Long-term Workhouse Inmates in Braintree Union, Essex, 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 Ann Beddall | 14 | 0 | Weak mind | no. |
| Samuel Beckwith | 13 | 0 | Old age and infirmity | no. |
| Joseph Lazell | 12 | 0 | An idiot | no. |
| Thomas Raynor | 12 | 0 | Old age and rheumatic | no. |
| Rhoda Rogers | 14 | 0 | Weak mind | no. |
| Jane Raynor | 16 | 0 | Weak mind and old age | no. |
| Aaron Pudney | 12 | 0 | Deformed; incapable of earning his living. | no. |
| Samuel Broad | 11 | 0 | Bad legs and lame | no. |
| Ann Ridgwell | 15 | 0 | Imbecile | no. |
| Robert Suckling | 13 | 0 | Old age; very bad health | no. |
| John Wash | 14 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Ann Ardley | 21 | 0 | Imbecile | no. |
| Esther Emberson | 8 | 0 | Weak mind | no. |
| Charlotte Hitchcock | 12 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Amy Coote | 10 | 0 | Idiot | no. |
| Susan Bassam | 8 | 0 | Weak mind and old age | no. |
| Isaac Shelly | 9 | 0 | Idiot | no. |
| Isaac Thurgood | 9 | 0 | Old age and rheumatism | no. |
| Edward Rundell | 11 | 0 | Old age | no. |
| Sergeant Simpson | 8 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Samuel Holmes | 7 | 0 | Has fits | no. |
| James Humphreys | 16 | 0 | ditto | no. |
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