Long-term Workhouse Inmates in South Shields Union, County Durham, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ann Vasey | 20 | 0 | Blind | no. |
| John Wake | 22 | 0 | Nearly blind | no. |
| Mary Allen | 16 | 0 | Imbecile | no. |
| Eleanor Blythe | 8 | 0 | Old age | no. |
| Ann Crawford | 10 | 0 | Cripple | no. |
| William Storey | 12 | 0 | Old age | no. |
| Elizabeth Phillips | 10 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Andrew Rutherford | 9 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Margaret Davison | 7 | 0 | Idiot | no. |
| William Nesbitt | 6 | 0 | Old age | no. |
| Elizabeth Lightfoot | 15 | 0 | Imbecile | no. |
| Mary Lawson | 20 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| Ann Lawson | 20 | 0 | ditto | no. |
| James Boyd | 15 | 0 | Paralytic | no. |
| Jane Jellies | 10 | 0 | Old age | no. |
| William Lee | 8 | 0 | Lunatic | no. |
| Elizabeth Pattinson | 8 | 0 | Asthmatic | no. |
| George S. Wood | 7 | 0 | Idiot | no. |
| Margaret Nevett | 7 | 0 | Deaf | no. |
| Mary A. Hamilton | 7 | 0 | Imbecile | no. |
| Fanny Younger | 6 | 0 | Paralytic | no. |
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