35 year old widow and Jane Simmonds was still working there at the age of 65 years.

Outwork was another employment option for married women, working from home could be fitted in around caring for their children.   Outwork was considered socially acceptable for women; factory work gave women an independence that worried society, farm work was too coarse and domestic work took women until other people's houses making them possible prey to immoral employers.  Many women working as dressmakers and milliners would have been working at home such as 14 year old Elizabeth Deeks in Brighton and 73 year old Ann Longhurst of Angmering.

There were many other jobs women undertook, many without the recognition that they were working.  A search of the census shows many families taking in lodgers to supplement the family income and it was the women who took care of the extra work involved.  Maria Collis of Westhampnett earned an income as a charwomen and rented a room to a lodger whilst the five daughters of Richard Geere, a builder in Brighton, all earned an income as teachers.  Some women would have earned a less than salubrious income from prostitution, it is estimated that 7% of the population of Victorian London were prostitutes (possibly as much as 15% of the female population).  Whilst prostitute was generally listed in the census under occupation there might be clues to the real occupation of such women as Alex Kingston found out on a recent episode of Who Do You Think You Are?

Some women broke the mould, taken on what was usually seen as men's work.  Sarah and Elizabeth Ray followed their father Daniel into the family silversmithing business in Battle whilst Caroline Burkenshaw worked as a carrier in West Itchenor.

It is reasonable to think, regardless of whether the census showed an occupation or not, that our working class female ancestors were hard workers and they contributed to the family income.