The Vagrancy Act 1824 is a UK Act of Parliament that made it an offence to sleep on the streets or beg in England and Wales. In 1837, Poor Law commissioners introduced a new regulation, by which people who were travelling the country looking for work and were experiencing homelessness and poverty could be provided with food and shelter in exchange for work tasks. This accommodation was available in workhouses and was known by various names including ‘vagrants cells', 'vagrants ward', 'vagrants block', ‘tramp ward’, ‘tramp cells’, ‘casuals ward’ etc., being seperate from that provided for the local population. In 2022 the act was repealed.
This is part of the Job: 88/02549 Selwood Hospital; within the Volume: BF100573 Frome Union Workhouse, Frome; within the Series: RCH01/012 Workhouses Project; within the Collection: RCH01 Royal Commission On The Historical Monuments Of England (Rchme) Archive
© Crown Copyright. Historic England Archive
Photographer: Payne, Patricia
Cell, Hospital, Workhouse