Long-term Workhouse Inmates in Leek Union, Staffordshire, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olave Barber | 10 | 0 | Insane | no. |
| Mary Brooks | 7 | 3 | Subject to fits | no. |
| Jeremiah Hilliard | 22 | 0 | Idiotic | workh. school. |
| Jesse Meakin | 6 | 6 | Idiotic, and subject to fits | no. |
| Elizabeth Mellor | 8 | 0 | Idiotic | no. |
| Esther Moss | 22 | 0 | ditto | workh. school. |
| Mary Mottershead | 9 | 9 | Subject to epileptic fits | no. |
| Matthew Smith | 22 | 0 | Blindness | no. |
| James Smith | 10 | 3 | Infirm and ruptured | no. |
| James Speight | 8 | 0 | Idiotic | workh. school. |
| Harriet Thompson | 10 | 9 | ditto | no. |
| Ann Wilshaw | 6 | 3 | Age and infirmity | no. |
| Jane Nadin | 7 | 0 | Idiotic | no. |
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