The Everest Missing Parent

[KGarrad]

Don't forget that there was no Welfare State in those days.
Once her husband died (and presumably was sick beforehand?) there would have been no money coming in.

Almost certainly the reason for Alice and  the children to end up in the workhouse.

The relevant page on www.workhouses.org.uk states:
Surviving records at Surrey History Centre, 130 Goldsworth Road, Woking, Surrey GU21 6ND. Limited holdings include Guardians' minutes (1835-1930).

[Tim Brayshaw]

This is exactly what I thought; however, it wouldnt quite explain why her children were able to live alone and leave the workhouse and didnt take her with them. She didnt remarry for over a decade after you see her children living alone in 1911.

Thankyou for the address details for the records centre.

[KGarrad]

A census is a snapshot of who was living/staying where on just 1 night.
There is no way of knowing whether Alice was actually living with her children or not; just from the census data.