In what was viewed as a pioneering move, the Fulham guardians introduced “classification wards” in the Fulham Palace Road workhouse, offering better accommodations for the aged and deserving poor than the accommodations provided to the general undesirables.
Classifying Paupers
In opening “classification wards” the Fulham guardians have taken a notable departure and the result of their experiment will be watched with interest, says the London Telegraph.
Prior to 1895 the inmates of workhouses were only classified according to age and without reference to character or past career. In January of that year the local government board issued a circular directing that so far as circumstances permitted there might be a subdivision of the inmates with reference to their moral character and behavior or their previous habits.
The Fulham guardians appointed a committee, which has drawn up a scheme, and a large company attended at the workhouse in Fulham Palace Road recently, when practical effect was given to the chief recommendation of the committee.
The Rev. P.S.G. Propert, the chairman of the board, explained that two comfortable and well-furnished wards are henceforth to be provided for the separate accommodation of the aged and deserving poor only. About 60 men and about the same number of women have been selected as worthy to be included in this class. All are over 65 years of age, have fallen on evil days through no fault of their own, and until compelled to seek the shelter of the workhouse, led respectable lives.
In the case of the men, many have lived in the parish nearly all their lives and several have been rate-payers for a long series of years. They will, so long as their conduct is good, enjoy certain privileges — of increased leave of absence, separate wards, a garden reserved for their sole use and a smoking room for the men.
The dietary meantime remains the same as in the other parts of the house, but it is hoped the local government board may in this respect allow certain relaxations.
Source: The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.), 23 Nov. 1899.
