Workhouse query - complete

[Pauline_Hutton]

Hi all - didn't know where to post this so apologies if in wrong place.   I have come across two ancestors who went into workhouses claiming to be widowers but I know they werent!  In one case one wife  claimed to be a widow but the other wife claimed  to be married.  What would have been their reasons for doing so?   


Pauline   

[casalguidi]

Hi Pauline

This might depend upon a number of things ................ age, poverty, desertion, childbirth, illness etc.. 

Do the admission registers give a reason for admittance?

I know for certain that one of my ancestors (in the 1910s) went into the workhouse to have children and lied about her name and status - she was married and claimed not to be - just to get the limited care available!

Casalguidi

[Emjaybee]

Benefit fraud - its not new folks

My family kept very quiet when my Gran died in the workhouse and the parish buried her at a cost of one guinea.

[Pauline_Hutton]

Hi again - in both cases it was the husbands who went into the workhouse.  This took place in 1861 and 1871 respectively.  I thought that if a family hit hard times the whole family went in as well.  In one of the cases the husband was found to be living with his family again in 1881!  I haven't seen any of the records yet but when next in the UK I will do some research on it.   I hadn't thought of it as benefit fraud though - seems a bit extreme doesn't it - I thought people made a point of keeping away from workhouses not actively trying to get into one! 

pauline

[lenmaylin]

Hi Pauline

There have been cases of where the Husband has a job but they have nowhere to live. Sometimes the wife and children would go into the Workhouse so they were not on the streets till the Husband found a place to live.

By claiming not to be married or seperated they could stay.

Contrary to popular belief, it was possible to leave the Workhouse if you wished. I have a file on Hatfield Admissions and Discharges 1834-61 and there are hundreds of cases of people taking their own Discharge.

[Pauline_Hutton]

Thanks Lenmaylin - this has certainly proved to be a bit of a puzzle.      

Regards
Pauline