In 1865 there was a scandal reported far and wide about a workhouse matron named Catherine Leevers. Catherine was the widow of William Leevers, hosier and laceman. William, originally from Nottingham, had moved to Liverpool and had a successful business. After his first wife died he married spinster Catherine Adlam on 9 October 1845 at St Brides, Liverpool. Catherine already had a daughter, born illegitimately. William died in 1852 and Catherine then needed to support herself.
Catherine was recorded on the 1861 census as the matron of the Bradford Female Refuge at Great Horton. By the time of the 1871 census she was living in Darlington with her daughter and son in law who was the Railway Station Master. Her occupation was “formerly Matron”.
However, between those two censuses is evidence of an horrific period in Catherine’s life. The newspapers tell the story of a cruel workhouse matron, hated by the inmates. An effigy of Catherine Leevers was set on fire to show the absolute disgust of the people towards her.
Article from the Yorkshire Gazette Saturday 18 Febraury 1865 page 9c
An enquiry was undertaken into the matron’s behaviour and the findings were shocking. In one letter to the York Herald, it was stated that Mrs Levers had been dismissed from her previous post at the Horton Refuge for drunkenness. Apparently letters were sent in regard to Mrs Leevers’ character whilst acting as matron of the Bradford Female Refuge and the Leeds Hospital for Women and Children. Neither gave her good references. Leeds had insisted she resign and Bradford insinuated she was dismissed for drunkenness.
She was also accused of drunkenness at Tadcaster Workhouse, and of “turning twelve men out of bed quite naked into the middle of the vagrant ward, in order to search the beds, because she thought she smelt tobacco.” She was accused of ill treatment of inmates, such as striking one woman with a poker, flogging children until “shamefully discoloured”, and failing to enter the punishments into the punishment book and more.
The Yorkshire Gazette dated 11 March 1865 p. 2d headlined “Charges Against the Matron of Tadcaster Workhouse”, detailed the horrific charges against Catherine Leevers. The testimonies of the inmates were shocking and described the brutalities Mrs Leevers inflicted upon both children and the elderly. Visitors to the workhouse and those living nearby told stories of upsetting detail of the horrific punishments metered out by the matron.
Mrs Leevers regularly slapped inmates, withheld food, forced children to stand on one leg whilst the other was tied up with a rope to the ceiling. Children were locked in dark cellars for half a day with no light. Others were regularly struck by walking sticks and rolling pins and were covered in bruises. Mrs Leevers also had the habit of making the children put their tongues out as far as possible and then hitting them under the chin. When their tongues bled she would not allow them to spit out the blood, but made them swallow it. Another child was burnt by an iron deliberately put on his arm by the matron.
The Guardians decided that the workhouse needed to close as the premises were not fit for a poor house. Unbelievably, even after being accused of cruel behaviour, the Board of Guardians allowed Mrs Leevers to stay in post until the workhouse closed. (York Herald, 1 April 1865, p. 8f.) So, it seems that Catherine Leevers was not punished for her cruelty.
The York Herald dated 11 March 1865 headlined “Atrocities at Tadcaster”, stated that the workhouse would be closed on the 25th as it was not suitable for purpose. “Until then, the female miscreant LEVERS will be allowed to continue in office. This to us seems monstrous. Such a wretch should at once have been dismissed.” They went on to state that the least the Tadcaster Guardians could do was to prosecute the matron on a criminal charge and punish her for the atrocities “which are a disgrace to the age in which we live”.
The former workhouse in Tadcaster, thought to be the same building where Catherine Leevers worked as matron and cruelly treated the inmates. [photo by Barry Nuttall, 1972.] https://www.tadhistory.org.uk/catalogue_item/the-former-workhouse-joseph-street-1972
There is no evidence of Catherine ever working again. By the 1871 census she was living with her daughter, son in law and grandchildren in Darlington, where her son in law was station master. One hopes she treated her family better than she treated the poor and vulnerable of Bradford, Leeds and Tadcaster. Catherine died in 1889 in Harrogate at her daughter’s home, aged 77.
References
Yorkshire Gazette Saturday 18 February 1865, p. 9c
Yorkshire Gazette, 11 March 1865, p. 2d
York Herald, 1 April 1865, p. 8f
https://www.workhouses.org.uk/Tadcaster
https://www.tadhistory.org.uk/area/st-josephs-street
https://www.tadhistory.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Breadcrumbs-23-August-2021.pdf
