Long-term Workhouse Inmates in Bridgnorth Union, Shropshire, 1861
In 1861, the Poor Law Board published a return of the name every adult pauper who had been a workhouse inmate for a continuous period of five years or more, together with the duration of their residence (in years and months), the reason for it, and whether they had been brought up in a District or separate Workhouse School. It was noted that the term 'District School' had been widely misinterpreted by respondents as meaning any school in the local area, such as a national or private school, and that there was only one instance in the whole report of an inmate actually having been in such a school.
Name | Yrs | ms. | Reason | School |
---|---|---|---|---|
John Cooper | 7 | 0 | ditto | no. |
Francis Manning | 5 | 0 | Paralysis | no. |
John Cluett | 40 | 0 | Idiot | no. |
Thomas Evans | 12 | 0 | ditto | no. |
John Davies | 8 | 0 | Age and infirmity | no. |
William Rowley | 15 | 0 | Dumb and lame | no. |
Thomas Nicholls | 7 | 0 | Infirmity | no. |
Harriet Williams | 6 | 0 | Lost one leg, and the other is diseased. | no. |
Sarah Holmes | 7 | 0 | Subject to severe fits | no. |
Thomas Poole | 6 | 0 | Age and infirmity | no. |
Jane Davenport | 22 | 0 | This pauper has got two illegitimate children in the district school; she is of weak intellect | no. |
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