The Lamerton Workhouse Orphanage

by S G Read

  The chicken run was extended to reach from the new wall to the stable wall with the new building as a solid backing. The rest of the land on the stable side of the new wall was planted with fruit trees.

  Andrew saw his income rise to an amount when he could actually feed all he had and save money. When he had enough to equal the amount Easterbrook would give him he set it to one side and stared on a new fund. The wheel was well built and did all they asked but he had seen a steam engine at work and was interested in replacing the mill wheel with a steam engine. He knew that a steam engine would do all they asked and more from what he had found out about them. He had received a reply from his first letter and wrote another letter to the manufacturer to find out more. He also wrote a letter to Mr Doble asking him to come and look at his idea of building houses on the newly acquired piece of land. It was far enough away from the orphanage to be private and make the older children who lived there think they were no longer in the orphanage. It meant that Andrew could charge them rent to bring in more money.

  A knock at the door brought him back to the present.

  ‘Come in.’ He called and Martin came in.

  ‘I have been talking to the new ones who came from Tavistock and some of them think more will follow Mr McDay.’

  ‘I am sure they will especially as I have probably taken more trade from them by advertising. We have the new rooms above the new parlour and nursery for any newcomers and we still have a few more hammocks.’ Andrew answered. ‘But thank you for the warning. How are they settling in?’

  ‘Fine Mr McDay and some can already write their name.’

  ‘Well I know you can count well by the deals you are doing when you go out to buy our supplies.’

  ‘I do my best Mr McDay but some of them call it daylight robbery whatever that is.’

  ‘It means honest stealing or good bargaining.’

  ‘I don’t understand they don’t have to accept what I offer, do they?’

  ‘I am sure they would turn it down if they had enough higher offers. Of course they might only be saying that to make sure you do not go any lower?’ Andrew suggested.

  ‘I do try to get it lower Mr McDay but they have their limit and I reach it.’

  ‘Well done Martin I could not ask for more. Have you any idea what you want to do when you are too old to remain here as one of our orphans?’

  ‘I hadn’t really thought about it Mr McDay, is it soon?’

  ‘By the middle of the summer I will have to find something to do with you, I might even give you employment if you can keep my food costs as low as you do.’

  ‘But that is only one day a week.’

  ‘Now it is but if we have more children from Tavistock we will need more food. If you went further afield to buy it, your local suppliers might be willing to sell theirs to you for less. It is called supply and demand.’

  ‘So by not buying their food for a week or two will make them lower their prices even further?’

  ‘If no one else comes along and pays the people you usually buy from, more for their goods in the meantime, or you might have to travel further each time to keep the price where we need them.’

  ‘I’ll have a go this week when I go out, just to see if it works Mr McDay.’

  Andrew quickly worked out how many hammocks were left and mentally worked out how many could go into the two new rooms. They had room now and they could do with the extra workers but that was if any of the newcomers could work!

  Peter Doble arrived the next day; he had left Zeke and William working and was sure they would be able to get by without him for the morning. They walked across the second field to where Andrew wanted the houses built. The stream ran round the back of the land and round the garden until it turned to follow the road to get to the mill and it was from there they had to get their water until other arrangements were made. He listened as Andrew outlined his plans and passed comments where he thought he needed to, then they talked money. They talked for sometime before both were satisfied and they could shake hands on a price for the houses. They were to be terraced and there would be six in the first terrace, with room for six more if and when Andrew could afford it. Andrew walked back with the builder and watched him go before he rode off to find Bill Hodgson. Bill was in his workshop making stairs when Andrew arrived and he left James working, while they talked over refreshments.

  ‘Peter Doble is building me a terrace of houses and I want you and James to do the carpentry Bill.’

  ‘I am sure we can do that for you Andrew. Why do you want houses built?’

  ‘So that I can kick out the older children, at the time I am supposed to but also make sure they have a roof over their heads. They will have to pay me rent but then I will try to ensure they are in employment.’

  Bill nodded. ‘Kill two birds with one stone as it were. What if they are not in employment?’

  ‘I will find them something to do in lieu of rent and food, that way I will not be seen to be looking after children who should be long gone. James will have a house to live in as will Zeke and he will marry Eliza at that time and they can live as man and wife. Eliza can work as a nanny to help Ruth and Zeke will be an indentured builder. I have put off having the baby christened until they are wed, for obvious reasons.’

  ‘You are a mighty good juggler Andrew; I just hope you keep hold of everything while you have to.’

  ‘I am actually making money at the moment and I am storing some away for such things as a new steam engine to replace the mill wheel.’

  ‘So what will happen to the mill?’ Bill asked.

  ‘It will have the wheel removed and the hole sealed up and then it will be turned into living accommodation, either for more children or Beth and I and our children.’

  Bill thought about that for a moment. ‘We could put in a staircase which went round the edge following the circular path so that there could be a second floor but I don’t know how many rooms we could get upstairs and I don’t know how you would heat it!’

  ‘I thought about that as well and the pipes which carry the hot water have to be lagged or they lose their heat. Using that principle I could run pipes round to give heat into the lower rooms. Which in turn would heat the rooms above?’

  ‘I can see you have thought about this a lot.’ Bill replied.

  ‘I have.’

  ‘But James will not have a wage until after his indentures are completed by law.’

  ‘The rent can be paid by any work I get him to do for me, with your permission of course.’

  ‘Which I will give unless we are that busy that I cannot spare him.’

  ‘At such time I might be that you felt rich enough to be able to pay his rent for him.’ Andrew replied glibly.

  Bill smiled. ‘You will have the shirt of my back if I am not careful!’

  The following morning Zeke remained and took the digging crew over to where the new houses were to be, as one was for him and his wife to be, when they had to leave he wanted them built. He marked out the foundations and left them digging; he had work to do and he liked getting out of the orphanage.

  Summer came with Martin doing all in his power to save on his shopping bill, he tried what Andrew suggested and found bigger farms farther away who could sell to him for less and he saw no reason to go back to the local farms until Andrew pointed out that if the local farm stopped producing and the bigger farm put up his charges they would have to pay them! He understood that and returned to the smaller farms paying as little as he could but buying their produce. He did not stop going to the Goodenough farm and they became friends. He helped out when he could and picked up ideas on bringing up animals. One day farmer Goodenough showed him two piglets that looked close to death.

  ‘They need round the clock care and we don’t have to time anymore.’ The farmer admitted.

  ‘What will happen to them?’

  ‘They will live or die.’

  ‘Can I buy them from you; we have children who would give the
m all the care they need?’

  ‘That is why I showed you them Martin. You can have them for sixpence each, if they die you lose a shilling if they live you will sell them for a few pounds at market when they have grown.’

  ‘You have a deal farmer Goodenough.’

  The stir caused when Martin brought the two piglets home, was amazing. Even Andrew had to look it on the little things. They received so much attention that they had no chance of dying. Children slept near them while others did not sleep but monitored them all night to make sure they stayed alive. Loving care was lavished on them until they were walking about and needed somewhere to live. Martin drove to farmer Goodenough’s with the news and to ask him what to do next.

  The two pigs ended up in the new orchard with a little wooden house to sleep in made by James in the evening. They had to put a fence up to stop them coming into the cobbled courtyard and they had to share the orchard with the chickens when they were out and by now there were a lot of chickens.

  Each night the digging crew would walk back from digging the footings for the new houses for a hot bath and a meal before settling down to their lessons. They were saving Andrew money and he was glad of that, although money was easier now. So much so that his allowance remained in the bank in Tavistock to earn interest. He also paid back the money he had borrowed from Beth even though she was adamant that he did not have to. He just said that it was still there to be used later if he needed it but it was her money and she had earned it.

  When the footings were finished and ready for the builders, the diggers returned to their normal tasks around the orphanage, now it was up to William, Zeke and Peter Doble to build the houses.

  Andrew watched with interest as the walls rose out of the foundations but wondered why they were only building the shell round the outside of the whole terrace of houses. He walked over to ask.

  ‘We make the internal walls out of wattle and daub.’ Peter Doble explained.

  William and Zeke were there.

  ‘Well we lived in such a terrace before we had money and if there was an argument next door you heard all of it. I even heard the fat owner next door passing wind!’ Andrew added sincerely.

  Zeke laughed at that idea. ‘Do you think we should put bricks between the houses then Mr McDay?’ He asked.

  ‘I do.’ Andrew answered emphatically.

  ‘It will cost more Mr McDay.’ Peter Doble warned.

  ‘It will indeed but I think Zeke will thank me once he has moved in.’

  They built a nine inch solid wall between each house to help keep out noise.

  Now when Andrew looked over he could see all the walls going up together but it was slower going.

  ‘Goodness.’ Beth declared.

  ‘What is it Beth.’

  ‘Our son or daughter is going to tend the playing fields of Eton the way she or he kicks.’ She answered rubbing her extended stomach.

  ‘A girl playing rugby? It is not a ladylike sport.’

  ‘I am sure our daughter could hold her own among the boys.’ Beth answered.

  ‘It is the scrums I would worry about.’ Andrew answered lightly.

  Beth laughed. It was a silly idea her daughter gracing the playing fields of Eton, every bit as silly as Beth being a highwayman!

  The weather warmed and spring arrived fully. No more frosts in the mornings and less need for a fire in the parlour.

  Andrew watched Beth struggle out of bed with her large stomach; soon he would be a father and she a mother.

  ‘You could help!’ She said caustically. ‘I do not think I will pass as a beach belle as I am.’

  ‘You are the prettiest woman around these parts still.’ Andrew replied.

  The terraced houses grew up, as the gardens were finding their feet. The early crop was no more and the later crops were starting to fulfil their promise when the roof went on and even Zeke became impatient to finish. He was now past sixteen and they had surprised him with a party to let him know. He was now living there without the permission of the governors but then they were in London. Andrew did his paperwork and sent Zeke out of the gate on the day after his birthday but then he only went to work on the terraced houses and came back in the evening.

  After the roof came the plastering which was something they were still learning. While the plastering was still going on Eliza had her birthday party, the day after which, she was sent out into the street. She walked round to see Zeke at work and then walked in the back door of the orphanage where Ruth complained how long she had taken to walk round. Were Andrew not in charge she would be on the street with her baby and the clothes she stood up in.

  Andrew wrote a letter to father Ignacious the priest about a forthcoming wedding followed by a long overdue christening. The fact that the orphanage could be used for both events was very useful and the children knew father Ignacious as he spent an evening a week there to give them an idea of what Christianity was about.

  He also wrote to his father to let him know what was going on, as some of the money he had used was the gift from him. Andrew had shown the money to Beth but they had no need of money themselves as everything they needed was supplied by the orphanage so she had told him to use it where it was needed.

  The older children painted the nursery, to get in ready for the baby when it arrived and Bill made a cot for it to sleep in just to show James he could still make things. James made a cot for Zeke and Eliza’s new house for their baby to sleep in, although it had to be made a bit bigger as their baby was not a newborn.

  James kept the cot a secret to be revealed after the christening and it was left in Bill’s workshop until then.

  The washroom was working under no pressure and all the washing was done within the day it arrived giving plenty of time for the children to do their lessons.

  ‘We must do something about Sarah.’ Beth said seriously one evening while they ate a late supper.

  ‘Is she ready for school then?’

  ‘She is more than ready. If she was my only pupil it would be fine but I have a lot of pupils to teach and she is just one of them and I can no longer give her the time she needs.’

  ‘Then we must choose a school and have whatever clothes she needs made by Mrs Webber.’

  ‘Will you write the letter?’

  ‘The letter?’

  ‘We know which school she wants to go to.’ Beth answered without looking up.

  ‘Why do I feel like I have just been set upon by a highwayman?’

  ‘I think ambushed is the term you seek husband.’

  ‘So you know already what clothes she needs?’

  ‘If she is accepted.’

  ‘She will be accepted if your praise is just.’

  ‘It is just husband.’

  ‘Then get Mrs Webber to make up the clothes but make sure she has more than one dress to wear so that she can socialise with the other girls.’

  Now Beth looked up. ‘You are a good man husband.’

  ‘And I am glad you are a good shot wife!’ Andrew added at a slightly quieter level.

  Beth smiled but said nothing, even though her nemesis Lady Diamonds was dead and her two boys living in London, she was keeping quiet.

  The terrace of houses was completed and both Eliza and Zeke spent their evenings painting the house they had chosen but before they could move in, Beth went into labour. Mrs Oldray and Ann Webber were both present and William Knight the doctor was summoned. By the end of the day Andrew had a daughter, a very noisy daughter! The wedding was approaching with Beth in bed but adamant that she would be there. The children were asked to give their choice of name for the baby girl to see if they had any good ideas but they had to write it on a slate for Beth to see, it was another way to make them write.

  While she was confined to bed, as William was taking no chances of problems after the birth, Beth wrote to the school she wanted Sarah to attend. When Martin heard about Sarah going to school he arranged some special tuition, he taught her how to fight. Not
out and out down on the ground fighting but more a way of stopping a fight quickly but making her opponent want to stop fighting. Like her other lessons, she learnt well and in the end could take on any boy her age and some older. No one told either Beth or Andrew but Ruth saw what was going on and she thought it was a good idea, as some of the girls at these schools were no ladies.

  With the need of a school dress and an evening gown for Sarah Mrs Oldray and Ann Webber put their heads together to come up with a wardrobe fit for a lady. She had more clothes that she needed and more clothes than she had ever owned before. Andrew sent Martin out to purchase a trunk for her knowing he would make a good deal, the trunk, when he brought it back was from Diamonds Manor.

  James soon had the plate which bore the coat of arms off it and put on a new one made by Hugh Sloley with Sarah’s name on it. Sarah burst into tears when she saw it; she was torn by wanting to go to school and not wanting to leave the orphanage.

  Suddenly everything was happening at once. Eliza and Zeke were married and their son was baptised Charles Ezekiel. Sarah was taken to school by Andrew with Martin and Ruth accompanying to help her settle in. With a tearful farewell they left her there with the teacher who was in charge at that time and Andrew let Martin drive the carriage back.

  The terraced houses were named McDay Row, Eliza and Zeke now Mr and Mrs Savery moved into number one.

  Andrew arranged for Eliza to bring Charles over with her each morning and work with Ruth in lieu of rent for the house they lived in.

  With the birth of their daughter and the subsequent letter to Clarence and Rosemary to let them know there came the reply that they were coming to visit to see the baby. Andrew knew it would happen and was prepared for it. He had William call and set a date for Tom’s operation; Tom wanted it despite the danger as it was possible that he might lose his leg. Andrew knew Alice would be asking about it and was setting out to have it done before she arrived. The room with no windows was the obvious choice for Tom to recuperate in, after the operation and a date scheduled.