Long-term Workhouse Inmates in Bishop's Stortford Union, Hertfordshire, 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 Blackaby | 5 | 0 | Infirmity | no. |
David Brenchley | 5 | 0 | Unable to support himself; has been a farmer in good circumstances. | no. |
William Hart | 5 | 0 | Almost blind, and aged | no. |
Ann Coxall | 6 | 0 | Widow; no home, and not able to support herself. | no. |
Mary Ann Seabourn | 6 | 0 | Very infirm and aged | no. |
Joshua Griggs | 6 | 0 | Bad eyes, and unable to maintain himself. | no. |
Martha Wren | 6 | 0 | Idiotcy | no. |
James Biscoe | 7 | 0 | Old age and sickness | no. |
Sarah Dawes | 7 | 0 | Illegitimacy | no. |
Reginald Nash | 8 | 0 | Old and infirm | no. |
Stephen Blackwell | 11 | 0 | ditto | no. |
John Jeffrey | 11 | 0 | Idiotcy | no. |
George Harris | 11 | 0 | Old age and sickness | no. |
Jacob Bayford | 14 | 0 | Old ago | no. |
James Brasier | 14 | 0 | Idiotcy | no. |
Thomas Batt | 15 | 0 | Bad legs, &c. | no. |
Mary Watts | 7 | 0 | Idiotcy | no. |
Charles Nash | 18 | 0 | ditto | no. |
James Long | 18 | 0 | ditto | no. |
Mary Lilly | 18 | 0 | Old and infirm, withered arm | no. |
Unless otherwise indicated, this page () is copyright Peter Higginbotham. Contents may not be reproduced without permission.