The rich man in his castle....

In Victorian times everybody knew their place, and the Church was right at the centre of making sure that nobody forgot theirs. Churches were segregated, with hovels of pews for the poor and lavish galleries for the rich. The rich peered down on the poor as objects of curiosity, just like scientists examining a specimen, or as either deserving or not deserving of pity.
The latter view of the poor was the backbone of the 1834 Poor Laws, and was part of the Workhouse system. The church inflicted its views on the deserving poor in workhouses too, and the ruling classes patted themselves on the back for their generosity. The workhouse governors, of course, ate very lavishly indeed, as opposed to the inmates who were fed just about enough to stop them from starving to death. On admission to the workhouse families were split up, with men, women, boys and girls going to separate parts of the institution. The sick were separated from the able. At least the sick were given some sort of treatment in the workhouse infirmaries.
People were absolutely terrified of having to go to the poorhouse. My 3xgreat grandmother was admitted to the Greenwich Union Workhouse at around ten in the morning, and had died of diarrhoea by four in the afternoon. I suspect it was her dread of the institution that had prevented her from seeking treatment any earlier. By the way, at unclaimed bodies at that workhouse were sent for dissection by anatomists. I have examined the original Workhouse Registers from that time (1876 to 1915), and seen people's names with a d after them, showing that they had been sent to be anatomized. That fate didn't befall my ancestor, as the register records that one of her daughters waited with the corpse until other relatives could arrange its removal.
Victorian values. It's really heartbreaking when one thinks about it. Those people who want to bring a return to the 'good old days' obviously don't know what really happened.