Long-term Workhouse Inmates in Sunderland Union, County Durham, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| William Tongs | 20 | 0 | Imbecile | no. |
| William Thompson | 20 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| William Grant | 20 | 0 | ditto | workh. school. |
| John Watson | 6 | 0 | Old and infirm | no. |
| George Reay | 5 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| William Buchanan | 9 | 0 | Amputated leg | no. |
| John Marshall | 8 | 0 | Imbecile | no. |
| Jacob Brass | 7 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| George Irving | 15 | 0 | Rupture | no. |
| William Surtees | 9 | 0 | Imbecile | no. |
| George Reah | 7 | 0 | Paralytic | no. |
| George Coltman | 5 | 0 | Imbecile | no. |
| Richard Ashworth | 11 | 0 | Lame | no. |
| John Lalliman | 9 | 0 | Old and infirm | no. |
| Parkin Dodds | 7 | 0 | Insane | no. |
| William Leighton | 6 | 0 | Old and infirm | no. |
| John Davison Watson | 11 | 0 | Imbecile | no. |
| Edward Cook | 9 | 0 | Insanity | no. |
| William Collingwood | 12 | 0 | Imbecile | no. |
| John Williams | 9 | 0 | Old and infirm | no. |
| John Trotter | 6 | 0 | Lame | no. |
| John Ramsey | 10 | 0 | Insane | no. |
| Alexander Dingwell | 6 | 0 | Lame and deaf | no. |
| Mary Martin | 9 | 0 | Imbecile | no. |
| Jane Giles | 10 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Ellen Cummings | 7 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Mary Ann Hodgson | 19 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Ellen McMahon | 8 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Diana Henderson | 6 | 0 | Insanity | no. |
| Margaret Milton | 6 | 0 | Old and infirm | no. |
| Ann Tindell | 20 | 0 | Imbecile | no. |
| Mary Robson | 20 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Ann Bell | 7 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Barbara Summers | 10 | 0 | Old and infirm | no. |
| Maria Young | 10 | 0 | Imbecile | no. |
| Delina Atkinson | 6 | 0 | Old and infirm | no. |
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