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Lost in the past. Stories of people and places.
Showing posts with label Workhouse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Workhouse. Show all posts
Snapshot of a Workhouse in 1901
Inmates listed in Guildford Workhouse
on the census of 1901
Once every 10 years, the census records give us a window
into the ages and occupations of Workhouse residents. In 1891 at Guildford Workhouse the Master,
Duncan MacDonald, lead a team of 10 officers, including only two nurses. On the night of April 5th 1891 there
were 276 full time resident paupers and 10 casual poor sleeping at the Union Workhouse.
By 1901 there
were 396 inmates but we are not informed as to how many were casual
paupers. By 1911, this number had risen
to 418, but whereas in 1901 there were 22 members of staff, in 1911 there were
29 officers and the Master, Charles Henry Bessant, had been given his own
personal servant.
It is only by
1911 that a Superintendent for the Casual wards is listed and the
Superintendent nurse of the 1901 Infirmary has been replaced by a married
couple, who are Sick Attendants. Miss
Edith Hughes, the Superintendent Nurse of 1901, who had trained in Liverpool
and held a certificate of the London Obstetrics Society, was assisted by 7
Infirmary nurses and 2 ward maids. In
1911 the two Sick Attendants were helped by 10 hospital nurses, 2 probationer
nurses and 2 infirmary wardmaids.
But I am
going to concentrate on the 1901 census, which was recorded on March 31st. We
find that the inmates range in age from newborn baby, Kate Hall, to 94 year
old, Sarah Balchin, from Bramley. There
were 179 men sleeping in the Union Workhouse that night and 120 women. 107 children under 15 were resident, including
19 babies under 3. Twelve of the inmates
were described as imbeciles, one as an imbecile who was blind, one lunatic and
one deaf and blind. As 133 of the men
and women were over the age of 68, the Workhouse was providing an old people’s
home, as well as accommodation for the homeless and a children’s home. Yet the one thing they all had in common was
the definition, “pauper.”
But we learn much more about these, “paupers,” by looking into their lives. Many families are listed far apart on the census because they are male or female regardless of the fact that they were married couples. In the case of the Standing family, Priscilla, aged 39 is separated from her 3 sons, Harry, aged 5, Thomas, aged 4 and Edwin, aged 2. Although the 3 brothers had each other, they were taken from their mother at a very young age and she must have missed them terribly.
You can read the story of Priscilla Cinderalla Cooper and her family here
Another sad inmate of Guildford Union Workhouse in 1901 was Alice Clair. Intriguingly, her birthplace in 1856 was listed as, “born at sea.” Alice became a dressmaker but in December 1880 she gave birth to Julia Alice Clair at Marylebone Workhouse. Tragically, little Julia died in 1882 and we presume that Alice returned to her work as a dressmaker until we discover her being admitted as a patient to St Peter’s Memorial Home in Woking on 11th November 1889. This was a women’s’ care home for poor patients run by Anglican nuns. Once again in 1901 Alice is in an institution, this time the Workhouse in Guildford, and eight years later, she died in Guildford.
It is probable that Alice was
born, “at sea,” because her father was a soldier. Another Guildford inmate, John Bridger, had
an exotic birth in Demerara, Guyana, West Indies in 1835. At that time the British army were active in
the establishment of British Guyana and the abolition of slavery there so it is
likely that John was also the son of a soldier.
We do not know when he arrived in England but in 1866 he married Mary
Ann Wells in Guildford. In 1871 he was
living in Thursley with his wife and two sons and was working as a wheelwright. By 1881 the Bridger family had moved to
Godalming where John was a Cowman and Mary Ann had given birth to a third son.
Something catastrophic must have
occurred during the next few years, as by 1891 John Bridger was resident in the
Guildford Union Workhouse, listed as married, but his wife Mary Ann was living
in Peperharrow with her youngest son and was working as a housekeeper. Perhaps John had become incapacitated by
accident or illness and Mary Ann was unable to look after him as well as
supporting her family? John Bridger was
still at the Workhouse in 1901 but by then he is listed as a widower. His son, Charles, age 29 was living in
Godalming, working as a Leather Dresser and next door was younger brother, John
A. Bridger, a railway porter. Yet again John
Bridger senior is listed as an inmate in the Workhouse in 1911 before dying in
Guildford in 1914.
A frequently occurring surname
amongst the inmates of Guildford Union Workhouse was Mayo. This family can be found, in the census of
1871, living in Summers Lane, Godalming in a caravan. William Mayo, his wife and two of his
daughters give his occupation as pedlar.
Most of the family, including 5 year old Susan, were born on the south
coast. By 1881, Susan Mayo was living in
the District Village Home for Orphan, Neglected and Destitute Girls in Barking,
Essex near to the residence of her married sister, Mary. In 1891 Susan had returned to Godalming where
her daughter, Rose Mayo, was born.
Susan had two more daughters, Ellen (Nellie) born in 1898 and Ivy in 1900. She and her daughters were all residents of the Guildford Workhouse by 1901 and Susan remained there in 1911. Rose was 20 by 1911 and had moved to Shepherds Bush to work as a housemaid. Her sisters, Nellie and Ivy had been moved to Providence House Scattered Home in Artillery Terrace, Guildford under the care of a Foster Mother appointed by Guildford Union Board. Susan Mayo died in Guildford in 1926.
The Master of Guildford Union
Workhouse in 1901 was William James Hill, aged 42. His wife Mary Ann Hill was Matron and they
had two sons, Percy and Stanley. William
Hill had been born in Polruan, Cornwall.
In 1878 he received his Mate’s Certificate in the merchant navy and this
was followed by the Master’s certificate issued in Fowey in 1880. However William later made a change to his
career and by 1891 he was acting Master of the Union Workhouse at Liskeard in
Cornwall.
Among the nurses in the infirmary
were Hannah Howard, aged 36, Florence Watson, aged 21 and Marie Lambourne aged
43. Hannah Howard had been born in
Hertfordshire and as a child she lived with her father William, a greengrocer, and
his family in East Barnet. By 1881,
Hannah’s mother, Mary Howard, had been widowed and the family had moved to
Richmond in Surrey where Mary was a charwoman and Hannah a dressmaker. In 1891 Hannah was working as a nurse in
Sussex at the County Lunatic Asylum in Wivelsfield, before moving to
Guildford. As she grew older she gave up
nursing and became the cook for a family in Hornsey, Middlesex.
Florence Watson was born in 1880
in Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, the daughter of Alfred Watson, a saddler and
harness maker. After working in the
Infirmary in Guildford she moved to Lancaster where she nursed an elderly
retired engineer. Marie Lambourne was
born Maria Lamburn in Emsworth on Chichester harbour, daughter of Hezekiah
Lamburn, a carter, and his wife Elizabeth Crees. In 1881, Maria was working as a cook for a
Canon of the Cathedral church in Chichester.
In 1891 she was a charge nurse at New Broyle Infirmary Isolation Ward,
Chichester, before moving to Guildford Infirmary.
We often
believe that our ancestors rarely moved from their home village but the life
histories of inmates and staff of Guildford Union Workhouse clearly show how
widely travelled many of them were. We
can also see how easily individuals rose and fell in status and poverty due to
circumstances frequently beyond their control.
The Sad Tale of the Paupers Nobody Wanted : Proving the right of a British Citizen
In recent years, recent days even, we have heard people in
this country denouncing refugees crossing from France because, “the British
Taxpayer has to provide for them.” In
1834 the government passed the New Poor Law to reduce the burden on the rate
payers in England of providing for paupers with out relief by replacing it with
indoor relief within the Union Workhouse.
The old rules of Settlement, where birth in a parish was necessary to
receive help no longer applied so clearly but gradually the right of aid within
a union of parishes was established.
However, in one sad case in Surrey and Hampshire no rights
of support were legally allowed. It concerned a family where the wife,
Catherine Stringer, had been born in Prussia (Germany), the daughter of a
British soldier, and her husband, Michael Stringer, the son of a freed slave who
had been born in Jamaica was considered a foreigner even though he received a
soldier’s pension after more than 20 years’ service in the British army.
In November 1854, Catherine Stringer, who with her husband,
Michael, had given birth to 14 children, presented herself at Guildford Union
Workhouse, with her youngest 3 children because her husband had seduced their
adopted orphan child, who at 18 was expecting his baby. Catherine was a British
subject in every census record but had no right to poor relief. Her husband was stationed in the barracks in
Guildford, but when the Guildford Board of Guardians discovered she had a
son-in-law in Portsmouth (where Catherine had once lived) who could take her
in, they bought her train tickets so she could remove herself and her youngest
children to Portsea. Mr Ames, Master of
the Workhouse took them to Guildford station and accompanied them in the
carriage to Woking station where he put them on the Portsmouth train.
Subsequently the Poor Law Board in London ruled this removal
from Guildford to Portsmouth was illegal.
Michael Springer is described on his pension documents as 5 ft 8 inches tall with dark brown hair, grey eyes and a swarthy complexion. He had a good military record and was a Sergeant as well as a Bugle Major. He retired aged 38 because of arthritis, probably caused by many years of service in Ireland after his upbringing in the warmer climate of Jamaica where he was born. In 1821 Michael married Catherine after meeting her in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where her father was also serving as a soldier.
Michael had served as a Bugle Major for 19 years with the 2nd
Battalion 60th Infantry Regiment but prior to that he had enlisted in Jamaica at the age of 12. After being discharged in Ireland in 1834, where many of his
children were born, he moved to the more favourable climate of Portsmouth. Unfortunately
in 1851 he was convicted of the felony of larceny, which is why the 1851 census
lists Catherine as Head of the house.
On finishing his sentence in 1852, Michael joined the Surrey Militia in Guildford until his discharge in 1854 when like his estranged wife he moved back to Portsmouth where some of their adult children lived. Soon his itchy feet took him back to Cork in Ireland but in 1861 Catherine is still in Portsmouth with some of her children.
I believe Michael remarried in Cork, probably bigamously but in 1875 Catherine died in poverty in the Union Workhouse on Portsea Island.
Prisoner in Wandsworth in 1873
I have been taking advantage of the free Lockdown Downloads
from Discovery/national archives to browse two albums of Prisoner details from
Wandsworth 1872-73. Among them was this rather engaging photo of Sidney
Attfield so I decided to research his life. I was excited to find him living in
Guildford Union Workhouse in both 1851 and 1881 since I have been a volunteer
researcher there for several years.
Born in 1840 in the rural village of Albury in the Surrey
Hills, he had 5 sisters and 5 brothers as well as 6 older half siblings. In 1848 his mother had died so by 1851 he and his older sister Sophia were in the Workhouse while the other children, younger and older, were still with their father.
Looking at Sidney’s prison record I discovered he was also
in the Workhouse in 1858 when he absconded with workhouse clothing, and prior
to that he had stolen a saucepan and a pair of shoes in 1856 and 1857. There is a gap in his record of crimes until
1873 when he was listed as homeless and had stolen onions.
His longest sentence was for the following crime in his home village.
So where was he in those missing years, since I could not
find him in the 1861 or 1871 census? The answer lay in the Royal Chelsea
Pensioner Discharge Records. Private Sydney Attfield attested at Shorncliffe
Barracks, when he was 19, in October 1860. He is recognisable from his matching date and place of birth and also his physical description matches, including the scar. He was discharged as medically unfit
in April 1867 after six and a half years of army service, two of those in
India. The reason for his unfitness was
Epilepsy, which apparently was hereditary.
The surgeon added that this condition had worsened due to excessive use
of tobacco and he was concerned about the effect of intoxicating liquor.
It may be that his hereditary epilepsy was the reason why 9-year-old Sidney was sent to the Workhouse in 1851 after his mother had died, while his 3 younger brothers stayed in the family home with his father John Attfield who was receiving Poor Relief.
Soon after his army discharge in 1867 Sidney was imprisoned for 3 months after stealing two shillings and then he spent 17 days back at Guildford Union Workhouse. The following year due to illness he was admitted to Camden and St Pancras Workhouse for 6 months.
After 3 months imprisonment at Wandsworth in 1873 for stealing onions, Sidney’s next appears briefly in the record book of Holborn Workhouse on July 20th 1874 and he is back at Guildford Union Workhouse in 1881 as a Vagrant which meant that he had to earn his bed & board by breaking flint stones into shingle. I would like to tell you when he died but I have been unable to end his story as yet and perhaps I never will.
My Guest Post on Beetley Pete's blogsite #ChildMigrants
I was thrilled this week when Bentley Pete published my guest post about child migration
https://beetleypete.com/2020/01/09/guest-post-liz-lloyd/
It is an introduction to other posts on that subject on this site.
To read more about Walter Shires who was sent away in 1885 go to A New Life in Canada
To find out about another family of girls who accompanied the Chuter sisters in 1887 go to
British Home Children
To see more photographs connected to Ada Sink and her sisters go to
She Would like to know her Birthday
The story of three brothers migrated in 1903 Three Boys Migrated to Canada
The life of a Barnardo Boy
A family split apart by the Poor Law in 1911
https://beetleypete.com/2020/01/09/guest-post-liz-lloyd/
It is an introduction to other posts on that subject on this site.
 |
| One of the Allen line ships on which children travelled to Canada |
To read more about Walter Shires who was sent away in 1885 go to A New Life in Canada
To find out about another family of girls who accompanied the Chuter sisters in 1887 go to
British Home Children
To see more photographs connected to Ada Sink and her sisters go to
She Would like to know her Birthday
The story of three brothers migrated in 1903 Three Boys Migrated to Canada
The life of a Barnardo Boy
A family split apart by the Poor Law in 1911
She would like to know her birthday ~British Home Children #Canada
We know very little about the girls who arrived at the Guthrie Home in London, Ontario before it closed in 1893. But the records of the Inspectors who visited them in their new habitation, for some a home, for others a place to endure, provide a few phrases about the experiences of these lonely girls.
Miss Spottiswood, the only female Guardian on the Poor Law Board, was a wealthy educated woman who had taken some of the workhouse teenagers to work as staff at her home. Each summer she invited the children to a picnic in her garden at Shere and she arranged for Christmas visits to a pantomime. Always anxious to give young people a better start in life, she had studied closely the migration of "orphans" to Canada where they would be employed as farm servants in homes around the country. Despite the misgivings of some of her fellow Guardians she began to entrust children to Mr Middlemore's organisation to start a new life in Canada. So in June 1884 the sisters set out from Liverpool on the Allan Line steamship Parisian, with 115 other girls from various parts of Britain.
At first they were taken to Guthrie House in London, Ontario and then they were taken to their new "homes" or a habitation where they would work very hard until they were 21. Along with Alice and James Hart, who were also from Guildford, they were placed with families who had requested a young person. Beatrice and Ada seem to have been lucky in their positions but Ruth, whose name was misspelt by the government inspector, was not so happy.
It is recorded in Ontario that Mark Smallpeice, Clerk to the Board of Governors of Guildford Poor Law Union, requested feedback on the children's situations, as did other workhouse Boards and thus we have it on record that Beatrice, "would like to know her birthday if possible," that Ada, "thinks she has a brother in the Union, (Guildford Workhouse) while poor Ruth is so unwell she has been returned to Guthrie House. We do not know whether Beatrice discovered her birthday or whether Ada really had a brother "in the Union (workhouse)".
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| SS Parisian |
In 1881, wheelwright, Benjamin Sink was living with his wife Jane and their three little girls in Farthing Lane, Wandsworth, but Benjamin came from Ockham, Surrey where most of his family still lived. By 1883 the lives of Ruth, aged 7, Beatrice, 6, and Ada Sink, aged 3 had been turned upside down. Their mother Jane had died and Benjamin was imprisoned in Wandsworth jail. The family in Ockham took in the three girls, but their grandmother was 64 and nearly blind so they were soon given up to the Union Workhouse in Guildford.
 |
| An earlier group of Middlemore girls who arrived in Canada in 1877 |
Miss Spottiswood, the only female Guardian on the Poor Law Board, was a wealthy educated woman who had taken some of the workhouse teenagers to work as staff at her home. Each summer she invited the children to a picnic in her garden at Shere and she arranged for Christmas visits to a pantomime. Always anxious to give young people a better start in life, she had studied closely the migration of "orphans" to Canada where they would be employed as farm servants in homes around the country. Despite the misgivings of some of her fellow Guardians she began to entrust children to Mr Middlemore's organisation to start a new life in Canada. So in June 1884 the sisters set out from Liverpool on the Allan Line steamship Parisian, with 115 other girls from various parts of Britain.
 |
| Guthrie House |
At first they were taken to Guthrie House in London, Ontario and then they were taken to their new "homes" or a habitation where they would work very hard until they were 21. Along with Alice and James Hart, who were also from Guildford, they were placed with families who had requested a young person. Beatrice and Ada seem to have been lucky in their positions but Ruth, whose name was misspelt by the government inspector, was not so happy.
It is recorded in Ontario that Mark Smallpeice, Clerk to the Board of Governors of Guildford Poor Law Union, requested feedback on the children's situations, as did other workhouse Boards and thus we have it on record that Beatrice, "would like to know her birthday if possible," that Ada, "thinks she has a brother in the Union, (Guildford Workhouse) while poor Ruth is so unwell she has been returned to Guthrie House. We do not know whether Beatrice discovered her birthday or whether Ada really had a brother "in the Union (workhouse)".
Update
Thanks to Maureen Salter, a descendent of the Sink family, I now have a little more information.
Beatrice Sink was adopted by the Burton family and took their surname. Later she married a cousin of her adopted family.
Ada also went to a caring home in Ontario where, at the age of 6, she was adopted by Ephraim Snell. Sadly in 1893 she died of typhoid fever.
The children's birth father Benjamin Sink died in Richmond Workhouse, Surrey in 1938.
There is no record of a brother in Guildford Union Workhouse, and we do not know whether Beatrice was given her correct birthdate.
Three boys migrated to Canada
This is a little of the story of George,
Albert and Walter Tickner.
In
March 1903 the Local Government Board wrote to each Poor Law Union on the
subject of the emigration of orphaned and deserted children. Masters of the workhouses were instructed to
prepare lists of children desirous of being emigrated.
Children in Guildford Union Workhouse were
asked if they wished to emigrate and in April 1903, the minutes of the Board of
Guardians report that three brothers, George, Albert and Walter Tickner, who had been at the workhouse for 5 years, wished
to go to Canada.
They were sent to Nova Scotia, Canada on the SS Siberian which sailed from Liverpool on the 30th May 1903 and arrived in Nova Scotia, Canada on the 12th June 1903.
They were sent to Nova Scotia, Canada on the SS Siberian which sailed from Liverpool on the 30th May 1903 and arrived in Nova Scotia, Canada on the 12th June 1903.
The
Tickner brothers are listed in the 1901 census in the Guildford Union as
paupers. They were the children of
Alfred and his wife, Elizabeth Glover, whom he married in 1890 at St John’s
Farncombe, Surrey. He was aged 24 and a
labourer, son of James Tickner, also a labourer. Elizabeth was aged 22 and a
machinist living in Busbridge, her father was Charles Glover, a dyer. Alfred made his mark, Elizabeth signed her
name. Their first child, Alfred Charles, was baptised at Farncombe on the 28th
September 1890, but died aged ten months and was buried in Nightingale
Cemetery, Godalming on the 13th July 1891. The 1891 census lists Alfred,
Elizabeth and Alfred Charles living in Farncombe Street. Alfred was born in
Godalming and Elizabeth born in Worcester.
Albert Tickner was born on the 22nd October 1893 and baptised at St
John’s Farncombe on the 28th January 1894, Walter Charles was born on the 19th
July 1895 and baptised at Farncombe on the 6th October 1895. On the 6th October 1896 Alfred Tickner, was
buried in Nightingale Cemetery, aged 30, a labourer of Bridge Street,
Godalming. Three and a half months later a daughter, Beatrice Kate, was born on
the 26th January 1897 and baptised on the 12th February 1897 at St Peter and St
Paul Church in Godalming.
Elizabeth
was left with a newly-born daughter and three boys. In 1899 Elizabeth Tickner married Richard
Symes (registered in Guildford). A new marriage
possibly meant there was no room for the boys and they were sent to Guildford
Union Workhouse. A newspaper report in the West Surrey Times suggests other family members didn't want the boys to be sent abroad.
The
brothers were sent to Canada, after at least 3 years’ residence in the
Workhouse, as part of Dr Middlemore’s child emigration organisation. After a short
time in the Middlemore Home in Birmingham, they were sent to a Receiving Home
in Canada. George was aged about 12,
Albert about 9 and Walter about 8. In
1872 John Throgmorton Middlemore founded the Children’s Emigration Homes after
he saw poor children on Birmingham streets and felt they should have a better
and healthier life abroad away from being paupers. In 1893 he started to send
children to Nova Scotia and over 5,000 children were sent with Middlemore to
Canada. The children came from local workhouses and reformatories in Birmingham
and some children were sent by Guildford Union Workhouse. Many organisations
participated in sending emigrants until government legislation stopped it in
1948. In 2010 the Prime Minister, Gordon
Brown apologised for the United Kingdom’s role in sending over 130,000 children
to former colonies.
After
a short time, George was placed with Forbes MacDonald in Upper River, Victoria
County, where he was reported doing well; Albert was placed with John Franklin
Forbes in Goshen, Guysborough County and after problems with his first
placement, Walter’s second home was with Roderick McCharles of West Side,
Middle River, Victoria County, a family who adopted him.
Like
his father, Alfred Tickner, George died in his 30s. He was married to Margaret McQueen and living
in Cape Breton Island, when he succumbed to complications from diabetes and
died on 12th May 1928.
©Elizabeth Lloyd
What did they do with the Workhouse boys? #Navy #WorldWar
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| Training Ship Exmouth in 1905 |
As the 19th century turned into the 20th
Boards of Guardians all over England struggled to deal with the increasing
number of young people in their charge.
They tried to move children out of the Workhouses into Cottage or
Scattered Homes and from there, most of the girls went into service, but they were
anxious to find employment for the boys which would keep them out of
trouble. One solution was a Sail
Training Ship, a specialised kind of industrial school. I have been researching the boys from
Guildford who went to TS Exmouth at Grays in Essex. They were only accepted if they were
physically fit and the boys had to show willingness to undertake the
training. As this was a few years before
the First World War, many of these young men were in the navy or merchant navy
during that time. This is the story of a
few of them.
Percy Dewberry
Percy Dewberry was born in November 1900 at Stoke Hill Farm
Cottage, Guildford, as his father was a cowman.
Later the family moved to West Molesey but Percy’s mother, Matilda died
in 1907. Unable to cope with his four
youngest children, George put Percy into the care of the Guildford Board of Guardians and
in 1912 they sent him to TS Exmouth. He
remained there until 1915 when he became a signal boy on a transport ship. Later he worked as a deck hand on an oil tanker but
in 1921 he moved in with his older brother William, due to unemployment. Sadly,
a few months later, depressed by his lack of work, he tried to commit suicide
using a razor and when that was taken from him, he hanged himself from a beam.
George Larner
Originally baptised Lewis Leonard George Larner at St John’s
Church, Merrow in 1892, George was one of 9 surviving children of Thomas
Larner, soldier and his wife Mary Jane.
Mary Jane struggled to cope while her husband was away in the army and
in 1904, the four youngest were adopted by the Guildford Board of
Guardians. Rose and Violet were sent to
Dr Barnardo’s Girls Village in Barkingside and thence to Canada under the
British Home Children’s scheme. George
was sent to TS Exmouth while his brother went to the Gordon Boys’ school for
necessitous boys. In 1907, after a
year’s naval training, George was sent to the Royal Marine School of Music in
Eastney. During the first world war, he
was an army sergeant and in 1917 he died of wounds in Flanders.
Henry Algernon Leslie Longhurst
Harry Longhurst, born in the village of Shere in 1899, was taken into the
care of the Guardians with his two younger brothers after the death of his
father. Edward and Charles Longhurst
were put into the Scattered Home, Elsinore while Harry was sent to Newark Scattered Home in
Recreation Road, Guildford. He was sent to TS
Exmouth in 1912, where he stayed until 1915.
On discharge he joined SS Needwood.
He survived World War One but in 1940, he was killed on board SS
Ashcrest where he worked as a steward.
His name is listed on a memorial on Tower Hill in London.
Leonard John Norsworthy and Cecil E V Norsworthy
The members of one family were “scattered” in several homes
by 1911. They were the sons and
daughters of Samuel Norsworthy. Samuel
had been a contractor’s carman living in Quarry Street, Guildford with his wife
Annie and 7 children, until Annie died in childbirth in 1910. We find Samuel residing in Guildford Union
Workhouse in the 1911 census along with his 10 month old daughter Constance,
while two of his children, 11 year old Annie and 4 year old Ernest William are
next door in the Children’s Receiving Home.
Meanwhile 13 year old Leonard and 6 year old Henry Charles Norsworthy
are down in the town at Elsinore Scattered Home in Springfield Road. Nine year old Cecil Norsworthy was in another
scattered home, Newark in Recreation Road.
The oldest two children are at work; Selina as a housemaid in Weybridge
and Samuel Arthur working as a gardener on a fruit farm in Shalford.
Cecil Edward Victor Norsworthy resided at TS Exmouth from
1913 until 1917. He was selected by the
Royal Navy to serve on HMS Impregnable and remained in the navy until
1928. In 1930 he became a postman in
Reading, Berkshire but in 1938 he rejoined the navy until invalided out in
1941.
Sadly, his elder brother’s life was much shorter. Leonard John Norsworthy left TS Exmouth in
1913. Initially joining HMS Powerful he
later served on HMS Viknor as a telegraph boy, until he drowned when the vessel
was lost in the Irish Sea in January 1915.
Leonard was only 17. He is listed
on two memorials, one in the castle grounds in Guildford, his home town and
also on the Southsea Royal Naval Memorial to the Missing of World War Two. The Viknor was assigned to the 10th cruiser
squadron and was used to patrol the waters between Scotland and Iceland. For unknown reasons the ship, which had been
in wireless contact with shore, sank without ever sending a distress signal.
Germany had recently mined the area and there was also a violent storm at the
time. There were no survivors.
James Robert Sole
James Sole and his brother Thomas were orphans boarded out
from the Workhouse to Annie Hart of Merrow who was married to a railway
worker. After being discharged from TS
Exmouth in 1907 he joined the navy where he remained when war broke out. He married Alice who also lived in Merrow,
but in 1917 while manning the siege guns at Dunkerque he was killed by enemy
fire for which he posthumously received the Distinguished Service Medal.
These are only a few of the boys who voluntarily endured the hardship at TS Exmouth, spending their days with bare feet and sleeping in hammocks in a very cold open area.
Records from www.findmypast.co.uk
www.ancestry.co.uk
and www.the genealogist.co.uk
Read about 2 happier boys at http://www.hospitalproject.co.uk/workhouse-inmates-a-personal-story/
And what happened to the Workhouse girls?
Records from www.findmypast.co.uk
www.ancestry.co.uk
and www.the genealogist.co.uk
Read about 2 happier boys at http://www.hospitalproject.co.uk/workhouse-inmates-a-personal-story/
And what happened to the Workhouse girls?
A family separated by the Poor Law #Workhouse #Canada
One of the many families split up and spread across the
globe in Edwardian times were the LARNER family. In 1858, Thomas Larner was
born in Wokingham Workhouse in Berkshire to 16 year old unmarried mother Mary
Larner. By 1861 he and his mother were
living with his grandparents Joseph and Ann Larner, but ten years later, 12
year old Thomas and his 75 year old grandmother were living alone, both working
as agricultural labourers.
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| St John's Church, Merrow where many of the children were baptised |
At some point after 1871, Thomas joined the army and on
being posted to Aldershot, married Mary Jane Ellis from nearby Hartley Witney.
They married in Guildford in 1885 and when Thomas left the army a year later,
they set up home in 4 Swaynes Cottages in High Path Road, Merrow in Surrey and
began, as many couples at that time, to have a great many children. Mary Jane obviously didn’t like her plain
name as her taste for the more exotic emerged in her choice of children’s
names. They were born as follows:
1884 Maria
Frances Isabel
1886 Thomas
Joseph William
1889 Frederick
Ernest Edward
1891 Ivy Elizabeth
May
1894 Lewis
Leonard George died 1917 in Flanders
1897 Albert Henry
John died 1915 in Flanders
1898 James David died 1898
1899 Rose
Kathleen Maud
1901 Violet Mary
1902 Lily Irene
Daisy
In Merrow, Thomas Larner became a general labourer but with
onset of the Boer War he returned to the army leaving Mary Jane to look after
the family. His son, Thomas Joseph
William Larner, left his job as a gardener for Mr Fitzjohn at “The Warrens” and
also joined the army.
Meanwhile Mary Jane was in trouble.
Meanwhile Mary Jane was in trouble.
 |
| Sussex Agricultural Express 15th April 1890 |
 |
| Barkingside Girls' Village |
By 1904 the family were in disarray. In the absence of her husband Thomas, Mary
Jane could not cope with the large family.
Her four youngest children had been taken away. By 1911 Albert was an inmate of the Gordon
Boys School "for necessitous boys" at Bagshot, Lily was one of the few resident children of Guildford
Union Workhouse, Rose had been sent by Dr Barnardo's as a British Home child to
Canada and Violet was a resident of Barnardo's Girls’ Village at Barkingside in
Essex. Three months later Violet was
part of the Barnardo's party on board the Sicilian bound for Quebec.
Thomas had returned to his family and by 1911 he and Mary
Jane were living in Aldershot where he worked as a fish hawker. It is very unlikely that they ever saw or
heard of Violet or Rose again.
Sources
British Newspaper Archive
Ancestry.co.uk
http://canadianbritishhomechildren.weebly.com/
Postscript
An update on the Larner children
In the Workhouse Committee Meeting Minutes of November 5th 1904, stored at Surrey History Centre, the following decision by the Board of Guardians to adopt the children who had been "deserted" by their parents Thomas and Mary Jane is reported.
Sources
British Newspaper Archive
Ancestry.co.uk
http://canadianbritishhomechildren.weebly.com/
Postscript
An update on the Larner children
In the Workhouse Committee Meeting Minutes of November 5th 1904, stored at Surrey History Centre, the following decision by the Board of Guardians to adopt the children who had been "deserted" by their parents Thomas and Mary Jane is reported.
When the girls were sent to Dr Barnardo's Village at Barkingside the Guildford Board of Guardians sent five shillings a week for maintenance and clothing of each child.
A Serious Offence
On 10th October 1886, The Surrey Mirror reported
that a serious offence had taken place on the premises of Guildford Union
Workhouse. Frank Maplestone Riches, who been
appointed Temporary Master of the Union owing to the death of the previous
Master, Mr Hardwick, was charged with embezzlement of £10, the money of the
Guardians.
Mr Riches was prosecuted by the clerk to the Guardians, Mr
Mark Smallpeice. Riches had disappeared
after agreeing to a meeting to go through the accounts, to look for an
explanation of ten pounds 9 shillings and 6 pence which was unaccounted for. A specific amount of five shillings paid to
Mr Riches by a coal merchant was not forwarded to the Guardians.
Frank Mapleston Riches had been taken into custody in Alnwick,
Northumberland, from where he was taken to Guildford for judgement. He was found guilty of embezzlement and was
sentenced to 3 months imprisonment.
 |
| The former Cuckfield Workhouse |
This was a sad termination of his lifelong connection to
Workhouses. In 1861 he was living at Thingoe
Union Workhouse in Bury St Edmonds where his parents were Master and
Matron. By 1881 Frank was Assistant
Master at Cuckfield Union Workhouse in Sussex, where his older brother Thomas
T. Riches was Master so it would have been a natural progression for Frank to
become Master of Guildford Union Workhouse.
What a pity that he succumbed to the temptation of dipping into the
funds to which the responsible role of Master gave him access.
Sources
British Newspaper Archive
Scattered Homes
 |
| A house in Recreation Road |
Boarding out in the homes of foster families was tried but
there were few families able or prepared to do this. In some areas Cottage homes were set up;
several houses round a green, each housing approximately 12 children with a
foster mother. This was deemed to
isolate the children in an unreal situation.
In Sheffield, J. Wycliffe Wilson, chairman of the Board of
Guardians, suggested another solution.
In 1893 he set out to purchase several artisans homes scattered
about the city, where approximately 15 children would live with a foster mother
and attend the nearest Board School. No
more than 30 children would attend each school so that they could become
integrated into the local community. On
Sundays the children would be taken to the neighbouring churches and
Sunday-schools.
The success of this scheme lead other unions to adopt it and
thus in 1908 Guildford Board of Guardians set up seven of these homes with romantic
names such as Elsinore, Restormel and River View. Each home housed 11-13 children aged 5-14,
either all boys or all girls with a foster mother, who was usually a single
woman in her 30s. Brothers and sisters
were separated into different homes.
Next door to the Workhouse in Union Road, was a Receiving Home for children
where they could be assessed, but some children remained there.
The members of one family were “scattered” in several homes by 1911. They were the sons and daughters of Samuel
Norsworthy. Samuel had been a contractor’s
carman living in Quarry Street, Guildford with his wife Annie and 7 children,
until Annie died in childbirth in 1910. We find Samuel
residing in Guildford Union Workhouse in the 1911 census along with his 10 month old daughter Constance, while two of his
children, 11 year old Annie and 4 year old Ernest William are next door in the
Children’s Receiving Home. Meanwhile 13
year old Leonard and 6 year old Henry Charles Norsworthy are down in the town
at Elsinore Scattered Home in Springfield Road.
Nine year old Cecil Norsworthy was in another scattered home, Newark in
Recreation Road. The oldest two children
are at work; Selina as a housemaid in Weybridge and Samuel Arthur working as a gardener
on a fruit farm in Shalford.
Another family who were split up after the death of their
father were the Longhurst children from Shere.
Dorothea, aged 11, and her 10 year old brother Nicholas Irwin were lucky
enough to stay with their mother, Elizabeth, taken in by their grandmother in
the same village but younger brothers Edward, aged 8, and Charles, aged 6, were
in the scattered home, Elsinore, while 10 year old Henry Algernon was living at
Newark in Recreation Road.
 |
| Tower Hill Memorial |
Priscilla Cinderalla in the Workhouse for over 10 years
In 1901 among the many inmates of
Guildford Union Workhouse were the Standing family, Priscilla, aged
39 and her three sons, Harry, aged 5, Thomas, 4 and Edwin, 2.
 |
| Priscilla Standing |
Priscilla Cinderalla Cooper was
born in Lurgashall, Sussex, the daughter of a travelling farm labourer.
The 1881 census tells us that she was deaf, although this is not mentioned when
she was at the Workhouse. At the age of 22, she was working as a servant,
probably a housemaid, for the Standing family. Thirty eight year old, James
Standing and his wife Emma were living in Copse Green, Northchapel, Sussex with
their four children. James was Under Bailey for the Petworth
Estate. But three years later, his wife Emma died and in 1895 Priscilla
married James Standing in Petworth. James moved on to greater responsibility
as the Bailiff of a farm in Surrey. By 1899 their third child, Edwin, had
been born but James died in the same year.
As a deaf widow with three very
young children, Priscilla was probably no longer able to stay in the tied
cottage provided by her husband’s work and inevitably ended up in a
workhouse. Perhaps she had walked to Guildford to look for housekeeping
work. Although the 3 brothers had each other, they were taken from their mother
at a very young age and she must have missed them terribly. Priscilla’s
stepson, William Standing, was 21 in 1901 when she and her young sons entered
the workhouse, so he was able to earn a living as a carman lodging in Angel
Gate, Guildford. Her other stepchildren were also old enough to make
their own way in the world.
Priscilla was still living at
Guildford Union Workhouse ten years later when the 1911 census was compiled,
but her sons had all moved to other accommodation. Edwin, aged 12, now
lived at the Scattered Home for Boys at 37 Recreation Road, Guildford, with
eleven other boys 5-13 years old and a foster mother appointed by the Guildford
Board of Guardians. Thomas, now 14, was still in Warren Road, near to the Workhouse, but in the
Children’s Receiving Home where John William Sowers, the Superintendent, was
aided by a Matron and two foster mothers in looking after 12 children aged 3 to
15.
Henry (Harry) Standing was now 16,
so he had been sent to the Training Ship, Exmouth, at Grays in Essex. He
later married Gertrude Brown and they had eleven grandchildren before he died
in Liverpool in 1972. Thomas served in the Army Service Corps in the
First World War and in 1923 he married Agnes Smallbone in Hambledon. He
died in south west Surrey in 1952.
 |
| The Sunset Home in Merrow House |
Despite their earlier separation, Priscilla and her sons kept in close contact throughout their lives until her death in Surrey in 1953. She was described by one of her grandchildren as, “a lovely grandmother,” who was able to lip read and communicate well. She spent her last years living happily at the Sunset Home in Merrow House.
With thanks to Dorothy Lauder for the photo of Priscilla.
The wives of Transported Convicts
When a man was convicted of a major crime in the 19th century he was often transported to Australia, leaving his family without means of support. When this happened, his wife and children usually ended up in the local workhouse and there are records of a few couples, whose fate this was, in Guildford, Surrey.
In 1844 George Woods aged 35, was transported to Van Diemen’s Land
for 7 years after entering enclosed land unlawfully, carrying a gun. George and his wife had three daughters and a son. At the Surrey Sessions in Newington, evidence was given that he had threatened James Puttock with a gun while on his way to poach game.
Another local labourer, Thomas Jackman, was transported for 10 years in 1846 for sheep stealing. At the time. Thomas was 25 and he and his wife Elizabeth had a baby son, Jeremiah.
In fact, although their sentences would hopefully expire while they were still alive, they were not provided with a return passage to England, so it was effectively a life sentence. Their wives Ann Woods and Elizabeth Jackman entered Guildford Union Workhouse.
By 1861, Elizabeth Jackman, describing herself as a widow, was living with her son and her father in nearby Worplesdon, working as a dressmaker. Soon she married Thomas Baker, a grocer and baker and they rapidly had three children. Elizabeth's son Jeremiah Jackman died in 1861 and she was widowed again by 1891. Obviously a strong healthy woman, Elizabeth Baker can be found on the 1911 census, aged 89, living in Streatham, south London with her grand-daughter Daisy Baker.
Another local labourer, Thomas Jackman, was transported for 10 years in 1846 for sheep stealing. At the time. Thomas was 25 and he and his wife Elizabeth had a baby son, Jeremiah.
In fact, although their sentences would hopefully expire while they were still alive, they were not provided with a return passage to England, so it was effectively a life sentence. Their wives Ann Woods and Elizabeth Jackman entered Guildford Union Workhouse.
By 1861, Elizabeth Jackman, describing herself as a widow, was living with her son and her father in nearby Worplesdon, working as a dressmaker. Soon she married Thomas Baker, a grocer and baker and they rapidly had three children. Elizabeth's son Jeremiah Jackman died in 1861 and she was widowed again by 1891. Obviously a strong healthy woman, Elizabeth Baker can be found on the 1911 census, aged 89, living in Streatham, south London with her grand-daughter Daisy Baker.
Another Surrey resident who had shared this fate was Nathaniel
Longhurst, who was born in Ewhurst, in 1785.
Nathaniel was a farm labourer who, by the time he met 16 year old
Rebecca Wood from Shere, was already a widower.
Despite a 25 year age gap, they were married in St Nicholas’ Church,
Guildford on 22nd November 1829.
Within a year, Nathaniel had been arrested for offences against the Game
Laws and was imprisoned for 6 months. In
1831 Rebecca and Nathaniel had a daughter Sophia. A son, William, was born in 1833 and another
son, Robert, in 1834 but sadly at that point, Nathaniel Longhurst was arrested
for poaching, a very serious crime. He
was convicted and sentenced to transportation for 14 years. Rebecca had no choice but to enter Guildford Union Workhouse.
 |
| Prison Hulk |
After being kept on a prison hulk in the river Thames for a
few months, Nathaniel was transported to Australia on the "Bardaster" along with
240 other convicts, arriving in Tasmania on September 7th 1835.
By 1841 Rebecca had left the Workhouse and was living with
her father James Wood, in Shere. In another part of the village Rebecca’s
children Sophia, William and Robert were living with her mother Martha. In 1851 Rebecca was sharing a house with both
her parents, accompanied by her daughter Sophia and her sister Esther Wood and
nephew Benjamin. Her father, James Wood, was a grocer
so he was probably able to feed this extended family. Rebecca would have heard nothing from
Nathaniel since he departed for Australia in 1835 and she would not have known whether he was alive or dead.
It is probably not surprising therefore, that on 27th
April 1856 in Mickleham, she married Thomas Gadd, a widower. Rebecca Longhurst described herself as a
widow, although we now know that was not the case. Of necessity, Nathaniel had remained in Australia after serving his sentence and he never remarried. Rebecca's husband, Thomas Gadd was a rake maker in Newdigate and
by 1871 Benjamin Wood, Rebecca’s nephew was working for him. Thomas Gadd was seven years older than Rebecca
and by 1875 he had died. Unknown to
Rebecca Gadd (Longhurst), Nathaniel had died in Australia in 1867, aged 82 so she
now really was a widow twice over.
A new Life in Canada
One Saturday in May 1885 nine children were taken from
various parts of Guildford Union Workhouse into the handsome oak-lined
boardroom. There they stood nervously
before the twenty seven grand gentlemen and one lady of the Board of
Guardians. The Board included Miss Augusta
Spottiswoode, one of the first women to be voted on to a Board of
Guardians. Miss Spottiswoode was anxious
to break the spiral of poor or orphaned children following their parents’ path
into pauperism and crime by giving them an industrial education and removing
them from the workhouse by boarding out.
Now she espoused the cause of sending orphans to start a new life in
Canada.
 |
| Guildford Union Workhouse |
One of the children standing in front of her was Walter
Shires, an 11 year old boy from a tragic family. He can be found age 7, amongst the inmates
listed in Guildford Union Workhouse in 1881 and next to him, the name Mary Ann
Joyce, age 12, who was his step-sister.
Both children had been orphaned two or three years earlier, but only Walter
would be part of the small party of children sent out to Canada to begin a new
life.
Walter’s mother Kate May married William Joyce at St
Nicholas, Guildford in 1866. He was an
Agricultural Labourer and by 1871 they were living in the area of St
Catherine’s with their three children, William John Joyce, age 4, Mary Ann
Joyce, age 2 and newly born Kate Elizabeth.
Sadly, Kate died within a few months and a year later their father, William
Joyce, was buried in St Mary’s churchyard, aged 26.
The young widow, Kate Joyce, married again next year, this
time to labourer Walter Henry Shires.
Their son, also called Walter Henry Shires was born shortly afterwards
but there is no evidence of any other children born to the couple before Kate’s
death in 1878. At the age of 30, her
funeral was held at St Nicholas’s. With
three young children to look after, Walter Shires senior entered Guildford
Union Workhouse where he died a year after his wife, aged 37.
By 1881, the eldest boy William
John Joyce was 14, so he was working as a farm servant in Hambledon. The next time we find Mary Ann Joyce is in
1891 when she is living in Spitalfields with three other girls, all with no
occupation, in the household of a Docker and a Laundress.
Meanwhile, young Walter Henry
Shires was part of an experiment which hoped to give young people an
opportunity of a better life in Canada than was possible, given their
unfortunate start, in England. By 1884
many stories were told by well-meaning ladies such as Miss Maria Rye, Miss
Ellen Belborough and Mrs Burt about the success of taking destitute children
via Liverpool to Canada where they were needed for employment as servants.
 |
| John T Middlemore and some of the young immigrants |
Miss Spottiswoode was
particularly eager to give some of the children from the Union Workhouse this
opportunity. She believed, ”that if all
unions adopted the means at their disposal for promoting the emigration of
children, it would do much to stamp out pauperism in the country.” She had been told by John T Middlemore of his
receiving home in Ontario where he had begun to send children from his
Children’s Emigration Homes in Birmingham.
He undertook to arrange transport of children from poor Law Unions in
Guildford, Bermondsey and Wolverhampton via Liverpool.
Despite opposition from other
members of the Board, based on the young age of the emigrants, the advantage of
separating the children from mixing with the children of casual paupers, outweighed
the arguments. The nine orphans, aged 3
to 9 years were summoned into the Boardroom where they were asked whether they
were willing to go to Canada. The six
eldest children, including Walter Shires, Alfred Curtis and John and Annie Walker,
agreed, but it was decided by the Board that the youngest three should remain
in Guildford.
 |
| Guthrie Home |
Just over a week later the
children set sail on “The Lake Winnipeg” en route for the Guthrie Home in
London, Ontario. From there, 12 year old
Walter was sent to live with J D Crane, a farmer in Chatsworth, Ontario. Each child was subject to one inspection to
check that his new home was suitable.
Walter Shires was reported to be both honest and untruthful, stubborn,
sulky and a source of trouble. He was,
however, “showing signs of slight improvement,” in his behaviour, although suffering
from scalp disease.
In later years Walter married and
had 2 children, before his death in 1937. He was one of over 5000 children taken to
Canada by the Middlemore Homes but there were many more children who were
expatriated by Barnardos, the Children’s Friend society and other organisations
adding up to approximately 100 000 emigrants.
It seems fitting to conclude with
a quotation from the journalist of Guildford Jottings in the Surrey Mirror in
1885,
“Although one feels almost guilty of expatriating the poor little ones
by deciding to send them from our shores, it does not follow that it is not in
reality, the very kindest thing it is possible to do for them. They are at a premium in Canada, they are a
discount here. It’s just as well to get
a premium on one’s wares where possible.”
Sources
Surrey Mirror May 1885 via www.findmypast.co.uk
http://www.thisisourtownguildford.co.uk/guildford-workhouse-the-spike-st-lukes-hospital/
www.Ancestry.co.ukYou can read more about children sent from Guildford to Canada here
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