Long-term Workhouse Inmates in Williton Union, Somerset, 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 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mary Westcott | 14 | 0 | Idiocy | no. |
Martha Burton | 20 | 0 | ditto | no. |
Ann Watts | 12 | 0 | ditto | no. |
Charles Wiltshire | 15 | 0 | Cripple | no. |
Joel Jones | 20 | 0 | Idiocy | no. |
William Hill | 18 | 0 | Old age and infirmity | no. |
Sarah Greenslade | 10 | 0 | Idiocy | no. |
Caroline Reed | 8 | 0 | ditto | no. |
John Browning | 8 | 0 | Accident | no. |
Thomas Davis | 11 | 0 | Fits | no. |
James Bray | 12 | 0 | Weakness of body | no. |
John Cording | 8 | 0 | Illness | no. |
Christopher Harris | 5 | 6 | ditto | no. |
Sarah Honiball | 20 | 0 | Illness, and illegitimate child | no. |
Elizabeth Huish | 6 | 0 | Illegitimate child | no. |
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