Long-term Workhouse Inmates in Reading Union, Berkshire, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen Harriss | 9 | 0 | Infirmity | no. |
| Edward Withers | 10 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Edward Gregory | 7 | 0 | Imbecile | no. |
| Henry Chitty | 6 | 6 | ditto | no. |
| John Marshall | 11 | 0 | Paralysis | no. |
| Samuel Saunders | 8 | 0 | Blindness | no. |
| Thomas Pitter | 5 | 0 | Old age | no. |
| John Hance | 60 | 0 | Idiotcy | no. |
| James Edgeston | 11 | 0 | No employ | no. |
| Lucy Hiscock | 11 | 0 | Old age | no. |
| Sarah Hiscock | 9 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Elizabeth Tibble | 8 | 0 | Paralysis | no. |
| Sarah Ann Petty | 6 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Mary Hadley | 7 | 0 | Imbecility | no. |
| Mary Jennings | 13 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Rebecca Rogers | 9 | 0 | Epileptic fits | no. |
| Deborah Dew | 5 | 0 | Rheumatism | no. |
| Elizabeth Birkett | 26 | 0 | Cancer | no. |
| Anjuin Beck | 20 | 0 | Imbecility | no. |
| Caroline Higgs | 20 | 0 | Scrofula | no. |
| Sarah Titcombe | 13 | 0 | Old age | no. |
| Elizabeth Berry | 13 | 0 | Imbecility | no. |
| Susan Ballard | 26 | 0 | Scrofula | no. |
| James Cottrell | 11 | 0 | Imbecility | no. |
| Messenger Keeley | 13 | 0 | No employ | no. |
| Hannah Keeley | 13 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| William Tuplin | 26 | 0 | Infirmity | no. |
| William Hide | 7 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| George Hatton | 9 | 0 | Destitution | no. |
| James Lister | 30 | 0 | Imbecility | no. |
| George Millington | 20 | 0 | Idiotcy | no. |
| William Hannington | 21 | 0 | Illness | no. |
| John Davis | 11 | 0 | Infirmity | no. |
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