The words poorhouse and workhouse were often used fairly interchangeably. After 1834, the institutions established by Poor Law Unions, administered by Guardians of the Poor, in which paupers were lodged and the able-bodied set to work, were always known as workhouses. The term poorhouse was often used in England prior to 1834 for parish establishments housing paupers where there was no resident master or matron, and where there little or no work was required of the inmates. Pauper establishments in Scotland were also invariably known as poorhouses (or poor's houses), perhaps reflecting that fact that they did not cater for the able-bodied and therefore imposed no requirement for deterrent work. See http://www.workhouses.org.uk/ Apparently the official name became Poor-law Institution after 1912. Regards Stan Mapstone