This article focuses on the way that staff and guardians in the rural Nottinghamshire workhouse of Southwell sought to exert control and containment over pauper inmates. Fusing together local and central records for the period 1834–71, including locally held punishment books and correspondence at The National Archives, Kew (TNA), we argue that the notional power of the workhouse authorities was heavily shaded. Most paupers most of the time did not find their behaviour heavily and clumsily controlled. Rather, staff focused their attention in terms of detecting and punishing disorderly behaviour on a small group of long-term and often mentally ill paupers whose actions might create enmities or spiral into larger conflicts and dissent in the workhouse setting. Both inmates and those under threat of workhouse admission would have seen or heard about punishment of ‘the usual characters’. This has important implications for how we understand the intent and experience of the New Poor Law up to the formation of the Local Government Board (LGB) in 1871.

中文翻译：

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惩罚穷人？Southwell 济贫院的控制、纪律和心理健康 (1836–71)

本文重点关注诺丁汉郡 Southwell 乡村济贫院的工作人员和监护人试图对贫民囚犯施加控制和遏制的方式。将 1834-71 年期间的地方和中央记录融合在一起，包括当地保存的惩罚书和基尤国家档案馆 (TNA) 的信件，我们认为济贫院当局的名义权力受到严重影响。大多数穷人大部分时间都没有发现他们的行为受到严格而笨拙的控制。相反，工作人员将注意力集中在发现和惩罚一小群长期且经常患有精神病的贫民身上的无序行为，他们的行为可能会在济贫院环境中引起敌意或引发更大的冲突和异议。囚犯和那些受到济贫院录取威胁的人都会看到或听说过对“普通角色”的惩罚。这对于我们如何理解直到 1871 年地方政府委员会 (LGB) 成立的新济贫法的意图和经验具有重要意义。