Lancaster Workhouse records

[Nicky]

I have found the death of William Stephenson in 1853, aged 70 and its states he died in the workhouse, would there be any records available which may give more information?
He was buried 6 Feb 1853 at St Marys, Lancaster.
Any help would be great, thanks.
Nicky

[greenpaula]

Hi
I don't know if there are any workhouse records online. There is an interesting description of Lancaster workhouse with photos on the Workhouse website.
William may have been admitted to the Workhouse when he was ill, he doesn't necessarily have to have been living there.
There is a William Stephenson of the right age living with his wife in the 1851 Lancaster census. He is a shoemaker at Hargreave's Court, St. Leonard Gate, Lancaster.
If William is a close relative it may be worth sending for his death certificate as it could possibly have his occupation on it.

[Gibel]

Try Lancashire Record Office at Preston.

Gibel

[uk2003]

http://www.workhouses.org.uk/

[Radcliff]

Elizabeth Stephenson
daughter of William and Elizabeth,
shoemaker,
Abode Lancaster,
Born 7 th of October baptism 29 th of October 1815,
St Marys Lancaster,

[Barbara.H]

Hi,

I think it very likely that he was in the workhouse for hospital treatment, as Greenpaula suggests.
William has a death notice in the Lancaster Gazette (from the online newspaper archive) which would be a strange thing for a pauper to have.
You can see from the map on the workhouses.org site (Hi Ken   that there was an infectious diseases hospital on the same site, but you would need the death cert to tell you that.

Lancaster Gazette Saturday, February 05, 1853; pg. 8; Issue 3435
"Lancaster: on the 1st inst., Willliam Stephenson, Workhouse, age 70 years."

Might be his wife, died just a fortnight earlier? Or is she too young to be his wife?

Lancaster Gazette, Saturday, January 22, 1853; pg. 8; Issue 3433
Lancaster, on the 17th inst, Elizabeth, wife of William Stephenson, Church St, aged 53 years"

  Barbara

[Radcliff]

Hello Barbara,

on the burial record for Elizabeth ,

there is a note saying T in column ,

is this Typhoid,

the reason I ask this is because there is also a T in Williams burial notes,

[Radcliff]

Elizabeth and William the shoemaker are together in Lancaster in 1841 and 1851 census returns,
neither are around in the 1861,

the only thing I can see is that her age is wrong either in the census or her death notice, as she is born circa 1784 Lancaster,

[Barbara.H]

Great minds think alike 
I wondered about T for Typhoid, but if you go on the Lancs OPC and look at a whole stretch of records for 1852/3, the letters seem to correspond with the surname of the curate conducting the burial. So you have T for Tucker and later on, P for Pedder, K for Kenny. So seems to be a shorthand, written up in full later.

Interesting that in the death noties of the paper, quite a few state place of death 'Lunatic Asylum' so it seems there was no taboo about announcing someone's death there in those days. Of course they could be employees of the asylum. I didn't see any other announcements for deaths at the workhouse though.

Just read your next post - looks like there are two couples called William and Elizabeth Stephenson in Lancaster, so perhaps Elizabeth 1800-1853 is the other one (i.e. not William the shoemakers wife)

  Barbara