Tonbridge Union Workhouse

Historically, each parish was responsible for the relief of its own poor and, indeed, from 1822 to 1837 Pembury parish owned and ran its own workhouse and farm at what is now Stanton House. Woodside Road was even known as Workhouse Lane at one time. Nationally, however, this system became unsustainable and in 1834 a new Poor Law Act was passed which grouped parishes together and authorised each group to build a workhouse. And so the Tonbridge Union was formed, run by a Board of Guardians who were appointed from local dignitaries.

The chosen site, 2 acres at Sandhill Farm, in Tonbridge parish, was offered at a very modest £100 by James Alexander of Somerhill and the original building was erected in 1836. It was designed to accommodate up to 400 people and cost £4,152. There was strict segregation of the sexes so the building had two wings with a central administration block. It was up the slope to the left of the main entrance and is now used for admin purposes. Workhouses were run by a governor with his wife as matron. The Tonbridge Union Guardians decided to appoint ex-NCOs to this position, but initially had trouble finding someone suitable and several governors followed in quick succession, one died, one resigned over a drink problem… The couple were paid £80 per annum with accommodation provided.

Over the years, the site was extended and further buildings were added. In 1837/8, a smallpox epidemic occurred and a need for an isolation block was recognised. 1856 saw the purchase of more land so that pigs could be kept and the land farmed. The produce was used in the workhouse or sold locally. In 1868, a school was provided for the children. However, after the 1870 Education Act, only the very young were educated on site and the older children attended Pembury School. As an indication of the impact the workhouse must have had on life in Pembury, during the period 1908 to 1912 some 35 children from the workhouse attended the infant department at Pembury School out of a total roll of about 85.

A chapel was built in 1870. It remains largely unaltered and is considered to be of sufficient architectural merit to have recently been listed so it cannot be demolished along with everything else when the new hospital is built.

What is now the outpatients department below the main entrance road was built in 1872 as a tramps’ ward and accommodation for casuals. This completed the expansion until 1885 when another 15 acres were bought from the Somerhill estate and a comprehensive 6 year building project was started. This appears to be the beginning of the hospital as we know it, as four new blocks were built: three to house the sick and one for the aged and infirm. The total number of inmates in 1890 had increased to 546.

We can assume that the Infirmary side of things developed from this date as we have evidence of deaths occurring ‘in the Union’ of Pembury people who are old but who were certainly not destitute earlier in their lives. For instance Samuel Dickenson, who was probably related to the Dickensons who founded the Baptist Church, died there in 1882 aged about 88, but he had been a ratepayer and had had sufficient wealth to have the vote. It is encouraging to note, however, that over the years few people actually from Pembury seem to have become inmates. At the 1851 census, 16 out of 269 inmates were born in Pembury. In 1861, only 6 were from Pembury and they included a husband & wife and two teenagers who were probably an orphaned brother & sister.

The Workhouse and Infirmary continued side by side into the 20^th century until workhouses were abolished in the 1930s and the institution was taken over by Kent County Council as a County Hospital. Nursing training was recognised from 1924. By this time, a significant maternity department seems to have developed as birth certificates, as well as death certificates, were now being issued with an address of ‘Sandhill’. This seems to indicate that there was still a stigma attached to the place that was hard to shake off and a reversion to the original name was seen as a way of distancing the County Hospital from its origins. At this time, too, further building works were undertaken.

With the outbreak of war in 1939, Guy’s Hospital Medical School was evacuated here and the ‘temporary’ huts were built on the land previously used for farming (These huts were demolished in December 2007, after nearly 70 years, in preparation for the new build!). With peace came plans to rebuild the hospital and now, some 60 years on, our hopes may be realised at last.

Kathryn Franklin

January 2008

Editor's note: for further information and pictures, see http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?tonbridge/tonbridge.shtml