Long-term Workhouse Inmates in Dewsbury Union, West Riding of Yorkshire, 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 Burnley | 5 | 0 | Old age and infirmity; imperfect eyesight | no. |
David Hargreaves | 5 | 0 | Idiotic | no. |
Martha Fleming | 5 | 0 | Imbecility | no. |
John Asquith | 5 | 0 | Old age | no. |
Mary Newton | 5 | 0 | ditto | no. |
Hannah Shaw | 5 | 0 | Paralysis | no. |
Benjamin Crossland | 5 | 0 | Old age and rheumatism | no. |
Thomas Clough | 5 | 0 | Old age and encysted tumour on the thigh | no. |
William Whitehead | 5 | 0 | Partial lunacy | no. |
Mary Ann Wigglesworth | 6 | 0 | Old age | no. |
Jeremiah Lee | 5 | 0 | ditto | no. |
William Brook | 6 | 0 | Old age and general weakness | no. |
Robert Rinns | 6 | 0 | General debility | no. |
Thomas North | 5 | 0 | Asthma | no. |
Thomas Lawford | 5 | 0 | Lame and general debility | no. |
Mary Robinson | 5 | 0 | Weak intellect | no. |
Mary France | 6 | 0 | Cripple | no. |
Maria Cass | 6 | 0 | Weak intellect | no. |
Mary Bolton | 6 | 0 | Affection of the head | no. |
Thomas Rushforth | 6 | 0 | Cripple | no. |
Jane Jackson | 5 | 0 | Epilepsy | no. |
William Spurr | 6 | 0 | General debility | no. |
Martha Lee | 5 | 0 | Weak intellect | no. |
Rachel Wilby | 6 | 0 | ditto | no. |
Sarah Gunson | 6 | 0 | Weak intellect; general debility | no. |
Joseph Ellis | 5 | 0 | Tremulous debility | no. |
John Pickersgill | 5 | 0 | ditto | no. |
John Lodge | 5 | 0 | Old age; partial lunacy | no. |
George Whitaker | 6 | 0 | Weak -intellect | no. |
Joshua Lee | 6 | 0 | ditto | no. |
Susannah Day | 5 | 0 | St Vitus's dance | no. |
Benjamin Rowley | 6 | 0 | Weak intellect | no. |
Samuel Halstead | 6 | 0 | ditto | no. |
Margaret Douglas | 6 | 0 | Deaf and dumb | no. |
Joseph Worsley | 5 | 0 | Weak intellect | no. |
Jane Smith | 6 | 0 | ditto | no. |
Martha Walker | 6 | 0 | Old age | no. |
Joseph Daughtry | 5 | 0 | ditto | no. |
Thomas Jackson | 5 | 0 | ditto | no. |
Unless otherwise indicated, this page () is copyright Peter Higginbotham. Contents may not be reproduced without permission.