Dore and Totley belonged to the Ecclesall Bierlow Union. The Union was created in 1837 and also included Norton, Beauchief and Upper and Nether Hallam. The workhouse at Nether Edge was in use from 1843.
The food provided varied from workhouse to workhouse. A basic diet consisted of gruel, bread and cheese, with soup or meat and potatoes once a week. Water was the only drink with tea being a privilege for the elderly.
The Ecclesall Bierlow Board of Guardians had a weekly meeting and at one such meeting, reported in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph on the 3rd of December 1896, the food to be served to the inmates on Christmas day was discussed and approved.
The Chairman, Major W Greaves Blake, proposed that the inmates be allowed the usual extra 'dietary' on Christmas Day. This was seconded by Mr. Milner, and it was passed unanimously by the board. Come 1901 things were not destined to go so smoothly.
1896: Plans for Christmas Day
- Dinner - roast beef and potatoes followed by plum pudding
- Beer - each adult male was allowed one pint of beer, and each adult female one half-pint with their dinner
- Tea - plum loaf
- The sick poor and the children - fruit and sweets
- Aged inmates - tobacco, tea and sugar
Donations of Beer
The Guardians accepted the kind offer of Mr. S. H. Ward, of Messrs, S. H. Ward and Co. (Limited) to provide a 36 gallon cask of beer for the use of the inmates at Christmas. They also thanked Mr. Herbert Unwin, of Messrs, Thos. Rawson and Co., for forwarding a barrel of beer for the same purpose.
Entertainment
The offers of the "Casuals" Dramatic Society, and of Mr. Naismith, the secretary of the Band of Hope Union, to give entertainments at the workhouse during the Christmas holidays, were unanimously accepted.
Temperance
Samuel Naismith was a leading Sheffield temperance worker. The Temperance Society had been established in Sheffield as early as 1831 and over the years many will have signed the 'pledge'.
In 1914 the Dore and Totley branch of the Women’s Total Abstinence Union held a successful meeting in the Primitive Methodist School in Dore. Miss Collins spoke on "Social Life and Temperance” and Mr. Squire on “The Nation’s Peril Strong Drink”. Mrs. Edgar Muxlow and Miss Muxlow rendered musical items. Through the kindness of Mrs. Adamson (president), afternoon tea was served.
1901: A Dry Christmas Planned
The Issue of the Beer
The Sheffield Evening Telegraph reported, on the 27th of November 1901, that at the meeting of the Ecclesall Board of Guardians, Mr. James Dixon and Ald. Brittain, on the presentation of the minutes of the previous meeting, protested against the action of the Board in stopping the usual allowance of a pint of beer to the inmates on Christmas Day. Since the members of the Board could not face another temperance lecture from Mr Blossom the decision was made to stop the beer. It was decided to provide "High Tea" on New Year's Day.
1901: Christmas Day
Sheffield Independent - 26th of December 1901
A reporter spent Christmas Day in the Nether Edge workhouse and decided that if Charles Dickens came he would have to re-write Oliver Twist! The dining hall and all the various blocks had been tastefully decorated. The day started with a Church of England service after which the dinner of roast beef, vegetables and plum pudding was served to nearly 500. There was a vote of thanks for the Board members even though they were responsible for the lack of beer. In the afternoon, in the men's day room, dominoes, whist and draughts were played. The day was rounded off with entertainment in the evening.
More than 100 children were catered for in 'homes' separate from the workhouse. The girls' home had two 'mothers' and the boys' home had a 'father' and a 'mother'. The children had their Christmas dinner in the dining hall of the girls' home. They were visited by the wives of the Guardians who also visited the inmates in the women's hospital and the women's day room. Here, the women complained their tea wasn't sweet enough!
1902: "An Increase in Pauperism"
By December 1902 there were 905 persons in the workhouse, an increase of 109 over the previous year.
The Beer Argument Rumbles On
As in 1901, at the meeting of the Board reported in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph on the 11th of December 1902, the question of beer for the inmates arose. Messrs. Berry and Co., Moorhead Brewery, had offered a cask of beer for distribution amongst the inmates on Christmas Day. There was much disagreement over whether to accept the offer.
Mr Horner "looked upon drink as the greatest bane of modern times". Mr Blossom said that twelve months ago he spent the greater part of Christmas Day and New Year's Day at the Workhouse. Far from the inmates being unhappy without the beer, they spent a most pleasant time, and many of them said it was the happiest Christmastide they ever had. Mr. Brumby supported the "no beer" party. The evidence they had of the happy time spent by the inmates a year ago convinced him that they could do very well without the beer.
Alderman Brittain said "all the arguments of his friends on the opposite side of the table were founded on the evils of excessive drinking. He was as much against excessive drinking as they were, but such arguments could not be made to apply to the granting of a glass of beer to these poor people at a time of festivity".
Those voting to accept the offer of beer were outnumbered and the cask of beer was declined. Further discussion resulted in the decision to ban the beer to stand until 1904 after Mr Isaac Milner attempted to "pledge" the members of the next Board.
1904: Beer or Hop Bitters?
Hop Bitters
Hop bitters were produced in Sheffield by Duncan Gilmour and Co. Ltd and by Wheatley and Bates Ltd.
Mr. Hollingsworth offered the Board a cask of Wheatley's hop bitter "in order to counter balance the offer of Messrs. Berry and Company to supply a cask of beer for the inmates at Christmas time and, to show that he had the welfare the inmates at heart, he wished to place them in the position of true Britons by giving them option of partaking of beer or non-intoxicants." So, with the new Board, a compromise was finally reached.
Afterthoughts on Beer
At the Board meeting reported in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph on December 29th 1904, a jolly affair with much laughter, it was said that there were no ill results in the drinking of beer and the behaviour of the inmates was entirely satisfactory. They had, however, run out of beer and those given hop bitters instead couldn't tell the difference!
Christmas Doles at Dore
Meanwhile, in Dore, the Christmas doles were distributed at Christ Church by the vicar. Benefactors in past years had left money to support the poor of the parish - namely Banks, Revill, Wolstenholme, Shepherd, Green, and Gisborne. The bequests were used to give blankets, flannel, bread, and money to about 50 widows and poor people in the villages of Dore and Totley in December 1904.