HISTORY

History trip to a Victorian workhouse

On a freezing December morning our intrepid Year 12

Historians piled into the minibus for the short trip up the

M1 to Ripon. The biting winter cold provided a suitably

Dickensian backdrop for a visit to one of the best preserved

Victorian workhouses in the country. Set up by the 1834 Poor

Law Amendment Act the workhouse was meant to strike fear into the population, looming over those who might have been struggling economically and 'inspiring' them towards selfsufficiency. Whilst not condemned to gruel twice a day and sleeping on straw mattresses, our students managed to gain a great insight into the routines and rhythms of workhouse life, including partaking in mind-numbing and physically challenging labour - from oakum picking to brass polishing! “ Our students managed to gain a great insight into the routines and rhythms of workhouse life”

They also participated in a role play from the position of those who had power in the workhouse system - the local poor law guardians - who decided which of their local poor should be allowed through the gates and which should be left to fend for themselves (a decision that could quite literally mean life or death). In the afternoon, students entered the

Victorian courthouse and staged a mock trial, complete with full costume, centred upon the story of a pair of 19th century petty criminals who ended up being deported to Australia as punishment for their misdeeds. For girls studying the 19th century and, particularly, issues of poverty, welfare and public health, this was a trip that packed in a huge amount of rich learning and was hugely enjoyed by all.

Mrs Potts

Here is an extract of Sarah Shah’s entry for the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain’s 2019 Holodomor Essay Prize (judged by Dr. Olenka Pevny, Director of Ukrainians Studies at Cambridge University). She was Highly Commended for this and the full entry can be found on the augb website.

REMEMBERING THE CRIMES OF THE HOLODOMOR

Referred to as a ‘bloodless war’[1], the Holodomor (1932-1933) was an incomprehensible tragedy which led to countless avoidable Ukrainian deaths. The nature of such an appalling famine becomes increasingly eerie when considering how Ukraine is the third largest grain exporter[2]

and points to this event being deliberately man-made by Stalin’s policy of collectivisation, imposed as a genocide to weaken Ukrainian nationalism. Furthermore, the outrageous cover-up is still in full force: the Russian Federation considers it part of the wider Soviet Famine[3], downplaying the suffering of individual nations. Failing to recognise the specific devastation in Ukraine appears flippant, especially considering current tensions. As Conquest writes, ‘the silence must surely be seen as the silence of complicity, or justification’[4]. Regardless of this debate, the unjust hardship is undeniable. It is necessary to break the silence to remember an event which should have never been forgotten. The Holodomor was undoubtedly significant on an individual basis, leading to as many as over 7 million deaths. Those who did live did not do so in luxury, as survivor Vera Smereka recounts ‘borscht… consisted of just water and herbs’[5] and later attributes this to their swollen stomachs. This was very common, as many sources describe similar swelling due to the use of water to combat hunger, and illustrates the extent of desperation to survive but also conveys an upsetting futility. Survivors were faced with difficult decisions which no

doubt would later traumatise them in the long term, for example in Galina Smyrna’s account ‘my aunt went crazy –she ate her own child’[6]. Many historians and testimonies mention cannibalism, however this one depicts the struggle to survive as tragic and not only showcases physical starvation, but also the mental toll such an event would take. Living itself appears to have been a form of torture.

[1] Doroshenko, Hanna. http://holodomorct.org/holodomor-survivor-eyewitness-accounts/ [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20131231235707/http://www.blackseagrain.net/data/news/ukraine-becomes-worlds-third-biggest-grain-exporter-in-2011-minister [3] https://sputniknews.com/world/20080402102830217/ [4] Conquest, R. (2002). The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivisation and the Terror-Famine. Pimlico. p.330 [5] https://www.augb.co.uk/survivor-testimony-vera-smereka.php [6] Smyrna, Galina. http://holodomorct.org/holodomor-survivor-eyewitness-accounts/