Bread, Gruel, and Grim Determination. Life Inside the Victorian Workhouse

Martin Foskett

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Paperback

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English

Knelstrom Ltd
13 April 2025

British & Irish history; Social & cultural history; Poverty & unemployment; Homelessness

A brutal, poetic, and darkly funny deep dive into one of Britain's most infamous institutions. 70 pages of razor-sharp historical storytelling that pulls no punches.

What was it like to be poor in Victorian Britain? Not ""can't afford Netflix"" poor - but grind-your-own-bones-into-fertiliser poor.

Bread, Gruel, and Grim Determination takes you inside the walls of the 19th-century workhouse - a place where hunger was policy, families were split like firewood, and suffering was called salvation. It's a short, gripping history of a system designed not to help the poor, but to punish them for existing.

You'll meet the bureaucrats who weaponised morality, the women punished for childbirth, the children processed like laundry, and the rebels who dared to bite back. Told in a vivid, irreverent voice, this is social history with teeth - perfect for fans of Dark Histories, Empireland, or A People's History of Poverty.

""No myths. No mercy. Just the truth - and a ladle of gruel.""

Approximate length: 70 pages. Part of the Dark History series.

By: Martin Foskett
Imprint: Knelstrom Ltd
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 5mm
Weight: 109g
ISBN: 9798231760848
Pages: 86
Publication Date: 13 April 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Martin Foskett is a photographer, filmmaker, author, tech enthusiast, and your typical Gen Xer - raised on cassette tapes, scarred by public service broadcasts, and fuelled by just enough sarcasm to survive modern existence without combusting. A self-proclaimed jack of all trades and master of none (though rumour has it he once came dangerously close with Adobe Premiere), Martin thrives on curiosity, caffeine, and the occasional lucky guess. With no formal qualifications in anything remotely sensible, Martin somehow carved a decades-long media career out of sheer grit, an eye for the moment, and the kind of stubborn optimism that makes you try to fix your boiler. His school history grades were a polite disaster - but the Cold War did what the classroom couldn't, igniting a lifelong obsession with the weird, wild, and often worryingly real tales of the past. For over twenty years, Martin has captured the world through a lens and a wry smile-telling stories that matter, often filtered through a sense of humour only he seems to find funny (though his audience occasionally chuckles out of politeness or confusion). Whether behind the camera or elbow-deep in tech innards, he tells tales with heart and edge and the occasional dad joke so groan-inducing it could be weaponised. His latest literary escapade, The Ultimate Dad Jokes, is a comic survival guide and a tribute to the ancient paternal art of making people laugh, wince, or leave the room entirely. It's one part comedy, one part cry for help, and all parts Martin. Now comfortably in what he calls ""the downward stretch,"" Martin juggles photography, filmmaking, tech tinkering, and pun delivery with all the chaotic grace of a Gen X dad winging it through the apocalypse. You'll find him wherever creativity, sarcasm, and low-level anarchy collide - often with a camera in one hand and a USB cable in the other.