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. |
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