Long-term Workhouse Inmates in Melksham Union, Wiltshire, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eliza Gregory | 10 | 0 | Idiocy | no. |
| Robert Rogers | 13 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Sophia Stowe | 6 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Julia Wickham | 19 | 6 | ditto | no. |
| Hannah Cleaver | 8 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Elizabeth Davis | 19 | 6 | ditto | no. |
| Elizabeth Gunner | 19 | 6 | ditto | no. |
| William Pepler | 5 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| John Amor | 18 | 0 | Infirm | no. |
| James Bancroft | 12 | 4 | Lameness | no. |
| Joan Forrest | 8 | 0 | Infirm | no. |
| William Stockwell | 6 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| George Stillman | 6 | 0 | Asthma | no. |
| Phoebe Tucker | 14 | 0 | Infirm | no. |
| John Whitcombe | 13 | 0 | Lameness | no. |
| George Barnes | 11 | 0 | Infirm | no. |
| Ann Collett | 9 | 0 | Lameness | no. |
| John Townsend | 19 | 0 | Infirm | no. |
| James Rutley | 7 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| William Slade | 7 | 0 | Spinal affection | no. |
| Mary Lester | 5 | 0 | Infirm | no. |
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