[Printed parliamentary paper.] Strand Union Workhouse. Copy of the Report made by R. B. Cane, Esq., Poor Law Inspector, to the Poor Law Board, after an Inquiry held by him on the 4th and 6th June 1866, into certain Allegations made by Matilda Beeton.

Author: 
[R. B. Cane [Richard Basil Cane], Poor Law Inspector; Matilda Beeton, Head Nurse at the Strand Union Workhouse, Cleveland Street, London]
Publication details: 
Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, 25 June 1866.
£220.00
SKU: 12783

28 + [1] pp., 8vo. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-worn paper. P. 1 has the drophead title: 'STRAND UNION WORKHOUSE. | RETURN to an Order of the Honourable The House of Commons, | dated 25 June 1866; - for, | COPY "of the REPORT made by R. B. Crane, Esquire, Poor Law Inspector, to the Poor Law Board, after an Inquiry held by him on the 4th and 6th June 1866, into certain Allegations made by Matilda Beeton, in reference to the Treatment of the Sick in the Strand Union Workhouse." | Poor Law Board, 25 June 1866. | ENFIELD, Secretary.' Beeton was an early whistleblower: she had previously described the appalling conditions at the Rotherhithe Workhouse Infirmary. Among her charges in this case are 'The Theft and Sale of Beer, &c., by the Patients and Nurses, and the Sale of Milk by one class of Inmates to another' and 'The Badness of the Washing, the Drunkenness of the Washerwomen, and the Defective Supply of Linen for the Sick'. 'Several cases of a very distressing character are described in the evidence,' and among Cane's conclusions after a detailed enquiry are that 'Want of space and of proper accommodation for the sick, and want of good nursing and of efficient attendance are now the urgent requisites of this establishment. [...] There may be reasons why the guardians should feel embarrassed, and hesitate to carry out their resolution to build a new workhouse; but there are no reasons that I am aware of which prevent them from at once appointing a sufficient staff of efficient nurses and attendants upon the sick.' Scarce: no copy of the actual document (as opposed to 'Electronic Resources') to be found on COPAC or OCLC WorldCat. For an outline of the affair see Ruth G. Hodgkinson's 'The Origins of the National Health Service' (1967), pp.492-3.