Interior view of a 'vagrant cell' at St George's Hospital, Semington, showing a grill through which crushed stone had to be pushed into the bunker below

Date:
31 Jan 1991
Location:
St George's Hospital, Vagrants Cells, St George's Road, Semington, Wiltshire
Reference:
BB98/06522
Type:
Photograph (Negative)
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Description

The Vagrancy Act 1824 is a UK Act of Parliament that made it an offence to sleep on the streets or beg in England and Wales. In 1837, Poor Law commissioners introduced a new regulation, by which people who were travelling the country looking for work and were experiencing homelessness and poverty could be provided with food and shelter in exchange for work tasks. This accommodation was available in workhouses and was known as the ‘vagrants cells', 'vagrants ward' or 'vagrants block' etc., being seperate from that provided for the local population. In 2022 the act was repealed.

Content

This is part of the Job: 90/01604 St Georges Hospital, 'Vagrants Cells'; within the Volume: BF082303 St George's Hospital, Semington; within the Series: RCH01/012 Workhouses Project; within the Collection: RCH01 Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME) Archive

Rights

© Crown Copyright. Historic England Archive

People & Organisations

Photographer: Barker, Sid

Keywords

Cell, Workhouse