Long-term Workhouse Inmates in Bedford Union, Bedfordshire, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Catlin | 9 | 0 | Unable to earn his living, and infirm | no. |
| Rhoda Warren | 23 | 0 | Partially infirm in body and mind | no. |
| Mary Fairey | 13 | 0 | Paralysed | no. |
| Mary Wildman | 23 | 0 | Infirm | no. |
| Rebecca Mitchell | 16 | 0 | Illegitimate child | no. |
| Alice Williamson | 20 | 0 | Deaf and dumb | no. |
| Adam White | 8 | 0 | Old age and infirmity | no. |
| John Jones | 6 | 0 | Infirm and short-sighted | no. |
| Annette Williams | 23 | 0 | Deaf and dumb | no. |
| John Foulks | 14 | 0 | Weak intellect | no. |
| Ann Ames | 5 | 0 | Imbecile | no. |
| George Freeman | 7 | 0 | Lameness | no. |
| Zabulon Taylor | 8 | 0 | Old age and infirm | no. |
| Harriet Shimmons | 21 | 0 | Weak intellect | no. |
| John Goodship | 20 | 0 | Old age and ruptured | no. |
| Louisa Waller | 18 | 0 | Weak intellect | workh. school. |
| Sarah Wright | 20 | 0 | Deaf and dumb | workh. school. |
| William Dawson | 7 | 0 | Unable to earn his living | no. |
| James Jordan | 8 | 0 | Blind | no. |
| Ulysses Ashwell | 21 | 0 | Imbecile | no. |
| Daniel Salisbury | 5 | 0 | Unable to earn his living, and ruptured. | no. |
| Sarah Deighton | 17 | 0 | Weak intellect | no. |
| Sarah Bonfield | 20 | 0 | Widow, and infirm | no. |
| Martha Smith | 23 | 0 | Weak intellect | no. |
| Emma Beale | 23 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Dinah King | 23 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Andrew Dickens | 5 | 6 | ditto | no. |
| Thomas Gregory | 5 | 6 | A cripple | no. |
| Catherine Warner | 10 | 0 | Old age | no. |
| Joseph Bywaters | 16 | 6 | Unable to earn his living | no. |
| Emma Horrell | 21 | 0 | Sickness and infirm | no. |
| Margaret Shelton | 7 | 0 | Weak intellect | no. |
| Samuel Wooding | 5 | 0 | Old age and infirm | no. |
| Sarah Dawson | 15 | 0 | Widow, and no home | no. |
| George Allen | 12 | 0 | Old age and sickness | no. |
| John Hine | 11 | 0 | A cripple | no. |
| Eliza Parratt | 7 | 0 | Six illegitimate children | no. |
| James Halfhead | 10 | 6 | Infirm | no. |
| William Gaskin | 10 | 0 | Infirm and old age | no. |
| Benjamin Carter | 9 | 0 | Sickness | no. |
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