Long-term Workhouse Inmates in Ashton-under-Lyne Union, Lancashire, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ann Butterworth | 12 | 0 | Imbecility | no. |
| Mary Heap | 11 | 0 | Paralysis | no. |
| Ann Higginbottom | 12 | 0 | Imbecility | no. |
| Henry North | 8 | 0 | Insanity | no. |
| Ann Smith | 11 | 0 | Disabled through rheumatism | no. |
| Ann Wright | 12 | 0 | Imbecility | no. |
| Ann Winterbottom | 12 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Robert Woodcock | 11 | 6 | Old age and debility | no. |
| William Brierley | 8 | 0 | Idiocy | no. |
| Eliza Mallinson | 7 | 6 | Epilepsy | yes. |
| Mary McDonald | 6 | 6 | Imbecility and blindness | no. |
| James Whitworth | 6 | 0 | Old age and defective sight | no. |
| William Taylor | 5 | 6 | Old age and infirmity | no. |
| Mary Casey | 5 | 5 | Paralysis | no. |
| Sarah Brierley | 5 | 4 | Epilepsy | no. |
| James Buckley | 5 | 3 | Insanity and blindness | no. |
| Thomas Rowland | 11 | 6 | Old age and infirmity | no. |
| John Howarth | 5 | 5 | ditto | no. |
| Abraham Garside | 12 | 0 | Imbecility | no. |
| James Ridgway | 12 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Mary Bridge | 8 | 0 | Old age and infirmity | no. |
| Martha Charlesworth | 11 | 6 | Crippled and defective sight | yes. |
| Ann Haughton | 12 | 0 | Insanity: | no. |
| Hannah Clough | 5 | 6 | Epilepsy | no. |
| Abel Martin Elliott | 5 | 6 | Idiocy | no. |
| Sarah Burgoyne | 5 | 5 | Insanity | no. |
| James Nield | 5 | 5 | ditto | no. |
| William Robinson | 11 | 0 | Imbecility | no. |
| Thomas Steel | 10 | 0 | Crippled | no. |
| Ann Stanfield | 7 | 0 | Paralysis | yes. |
| Peter Winterbottom | 5 | 6 | Idiocy and crippled | no. |
| Sarah Marsland | 5 | 4 | Three illegitimate children | no. |
| William Harrison | 11 | 0 | Old age and infirmity | no. |
| Peter Pearson | 9 | 0 | Paralysis agitana | no. |
| Charles Jackson | 9 | 0 | Deaf, dumb and blind | no. |
| John Jackson | 9 | 0 | Deaf and dumb, also defective sight | no. |
| James Jackson | 9 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Mary Jackson | 8 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Thomas Jackson | 8 | 0 | Imbecility | no. |
| Betty Thorpe | 7 | 6 | Old age and infirmity | no. |
| Ann Whitworth | 7 | 6 | ditto | no. |
| George Goodwin | 6 | 6 | Insanity | no. |
| Elizabeth Holt | 8 | 9 | Maimed | no. |
| William Henry Briscoe | 8 | 0 | Epilepsy | no. |
| William Hindley | 6 | 0 | Old age and infirmity | no. |
| Alice Gregson | 5 | 6 | Widow, with three children | no. |
| Mary Thornley | 5 | 3 | Epilepsy | no. |
| Hannah Day | 5 | 3 | ditto | no. |
| Eliza Oliver | 9 | 0 | Bedridden and crippled | not known. |
For US readers 
Unless otherwise indicated, this page () is copyright Peter Higginbotham. Contents may not be reproduced without permission.