Genealogy Chat

Thankyou to everyone for the website addresses. I have looked at them all and they all link to the same one but I do find this subject very interesting. Thankyou Marjorie for your replies. As I said before, I was unaware of what a workhouse was until I found my Ggggfather in one. Your replies have been very interesting and hopefully will help others too!!! Sue X

Workhouses were still in operation in the 1940s! Although most of them changed their names after the War to something less threatening, they were still in effect the old workhouses and it wasnt until the Welfare State got into full swing in the 1960s that people didnt have to go there anymore. And of course, many Workhouses still contained inmates who had been there since the turn of the century...it was a dumping ground by then and many turned into long-stay hospitals or mental institutions. People who had entered the Workhouse at the turn of the century as children were often too institutionalised to be released by the time a more lenient view was being taken of the poor or disabled. It is difficult to imagine a woman in 1916 DECIDING to give birth in the Workhouse, rather than at home, which was the normal thing. Yes, they did have hospital facilities but they would only have been free to the destitute. Antenatal care was either basic or unheard of, and the first you knew of any problems was when you died in childbirth! Marjorie

I've been taking an interest in workhouses recently, since I found out my own Dad was born in one, in 1916! I was surprised they were still in operation then. I've heard that non-inmates would go there to give birth, because of the medical facilities.

Margaret http://users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/ If you go to this site, and go to directoires you will find england, click on that and look for shorpshire. There you will find Whitechurch and all the info on that workhouse. good luck with your search Julie

my g.g.grandmother was living in the union workhouse warminster on the 1871 and 1881 census and listed as unmarried with 5 children, I have the birth certificates for 4 of the children, the 3 youngest were born there and my g.grandmother and her sister were born before she went in but none of them have a fathers name on there. jenny

errrr Margaret - did you look at any of the links put here? Mine has a link to that website and maybe others have too? Sue

Does anyone know about the Union Workhouse in Whitchurch Shropshire please

Another site.... http://www(.)workhouses(.)org(.)uk/ i just had a look and Bradfield is there. Sue

Hi Sue I have learnt more about Social History in the five years Ive been doing this, than in all my schooldays and adult years put together! Good hunting Marjorie

Another good site is www.institutions.*org.*uk this covers most goverment institutions, including work houses

Hi Julie Took a look at the website you recommended. Very interesting, even my husband took a look!! And I did manage to find info on Bradfield Workhouse. Not quite sure yet but I think he may have died there the following year. Poor man!! Hi Marjorie Thanks for your reply. I've been very ignorant, I think, as I was unaware of what a workhouse was. I had heard of them but until now took little interest. Thats what I like about Genealogy. You never know what you will find. Sue

Hi Susan To finish up in the Workhouse was the most awful thing that could happen to anyone, so much so, that this attitude persists almost to this day amongst elderly people.My Grandmother lived in absolute terror of finishing up in the Workhouse, and refused to go into an Old People's Home which had been built in the grounds of a former Workhouse. The regime was truly dreadful - in order to discourage anyone from entering just because they were too lazy to work. Families were separated, Men to one wing, women to another, - so that there would be "no extra mouths to feed". I recently read that no woman ever became pregnant INSIDE the Workhouse, unless she caught the eye of the Workhouse Master! Men often ran away from the Workhouse, and what had once been a stable family perhaps temporarily fallen on hard times, became a deserted mother and her children, unlikely to ever be economically independant again. On entering the Workhouse, every single possession was taken away and they had to wear a coarse uniform with a large P on it. If they ran away from the Workhouse all Hell was let loose because they had stolen a Uniform! The Infirmary was a basic Ward for those too ill to work ( you were never too old to work) They received basic nursing care and food, little else, although the situation did improve towards the end of the 1890s when a Doctor was in regular attendance. If you were in the Infirmary, you were there to die, certainly in the early days of the Workhouse. The good old days? Don't think so. Marjorie

Hi susan Have a look at www.users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/bradfield/ This is a site for Brafield workhouse & poor law union. It give a history of the place. Theres also an address for the records office. Also if you google in Bradfield workhouse there are a few sites to look at. goodluck with your search Hope it helps Julie

Thanks Julie for your help!! I'm off too bed now but will look in tomorrow. Sue

sorry susan just noticed his age, he was more likely there because of ill health. I don't think he would be there to work. Hospitials at that time where run by charity or attached to the workhouse. health care was not proivded by the government until the 1911 national insurance act, and that only covered the male worker and none of his family members. I will look though and see if i can find any info on the workhouse for that area Julie

Hi Julie He lived in Bradfield, Berkshire. On the 1891 he lived with his daughter and her family. They also lived in Bradfield in 1901 and they only had three children. Maybe he got too old for them to look after him!! Thanks again. Sue

It depends where they lived. some towns were more relaxed than others. some gave out charity, and in some cases the Workhouse wasn't to bad. Most families will have someone who had to go to the workhouse at some point. Unfortunally most people were poor due to large family, poor wages, and bad housing conditions. Were about did your relative live?. Ive been studing this at college. I might have some info on that area. julie

Back then, did they not help their elderly relatives? He had about six children at least!! Sue

Poor chap has only committed the crime of being elderly and not having a stakeholder pension plan! nell

Thankyou Julie and David I will certainly delve further. Very interested now!!! For a moment I thought we had a criminal in our family and I was wondering what he had done. Lol Sue