Long-term Workhouse Inmates in Lewes Union, Sussex, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elizabeth Robinson | 9 | 0 | Idiotic | |
| Eliza Swaysland | 10 | 0 | ditto | |
| Caroline Champion | 47 | 0 | Weak of intellect | |
| Sarah Roberts | 28 | 0 | Old age and infirmity | |
| Joseph Larkin | 9 | 0 | Old age, and partly blind | |
| Ann Deacon | 6 | 0 | Old age | |
| Fanny Martin | 9 | 0 | ditto | |
| Edward Rusbridge | 20 | 0 | Old age, and a cripple | |
| Edward Fox | 7 | 0 | Old age and Infirmity | |
| Stephen Lewry | 6 | 0 | Old age | |
| Thomas Morley | 5 | 0 | Old age | |
| William Walker | 44 | 0 | Weak of intellect | |
| John Taylor | 13 | 0 | Old age | |
| Thomas Ellis | 15 | 0 | A cripple, and quite disabled. | |
| John Willis | 9 | 0 | Old age | |
| James Hillman | 5 | 0 | Old age and Infirmity | |
| Mary Hillman | 9 | 0 | ditto |
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