NEWHAVEN WORKHOUSE

Newhaven Workhouse later the Downs Hospital

Newhaven Workhouse later the Downs Hospital

Later The Downs Hospital

By Brenda Hall

My paternal grandfather was put in this Workhouse aged 10 c.1900, along with his brother because their father died and their mother could not afford to keep them, as she had five children up to the age of 10. They used to live in Lewes Road and she had to work as a washerwoman until she married again, so she moved back in with her parents in Lower Elphick Road.  Her unmarried brother was also living there and there was not enough room or income for the two older children.  My grandfather joined the Army in WW1 when he left Newhaven school and the Workhouse and on demob became a farm labourer in Rodmell. He joined the local cricket team and the Labour party and went to meetings in Leonard & Virginia Woolfs' Monks House. He died in his early 50's.