Long-term Workhouse Inmates in Wellington 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 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Samuel Price | 7 | 0 | Old age and general debility | no. |
William Swan | 6 | 0 | Old age and debility, asthma, &c. | no. |
William Hotchkiss | 6 | 0 | Old age and general debility | no. |
William Morris | 7 | 0 | Old age, general debility, and blind. | no. |
James Weaver | 7 | 0 | Old age and general debility | no. |
George Roberts | 5 | 0 | Old age and a cripple | no. |
Mary Churm | 12 | 0 | Two illegitimate children, herself lame. | no. |
Sarah Bagley | 8 | 0 | Nearly blind for 14 years | no. |
Sarah Gallear | 14 | 0 | Idiot | no. |
Sarah Cooper | 6 | 0 | Widow with five children | no. |
Judith Haughton | 13 | 0 | An idiot from birth | no. |
Ann Fletcher | 15 | 0 | Old age and general debility | no. |
Martha Pritchard | 8 | 0 | Two illegitimate children, the elder blind. | no. |
Ann Mainwaring | 14 | 0 | A person of weak intellect | no. |
Jane Bailey | 11 | 0 | Had one illegitimate child, herself a person of weak intellect. | no. |
Mary Clay | 15 | 0 | Old age and general debility | no. |
Sarah Adams | 5 | 0 | ditto | no. |
Catherine Burry | 10 | 0 | ditto | no. |
Margaret Groom | 10 | 0 | An idiot from birth | no. |
Sarah Adams (2) | 7 | 0 | A person of weak intellect for 20 years. | no. |
Ann Groom | 8 | 0 | Old age and general debility | no. |
Emma Wynne | 6 | 0 | An idiot from birth | no. |
Elizabeth Hughes | 6 | 0 | Old age and general debility | no. |
Elizabeth Jones | 8 | 0 | An idiot for 13 years; fits, &c. | no. |
Robert Cliff | 8 | 0 | Unable to work for 10 years in consequence of bad health. | no. |
Mary Mainwaring | 11 | 0 | Has an illegitimate son 11 years of age; both of weak intellect. | no. |
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