Biography

Frances Tarless was in and out of the St. Andrew’s Undershaft Parish between the years of 1791 through 1800. Throughout that time, Frances Tarless had a series of run-ins with the Parish masters and with the Parish Committee. From the Committee’s point of view, Tarless was a lazy and impertinent woman who caused trouble not only to the Committee and the master, but also to her fellow paupers. However, from Frances’ point of view, she was rebelling against a system that forced gruelling work upon her with little reward and degraded her humanity. Below are two different interpretations of Frances Tarless’s journey through St. Andrew’s Undershaft, one from the eyes of the Committee and the meeting notes, and one with sympathy towards Frances and her own agency against the system of poor relief.

Perspective of the Committee

On a warm summer day in the year 1800, the Committee at the St. Andrew’s Undershaft Parish had finally rid itself of the nuisance that was Frances Tarless.[1] Tarless entered the Parish around 1793, and immediately began asking the Committee for charity.[2] Tarless was granted these items as it was the Committees’ duties to provide for all who were poor.[3] In 1794, the Committee had its first taste of Tarless’s laziness. After refusing to work one day, even when she was able, Tarless complained to the Committee that Mr. Burrow had not given her any bread. Upon further questioning, Tarless revealed that she had indeed been able to work and that she had been given her “allowances” as the other paupers had, and the case was closed.[4]

Tarless’s behavior only got worse from there. In meetings in which she asked the Committee to give her more clothing, she talked back, behaved rudely towards the Committee, and once even attempted to damage the Orders of the Committee in a frame.[5] The Committee thought it best not to reward her bad behavior and therefore postponed her requests for more clothing.[6]

In late 1797, Tarless’s impertinence took a turn for the worse. Tarless slandered Mr. Tipple, saying that he had “used her ill” and “took her by force” into another room. However, when Mr. Tipple was called in he revealed that Frances had attacked and “ill used” Mary Collins, a quiet and respectable member of the Parish, and had then turned on him when he requested that she leave the room.[7,8]

The Committee decided it would be best to board Tarless out to a Mr. Smith, however, when that proved too expensive, she was taken back into the Parish.[9,10]

Everything came to a head in 1800, when Tarless complained that Mr. Tipple was not giving her the bread she desired.[11] When Mr. Tipple was called in to reveal the whole story, it became clear that once again Tarless’s laziness had not been cured, as she had refused to work and had “behaved exceedingly ill”. After declining her request to leave the parish, Tarless “made her escape”, relieving the parish of the burden of handling her behavior and laziness.[12]

Perspective of Frances Tarless

On a balmy summer day in year 1800, Frances Tarless makes her final escape.[13] Some believed she was a complete lunatic, but others thought her brave.[14] Earlier that day, Frances had reached her wits end. Mr. Tipple refused her allowance of bread during dinner.[15] The work she accomplished may not have reached Mr. Tipple’s high expectations, but she had worked as hard and as fast as she could.[16] Having protested to the Committee to no avail, Frances made leave of the workhouse, throwing the small Bible that always sat in the Passage to the ground, as a final objection to the brutal rule that was the workhouse.[17]

Frances had always been skeptical of the workhouse. In 1791, she had applied for relief, and was offered a place in the workhouse, but declined to live there.[18] Perhaps she was too lazy to endure the hardships that lay ahead in the workhouse.[19] Perhaps she was too proud to reduce herself to a life of submission.[20] However, no matter her opinions in 1791, her situation required her to enter the workhouse two years later.

Frances’s troubles with authority began in 1794, first with a run-in with Mr. Burrows, one of the workhouse masters. While she objected to the Committee that she had “not her Bread as the other Paupers had”, Mr. Burrow countered that Frances had chosen not to work, although she was able, to which “she admitted”.[21] Is it possible Frances had “chosen” not to work? On the other hand, was the work expected of Frances too grueling and she could not keep up? Nevertheless, she was unafraid to voice her opinions, which even the paupers disapproved of.[22] Mary Collins was the worst one of all, as Collins was submissive, prudish, and always gave into the Committee’s orders. The Committee loved Collins - once, she was given a highly coveted colored apron.[23] It was especially maddening when Collins falsely accused Tarless of assaulting her in 1797. Tarless had been overworked by Mr. Tipple and her muscles gave in. Upon seeing that Tarless taking a break, Mr. Tipple forced her out of the room with Collins as witness.[24] For the next three years, the Committee would never be convinced of Frances’ outcries, but they also knew they would never break her spirit.[25] On that fateful day in 1800, Tarless decided she was done with living under the tyranny of the parish. Against the parish’s strict orders, Frances Tarless got up and never looked back.[26]

Footnotes:

¹ Story was based on St Andrew’s Undershaft Workhouse Committee, Workhouse Minute Book August 24, 1800, p258. “[Frances Tarless] was reprimanded by the Committee and having been refused permission to leave the House she afterwards made her escape”.

² Frances Tarless orders many things from the Committee. St Andrew’s Undershaft Workhouse Committee, Workhouse Minute Book January 28th, 1793, p. 147. “Frances Tarless two Shifts”. 

³ “[The statute] was notable also in placing responsibility for relieving the impotent in the hands of parish officers” Slack, Paul, The English Poor Law 1531-1782. (the Economic History Society) p.17-18.

⁴ The Committee often thought that lazy people would take advantage of the Committee's relief by pretending to not be able to do work, which they may have thought with Frances. "12, That slothful people, who pretend ailments to excuse themselves from work, be properly examined, and if it appears they make false excuses, then they shall be punished by order of the next weekly committee.” F.M. Eden, The State of the Poor (London, 1797), 470.

⁵ Object was found in the Inventory from St. Sepulchre Workhouse, 1751. The Orders of the Committee was important because it resembled the rule of the Committee that was often ubiquitous through the workhouse master and matron. 

⁶ Workhouse Committee were able to determine who was rewarded what, based on their behavior. Those that behaved well were rewarded and those that were lazy were punished. Andrew’s Undershaft Workhouse Committee, Workhouse Minute Book, January 30, 1796, p.189, & May 29, 1797, p.194. “Improper behavior”.

“5, They shall at all times behave peaceably and quietly; they shall not quarrel or give rude language; they shall attend prayers morning and evening, eat their victuals orderly in the dining room, carry none out, nor depart till after grace be said, on pain of losing their next meal.” F.M. Eden, The State of the Poor (London, 1797), 469.

⁷ Run-in with Mary Collins and Mr. Tipple described in St Andrew’s Undershaft Workhouse Committee, Workhouse Minute Book, November 27, 1797, p.207-8.

⁸ The matron and master of the workhouse are supposed to responsible for all activities in the workhouse. "31, That the governor and matron, with the approbation of the weekly committee, shall appoint nurses and servants to do the necessary businesses of the house, who, if they behave well, and be recommended, shall be encouraged, and advanced by the weekly committee.” F.M. Eden, The State of the Poor (London, 1797), 466.

⁹ Documentation found in St Andrew’s Undershaft Workhouse Committee, Workhouse Minute Book, October 28, 1799, p.239.

¹⁰ “Able-bodied paupers...were able to receive outdoor relief if they could not find a job...Outdoor relief was began to be regarded as more humane and less expensive.” From this quote, we inferred that many paupers used out-door relief if they were able-bodied to provide an alternative to the workhouse. Gilbert’s Act in 1782, Carleton College HIST 235 Timeline, 2018.

¹¹ “If any would not work, neither should he eat...The connection (between working and eating -- and starving) was firmly established by the Author of Nature as well as by historical precedent.” This quote suggests that workers were valued based on productivity. When Frances Tarless would not work, she would be given a docked ration because of her lack of productivity. Carolyn Steedman, Labours Lost: Domestic Service and the Making of Modern England, (Cambridge University Press, 2009), 256.

¹²  Documentation of Frances' escape found in St Andrew’s Undershaft Workhouse Committee, Workhouse Minute Book, August 24, 1800, p.258. “[Frances Tarless] having been refused permission to leave the House she afterwards made her escape”

¹³ Documentation of Frances' escape found in St Andrew’s Undershaft Workhouse Committee, Workhouse Minute Book 1780-1801, p258. “[Frances Tarless] was reprimanded by the Committee and having been refused permission to leave the House she afterwards made her escape”

¹⁴ “By the 1750s workhouses had become once more somnolent shelters for the aged, the lunatic, and the orphaned” This quote suggests that many viewed the workhouse as an institution to take care of all those who were marginalized and were unable to work. Michael Ignatieff, A Just Measure of Pain: The Penitentiary in the Industrial Revolution, 1740-1850 (Penguin Books, 1978), 13.

On the other hand, many advocate for the agency of these paupers. Hitchcock and Shoemaker claim “a creative and imaginative agency of shared intent, composed of individual actions motivated by individual circumstances, but exercised collectively, and often publicly, as a result of common experiences and shared understandings.” Tim Hitchcock and Robert Shoemaker, London Lives: Poverty, Crime and the Making of a Modern City, 1690-1800 (Cambridge University Press, 2015), 22.

¹⁵ Documentation found in St Andrew’s Undershaft Workhouse Committee, Workhouse Minute Book 1780-1801, p258. “Frances Tarless complained that Mr Tipple had stop’t giving her the allowance of bread upon which Mr. Tipple was called in and asked the reason and he stated that it was because she had refused to work”

¹⁶ Although paupers may have worked their hardest, it may have been less than what the workhouse expected of them. Erving Goffman, Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates (Anchor Books, 1961), 23.

¹⁷ Small Bible was found in "the Hall and Passage" in Inventory from St. Sepulchre Workhouse, 1751. Christianity and religion was an essential part of life in the workhouse and often dictated the rules tht were made in order to take care of the poor. Frances Tarless throwing away the bible signifies her agency in defying the workhouse.

¹⁸ Documentation found in St Andrew’s Undershaft Workhouse Committee, Workhouse Minute Book 1780-1801, p130. “Frances Tarless applied for Relief She was offered an Order to go into the Workhouse which She declined accepting”

¹⁹ “Elite believed that forcing the poor to work for aid and reside in controlled communities would help instill work ethics, better manners and renewed religious sentiments in them.” The elite felt it was their duty to care for the poor and to reintegrate them back into society by instilling "good" behavior. Knatchbull’s “Workhouse Test Act” in 1723, Carleton College HIST 235 Timeline, 2018.

²⁰ We inferred that Tarless didn't want to be overcome with the values that the workhouse tried to instill in paupers. “Whether there is too much work or too little, the individual who was work-oriented on the outside tends to become demoralized by the work system of the total institution.” Erving Goffman, Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates (Anchor Books, 1961), 11.

²¹ Documentation found in St Andrew’s Undershaft Workhouse Committee, Workhouse Minute Book 1780-1801, p160. “Frances Tarless renewed her Complaint that she had not her Bread as the other Paupers had, Mr. Burrow assigned the reason, was she would not work though able & that She had her allowances as much as any other, which she admitted.”

²² Paupers were ordered to be quiet to be seen as "good" and well behaved.  arying levels of obedience and defiance among the paupers (dramatized). BBC One 24 Hours in the Past, 2018.

²³ Documentation found in St Andrew’s Undershaft Workhouse Committee, Workhouse Minute Book 1780-1801, p189. “Frances Tarless applied for two Shifts; her behavior to the Committee was so rude and insulting her request was not complied with.” This suggests that the Committee only rewarded those that complied to workhouse rules.

²⁴ Documentation found in St Andrew’s Undershaft Workhouse Committee, Workhouse Minute Book 1780-1801, p207. “Frances Tarless complained that Mr Tipple had used her ill and took her by force out of the Room where she was and put her into another - Mr Tipple was called in and she stated her complaint in his presence but it appeared that she had assaulted and ill used Mary Collins”

²⁵ “[The poor and criminal] forced open narrowing cracks of a seemingly working system.” Giving agency to the paupers help portray them as resilient people instead of helpless, lazy paupers. Tim Hitchcock and Robert Shoemaker, London Lives: Poverty, Crime and the Making of a Modern City, 1690-1800 (Cambridge University Press, 2015), 18.

²⁶ “The inmates of the house regularly broke out, transgressed every rule the Corporation made assaulted the employees of the workhouse, and generally expressed a high level of dissatisfaction with their position in their house” Contrary to popular belief, paupers often found ways to defy the workhouse and its rules. Susannah Ottoway, The Workhouse that Dickens Never Saw, 2018.