| Description | The Test Wards sub-committee was set up in 1894, and was assigned the job of overseeing the administration of the test wards in the workhouse. The Test House itself had been closed down in 1889 (see minutes of Test House sub-committee, GP B/2/3/7, above) and the inmates moved to the workhouse, where they would still be maintained under Test House rules. It is unclear as to why there is a gap between the closing of the Test House and the setting up of this sub-committee, as the minutes of the Test House sub-committee state that the inmates will be moved immediately to the workhouse. The test wards may have been run initially by the House sub-committee, with the creation of the Test Wards sub-committee perhaps reflecting an increase in the number of inmates. How long the test wards continued is also uncertain - however, the minutes index (see GP B/2/12/1) refers to them still being in use in 1906, under the authority of the Workhouse sub-committee and the Workhouse Management committee.
The minute book contains information on the fitting out of the test wards with gas and water supplies, and also their furnishing. As with the Test House sub-committee, a large part of the minutes is taken up with the tasks assigned to the inmates, such as stone breaking and oakum picking. The volume is not indexed. |