The Lamerton Workhouse Orphanage

by S G Read

  Andrew stood back and looked at the level of the tank in relation to the stream, he knew about gravity.

  ‘That was money well spent then.’

  ‘Yes sir I gets an extra half an hour in bed now.’ Number forty replied.

  Andrew smiled, it was not what he really meant and the bed he was talking about was not a place Andrew would like to lay; he had plans to burn all the bedding, when he could afford an alternative.

  ‘I am glad you are pleased.’ He could have recounted his young days but he did not know if forty would know anything about playing. This was a life he had been blissly unaware of and it hurt a little that children of his age had to work instead of play. ‘One day I will give you a better bed to sleep in.’

  He walked inside to see how the others were doing but number six had the work going smoothly so he returned to the office and started looking through the paperwork, there was a lot to look through. He had birth certificates of all the children who were in the orphanage and some who were not and decided to ask old number seven why they were not given their birth certificates when they left. He found him grooming Hopscotch even though he had not been out on him.

  ‘He’ll put up with that all day.’

  ‘I know sir; he looked a bit fed up.’

  ‘I have birth certificates of children I no longer have, why did they not take their birth certificate when they went?’

  Old number seven looked down at the piece of paper. ‘I can’t read sir what name is it?’

  ‘Sarah Jenkins.’

  ‘She was a number seven the same as me but she was pretty. She died when she had number forty one.’

  ‘So number forty one was a Jenkins, did they give her a first name?’

  ‘They called her Sarah after her mother until she had to work then she became number forty one.’

  ‘They all have names, as do you. I intend to call them all by their names one day. What is your name?’

  ‘I don’t know sir but I do have my paper.’ He disappeared into one of the stalls and returned with his birth certificate.

  Andrew read it. ‘You are Tom Pratt so from now on I will call you Tom.’

  ‘If that’s what you want sir.’

  ‘It is Tom.’ Andrew left him working on Hopscotch, returned to the office and started writing out a list of names with their numbers against them. The number was written on the back of the certificate. The paper he had to use was cheap paper and the quill no better, the ink was watery which made him write it twice to be able to read it properly. He thought of his father, he would not stand for materials like this in his office. He reflected on his father’s method of forcing him to come or live on the street and wondered how he would be doing if he was still living in London now. Number forty one might well be dead and number seven would soon go the same way when she gave birth with that drunkard in charge. No he was glad he had come and penned a letter to his father in London; he ought to know what was going on here. When he wrote the end of it, from your son Andrew, he realised he had not collected his allowance since arriving, the money would come in useful. Tomorrow he would ride into Tavistock and go to the bank.

  Morning found him riding for Tavistock ready to deal with any highwaymen or women he saw but no one interrupted his ride and he was soon having a drink in the tavern that was close to the bank. There were no card players here, just drinkers and people passing through on their way to somewhere else. He had looked round Tavistock and he could understand why. He stopped at one drink and rode back to the orphanage passing a horse and cart with a huge vat tied on the back as he did so.

  ‘The vat is on its way Tom.’ He said as Tom walked Hopscotch into the stable to brush him and feed him.

  ‘Where was he sir?’

  ‘The crossroads.’

  ‘Be an hour then.’ Tom replied and carried on with the horse.

  Andrew was going to wait but on hearing that he would be waiting an hour, he went inside.

  ‘Mr. Hodgson is here sir.’ Number six called from where he was working. No kowtowing but a call from across the room which Andrew accepted without question, as he did not have to slow the work down by coming over to where he was.

  ‘Thank you number six.’

  Andrew walked into the mill to find Bill fitting the cast iron cog in place.

  ‘I found this old gear at the place the vat was taken from.’ He said pointing to another gear. ‘We should be able to make use of it.’

  ‘What about the thing in the vat to do the washing?’

  ‘Being made by Hugh Sloley the smithy. He knows just what we need and he knows it has to keep the grease off the clothes.’

  ‘Good, the sooner we can wash the clothes and curtains quicker the sooner the mountain washing waiting to be washed can be washed and out of the way.’

  ‘Lady Lamerton’s coachy was bringing in a load when I arrived.’

  ‘He is as regular as clockwork.’

  ‘When did you last see any money?’

  Andrew looked at him. ‘She owe you as well then?’

  Bill nodded. ‘But not as much as you I’ll wager.’

  ‘You’d win Bill but I have plans for her although she does not know it yet.’

  ‘Blood out of a stone.’ Bill complained and carried on working.

  ‘The vat is about an hour away.’

  ‘Good the sooner it is here the sooner I can get sawing.’

  ‘Will you need help?’

  ‘Yes it is a two man saw.’

  ‘I’ll have a go but these are hands not used to working.’ Andrew offered.

  ‘Old number seven said he would try to help.’

  ‘Well if we have turns we might just be of help.’

  The vat arrived an hour after Andrew returned and they unloaded it with great care into the courtyard. Before they started to cut it Bill made a frame to hold it in position while they were sawing then the work began and it came hard for Andrew. He was not used to hard work. With Bill on one end and the other two taking turns on the other, they cut the vat in half and dragged one half inside. There was room behind the long wooden wash tub for both halves of the vat and they were soon standing there on the bases Bill had already fixed to the floor there.

  Andrew watched Bill ride out of the courtyard on his cart and looked down at the blisters on his hands. That was his first try at hard work, with the promise of a lot more to come. Bill had told him that the ground would have to be dug over before it would be ready for planting and he had tried to dig it. He had soon given up; now a plan formed in his mind and he told number forty to start putting the hot coals on the brambles which went down the side of the building which was opposite to the mill side. When that was clear he would pay John Potter to bring his plough up and plough the area, it was big enough!

  He walked inside again and watched the children working. They needed teaching and decent clothes as well as decent beds but he was just one man. All he could do was to make the best of it. If this vat idea worked out, they could wash more clothes with fewer children and if the planting worked out they would have decent food with the possibility of selling some. With Zachariah making him into a villain and Mrs Hunt doing the same word would end up reaching James Easterbrook his boss and James would come down to see what was going on. When that happened he needed to be able to give him back a portion of the stipend that he had given him. Any money Easterbrook did not have to give out he kept, it certainly did not go back to where it came from in the first place! It would be a language Easterbrook understood!

  With the half vats in place it was now down to Bill and the smithy to make them work. Andrew merely looked in on the work now and then in between working beside the children to try to keep on top of the incoming washing but it was a losing battle at the moment.

  Bill knocked a hole in the wall between the laundry and the mill to run his shaft. Then he covered the shaft in a box to make sure there were no accidents when it was finally going but it was taking a long time.

 
; When he ventured round the side of the building the brambles were all gone, number forty had used an old rake to pull them into the flames and then raked up the remainder to add to the fire. When John Potter arrived with his plough it was all ready to work on and he started straight away. He ploughed the far end before stopping for lunch with Bill and Andrew then moved toward the building. With it all ploughed, he went home to get his harrow to break down the clods.

  By late afternoon it was looking good but John left the harrow there and rode his horse home, he reckoned it needed more work.

  He was back before Andrew was up and by lunch time it was ready to plant. Andrew was disappointed when he told him a few things were too late to plant but there were a few things he could safely plant. He knew nothing about seasons except that it gets colder in winter but he was willing to learn. He made a list of what he could plant and when he spoke to Bill about the list, he found out that a lot of people grew their own plants an often had some left over which they would sell for a few pennies. He made another list, this time places to try to find seedlings for sale. He hitched Hopscotch to the surrey and went in search of plants. He found enough to make him think it was worth trying, he also found some which were too late but quite big plants. These were given to him and he vowed to plant them anyway. He was also able to buy several fruit trees, not that he knew anything about them but he did like apples.

  When he went in search of John Potter’s farm he took a wrong turning and found himself staring at a field with turkeys in it and made a mental note to buy one for Christmas but he almost laughed at the thought, one turkey between more than forty of them. He asked the man directions and where the turkeys were going. They were going to London but the more he sold locally the better it meant he did not have to cart them all the way to London.

  He finally found John Potter’s farm and bought what plants he had spare before setting off for his new home.

  He returned with his purchases and was disappointed that Bill Hodgson had already gone home. He watered them as he had been told to do and stood them out the back ready to ask Bill in the morning when he arrived. When he inspected the work, he found a new iron cog on the end of the shaft, ready to fit to a cog on the half vat, when the paddle was fitted. The children were still washing tiredly but he could not let them stop; not yet but he told number seven to make up some gruel so that they could have a feed before they went to sleep. It was all he could do! They were getting low on gruel but he still had hopes of feeding the children on something better but it looked like he would have to buy it! He determined to buy at least some potatoes for the children during the next few days although he did not know how to cook them and neither did number seven. Something else to ask Bill!

  Before Bill continued with his work he gave Andrew a lesson in planting and looking after plants. He cut a piece of wood to give a distance between them and loaned him a trowel which he just happened to have with him. He told him about watering and when to do it then left him working.

  Andrew planted them all without a break, except for the food and drink number seven brought out for him. She was glad not to be washing clothes and was getting on with looking after the babies upstairs. When Andrew walked inside after planting all the plants he had bought, he walked with a stoop but he was a happy man. Number forty carried in buckets of hot water and filled his bath so that he could have a long soak to ease his back. Soon after getting out of the bath he was in his bed, now that number forty one was fit to work she was back on her own straw bed. He closed his eyes and slept, he did not hear number forty come in to empty the bath then clean it, he was fast asleep.

  Number forty also watered the plants in the morning as Andrew was still in bed, Bill thought they needed it and before Andrew decided to make an appearance. The two half vats now had a paddle inside them with an ingenious seal to stop the grease from what was the bearing getting on to the clothes inside: Time would tell if it would work. The shaft from the mill was now connected to the half vats and Bill had put in a lever so that the paddles could be stopped for loading and unloading. Now they could use both for washing, lift the soapy clothes into the first long tub for rinsing and on to the second long tub for a final rinse before they used the pulley and runners to take them into the drying room. The vats still had to have hot water plumbed to them but for now they filled them with buckets from the nearest long tub. Andrew was still asleep when they did the first wash in the vats. All the children gathered round to watch but as soon as the clothes were ready number six shouted orders, the vats were emptied and the clothes carried across to the nearest long tub. As soon as they were emptied the water was allowed to pour out and more washing was put in but now they had to bring the water from the tap in the room but many hands made light work. As the second lot of washing was ready for rinsing the long tub was emptied of both washing and water then refilled. The washing from the long tub was put into the second long tub and the washing from the vats was carried over and put into the first long tub.

  As soon as the washing from the final rinse was pulled into the drying room the water was replaced ready for it all to move along one place.

  Now it took two men, well children, to wash the clothes but many to move the wet washing but it was something they could do.

  Andrew appeared in the afternoon after eating the cold gruel which had been left for him; something he would not be doing twice. He had to wash it down with a brandy before coming out to see what was going on. The first thing he noticed was the pile of washing; it was half the size it had been, then he saw the vats were working and walked over to watch.

  When it came time to empty the vats Bill leant a hand and so did Andrew, getting soaked as they did so.

  By the time Bill went home the pile was even smaller and Andrew called a halt to the work earlier than usual. He made them hang up curtains between the two long tubs which he then had filled with warm water.

  ‘Right number six I want all the young boys in and washed on this side and the young girls on this side. I have a pile of towels here which I admit have seen better days but they will do to dry them and wrap round them while their clothes dry. The clothes will be washed in a vat and hung in the drying room. When the young ones are clean the older ones will go in until all the towels are used up. Those who do not wash today will wash tomorrow!’

  The children had never washed before but once they were in the water they became children for a few minutes and Andrew let them. He looked at the washing that was left to be washed and estimated they would finish the pile tomorrow, although more would probably come in tomorrow as well.

  He dearly wanted to burn the beds and replace them with something better but he need to keep what money was coming in to give to James Easterbrook should he come calling. The few old towels he had bought and the bars of soap had cost very little but it was still money well spent. As a special surprise he lit a fire in his large parlour and let the wet children, wrapped in towels sit in front of it, something which would never have happened with the last beadle. Number forty one’s wounds were healing nicely and she was washed carefully before being swathed in a towel and ushered into the parlour.

  That night Andrew did his books and counted his money to see if he could do anything but there was not enough to do everything he wanted and he had to keep enough to give to Easterbrook, just in case.

  He had not given his plants a second thought and regretted it, they should have been watered. He took an oil lamp and walked down to them but could see they were watered and they were looking better than they had been after he had planted them. He walked back inside a happy man and closed the door but stood there a while, to see if the rats were out again but there was no sign of them tonight. They had found dead rats after the plough had done its work and now there was nowhere for them to hide apart from in their holes under the building but Andrew had plans for them as well.

  He walked back into his rooms and sat by the dying fire with a glass of his predecessor’s brandy. T
hings were going well and he had a sweetener put away in case Easterbrook chose to come visiting, although he could spend it in many ways quite quickly. He fell asleep in the chair and woke later to climb into bed.

  Chapter 3

  He woke early and dressed. A knock at the door made him look up.

  ‘Come in.’

  Tom came it brandishing a letter.

  ‘Thank you Tom.’ Andrew took the letter and Tom retreated back to his post by the gate.

  When he read the letter he found it was from his father.

  Andrew

  I hope this epistle finds you well. I understand you have taken to the task James set you quite well but he has heard rumours that all is not well and is on his way down to see what is going on. I think he is worried that you might cost him money. My work is going well and if you should feel in need of my legal expertise do not hesitate to ask. Mother sends her love as does your sister Alice, although she is poorly at the moment.

  With great respect

  Your father.

  Andrew smiled and read it again. It was an almost cold letter but obviously sent to warn him of Easterbrook’s immanent arrival.

  ‘Well come and be welcome my dear Easterbrook and go away a happy man!’

  He walked out and ate his gruel hot this morning although it did not improve it a lot, being hot, it just made it edible. When the breakfast dishes were cleared away and number seven was washing them, not a job she liked, Andrew walked out to where Tom sat.

  ‘A little bird tells me that Mr Easterbrook is on his way down to see me. Show him into my study when he gets here, I have put the brandy bottle out with two glasses. Oh and that is one for him and one for me; not you.’

  ‘As if I would Mr. Andrew.’ Tom scoffed.

  ‘Yes, as if!’ He walked back inside to see the last of the pile of washing being carried over to the half vats, it was a good sight and just at the right time. He walked back out to where Tom still sat. ‘When Mr. Easterbrook goes you can hitch Hopscotch up to the buggy and I will deliver some of the washing. In fact hitch him up now and I will send number six to the butcher to get some beef I am sure Mr Easterbrook will be hungry.’