La pobreza de los expósitos de la Inclusa de Pontevedra (1872-1925)

Abstract

Este artículo tiene dos objetivos. El primero es establecer el medio del que procedían los expósitos de la Inclusa de Pontevedra y, ya de adultos, las circunstancias en las que se desenvolvían y morían. El segundo es valorar cómo eran vistos por la sociedad y cómo les afectaba tener la condición de hijos de padres desconocidos. Todo ello en el período que va desde 1872, año de la inauguración de la Institución, hasta 1925, cuando se cerró el torno. Para lograr los objetivos citados hemos analizado las ropas que estos niños vestían y las notas que portaban enganchadas a ellas al ser abandonados. Además, hemos establecido algunas características de la vida adulta de estos expósitos centrándonos en los bienes con los que contaban al comenzarla, el nivel de estudios que tenían y los trabajos a los que se dedicaban. También hemos estudiado la consideración social de los expósitos a través, sobre todo, de la prensa y de las manifestaciones de los responsables de las inclusas. Por último, hemos analizado testimonios de la búsqueda de algunos expósitos de información que pudiera llevarlos hasta su madre y su familia. Nuestras conclusiones son que, en buena parte, los expósitos de la Inclusa de Pontevedra, al igual que los asilados de otras inclusas, nacían pobres y morían de la misma manera, sin que la estancia en este establecimiento benéfico y, posteriormente, en el Hospicio les hubiera facilitado el ascenso social. Además, si no eran recogidos por su madre o familiares, no lograban encontrar a su familia biológica, y a esta carencia había que sumarle la poca consideración social que tenían los expósitos debido, precisamente, a ser hijos de padres desconocidos.

Gender, work, and family economies: wet nurses in rural Galicia (1850–1900)

“…This percentage was almost equaled by that of single women, 44 per cent, while widows comprised 11 per cent (see Table 1). This composition would generally continue for the following years (Rodríguez Martín, 2003: 183). The percentage of single wet nurses is very similar to that of the small foundling hospitals in the neighbouring regions of northern Portugal, where throughout the second half of the nineteenth century, between 34 and 40 per cent of wet nurses were single (Fonte, 2005: 383–4).…”

“…Regardless of the problems and frauds that these single wet nurses may have perpetrated in Pontevedra – or whether the solutions implemented by hospital administrators were the same as those tested in northern Portugal – their importance for the occupation is explained by a combination of factors (aside from the smallness and economic precariousness of the institution) (Rodríguez Martín, 2003: 181–3; Fonte, 2005: 369–70, 392). One was the rural textile industry’s gradual loss of relevance as a potential source of income for women in the countryside (Carmona, 1990: 190–9).…”

“…For all of them, working as a wet nurse would mean being able to count on a secure source of income. For Pontevedra’s foundling hospital, as for those in northern Portugal, these women were potential cheap labour, given the low wages that were paid in both regions for the nursing of foundlings in this period (Rodríguez Martín, 2003: 181–3; Fonte, 2005: 388–90).…”

“…At that moment, local parish priests began to recommend women from that rural districts as wet nurses, first to the administrators of the Royal Hospital of Santiago and, later, to those of the Pontevedra’s foundling hospital. Thus, for example, since 1873 the systematic participation of some Pantón priests is documented in the selection of wet nurses outside the municipality, women who ended up working for the aforementioned Pontevedra’s foundling hospital (Rodríguez Martín, 2003: 193–4).…”

“…Widows specialised in raising children who were already weaned, that is, between eighteen months and seven years of age, while single women took charge of recently born foundlings, who they raised with their own children. In both cases, wages they received from the foundling hospital – together with wages earned from their work as agricultural day labourers, weavers, spinners, dressmakers, and from activities such as herding and gardening, tasks which foundling children could help with from a young age – would allow them to survive (Rodríguez Martín, 2003; Dubert, 2018: 104–5). Although there are no specific studies on the survival of these women, we do know from our sources that with the foundling hospital’s wages, they were able to rent worker’s housing and purchase a kilogram of bread and another kilogram of potatoes (Dubert and Muñoz-Abeledo, 2021).…”