Family connections.
As well as the involvement of the two William ELLARDs previously mentioned we have found the following:
Torrington Workhouse.
Emanuel FOLLAND [4114] was an inmate of Torrington Workhouse in 1871 and 1881 he died in 1885. He was a mason. In her book Lark Hill to Candleford Flora Thompson said that a stone mason earned a little more money than the labourers in 1880 so why would he have entered the workhouse?
Thomas FOLLAND [4144] was also in the Torrington Workhouse in 1871. He died in 1875
John HARRIS [4008] was an inmate of Torrington Workhouse in 1871 and he died there in 1881. His wife Jane nee DYMENT was a washerwoman living in a Shebbear village poor house (almshouse) with her daughter Bessie who was a 15 year old glove maker and 5 year old son Walter William H Harris. In 1891 and 1901 Jane was become a baker and bread maker. Their daughter Eliza a former glover, gave birth to an illegitimate baby in the Torrington Work House in 1871.
Warwick Union Workhouse
John Thomas PRATT [5257] (son of Charles PRATT [5252] on our direct line) died in the Warwick Workhouse at The Packmores, St Nicholas and was buried in St Nicholas cemetery on 13th January 1881 aged 32, his wife Elizabeth nee SIMONDS had died June quarter 1879. Their daughter Louisa A aged 10 was an inmate of the workhouse in 1881.
Albert HERITAGE [5291] (son in law of Charles Pratt on our direct line) was the son of stonemason James HERITAGE [5530] and his wife Sarah nee RAINBOW.
In 1841 James and his eldest son Joseph are away in Mancetter working as journeymen stonemasons while Sarah and the rest of the children were still in Warwick but in 1851 James and Sarah with four of their children including Albert were in Warwick Workhouse. We can only imagine why this has happened, was James too ill to work, had he lost the tools of his trade, we have no way of knowing but in 1861 James and son Rowland both stonemasons were in Worcester while Sarah was with Albert in Warwick. In 1871 James now a widower was living in the Saltisford area of Warwick and listed as a widower and a stonemason. James died in 1878 but his son Albert however had not seen the last of Warwick Union Workhouse. In 1881 aged 36 he was again an inmate a bricklayer's labourer from Warwick as was his son 11 year old Charles James [5298] but his wife Elizabeth now a laundress and daughter Sarah were lodging nearby in 3a Packmores St., Packmores. Albert was unemployed at the time and Elizabeth did not have sufficient income to support the whole family and her parents were both dead. Elizabeth’s eldest daughter 15 year old Jane Lydia PRATT was boarding in St Nicholas Church Street and was a general servant.
Elizabeth died in June quarter 1896. Sarah Ann sadly was an inmate of the Toxteth Girl’s Reformatory in Liverpool in 1891 as yet we have not discovered why. Charles James however became a fisherman and was in Grimsby in 1891. Albert was still an inmate appearing there on the 1891, 1901 and 1911 census returns. He died in the Infirmery 29 Apr 1923 and was buried in Warwick Cemetery.
Birmingham Workhouse
By 1891 the Workhouse Infirmary in Birmingham had a large nursing staff under its own Master who was the informant on the registration of Elizabeth Skellet MELLOR’s death in 1899. Elizabeth [928] (direct line) who was then the widow of Alfred Johnson died of Brights Disease and Cardiac failure at the young age of 48 the address given as Workhouse Infirmary, Western Road. T. Martin Hardie and his family appear as Master of the Infirmary on both the 1891 and 1901 census.
The Workhouse
As with most British families we have found ancestors associated with the Workhouse. Each case is tinged with sadness. After a visit to Southwell Workhouse the only complete workhouse remaining in the care of the National Trust and with some understanding of the social situation of the era in which they operated it is easier to understand the philosophy of the institutions. The history of Workhouses is thoroughly covered in Peter Higginbotham’s comprehensive website
The parishes elected Overseers of the poor who levied a tax on property to provide the funds enabling the parish to make provision for its elderly and infirm residents, to find employment for the children of poor families and to make provision for unmarried mothers Many parishes had built a house of employment or a “workhouse” long before the 1834 Act. The workhouse in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, had been built in 1824 and Higginbotham reports that Rugby had a workhouse operating as early as 1777 as did Grandborough (where several ELLARD and CROFT ancestors are from). Rugby then formed a union with other parishes and a new workhouse was built and opened in 1819. More parishes joined the union by 1821 it was serving 21 parishes. An entry in the Willoughby vestry book, signed by William ELLARD [5131] the churchwarden and William ELLARD [5154] the overseer, shows that Willoughby did not join the union at that time.
“In consequence of a vestry called by the Churchwardens and overseers of the parish on Dec 7th 1820 for the purpose of considering the propriety of uniting with Rugby and other parishes respecting their industry House -
By 1834 it was clear that it would be more economical to the care for the poor collectively. The Willoughby vestry book shows the property “Tax” was increasing so eventually Willoughby did join the Rugby Union. Although the church played a major role in establishing the Workhouses, for example Rev. J.T. Becher designed the one at Southwell, even his “model” house did not have a chapel. There was however a visiting chaplain who took services on Sundays in the Board room and instructed the children in religious education. The daily regieme included morning and evening prayers, on Sunday only necessary household work was done and Good Friday and Christmas day were “Days of Rest”.
Each parish in the union sent unmarried mothers, orphaned children and elderly and infirm people to the work house. Most families tried to support their own elderly relations but with large families and small houses it was not always possible.
Flora Thompson described the rural situation in her book “Lark Hill to Candleford” in which she writes about her childhood in a North Oxfordshire hamlet in the 1880s
Chapter I “Some of the cottages had two bedrooms, others only one, in which case it had to be divided by a screen or curtain to accommodate parents and children. Often the big boys of the family slept downstairs, or were put out to sleep in the second bedroom of an elderly couple whose own children were out in the world. ... Still it was often a tight fit, for children swarmed, eight, ten or even more in some families, ... beds and shakedowns were often so closely packed that the inmates had to climb over one bed to get into another.”
Chapter V ”The old people ...not in comfortable circumstances had no homes at all worth mentioning, for, as soon as they got past work, they had either to go to the workhouse or find accommodation in the already overcrowded cottages of their children. A father or mother could usually be squeezed in so one child would take one parent and another the other, and even then there were the in laws to be dealt with. It was a common thing to hear ageing people say that they hoped God would be pleased to take them before they got past work and became a trouble to anybody.”
Many farm workers lived in tied cottages at that time so once they stopped work they had to leave the house
The unemployed were at first given aid by the parish occasionally in money sometimes in goods such as: new shoes, coal and a bread allowance. This aid was phased out with the establishment of the union workhouses so although no one was forced to enter, they became the only place to get any help. The workhouse was deliberately austere and unwelcoming to the able bodied of both sexes. The diet was meagre and monotonous. Personal possessions were discouraged by only providing a peg each bed and there were no shelves in the dormitories. The daily routine was arduous and depended on sun rise and set to elevate the need of candles. The rooms were heated by single coal fires. Visits could be arranged occasionally but were supervised. Children were able to visit their mothers again under supervision. In Southwell, the schoolroom windows were glazed with frosted glass to prevent the children seeing their parents in the work yards. Work was hard and manual. The women scrubbed the floors, did the laundry, did the cooking, picked oakum and drew water from the pump. The men broke coal, broke stones, dug the garden (where vegetables were grown for the kitchen), picked oakum and whitewashed the walls. In Southwell you can still see the many layers of paint on some walls.
In the workhouses the orphans were reasonable looked after and received a basic schooling and training for work. The school teacher lived in even sleeping with the children, The teacher often had more restrictions than the inmates being on duty night and day and being on contract had no opportunity of leaving. The older children were found apprenticeships, so there were never any “big” children around to help the little ones. The infirm were nursed in the workhouse infirmary under the supervision of a visiting doctor and with nurses often recruited from the inmates. Eventually the infirmary services were made available to the whole community and nursing was improved.
An extract from “The Village” written in 1783 by George Crabbe a Suffolk parson describes the parish Industrial House.
"Theirs is yon house that holds the parish poor -
Where walls of mud scare bear the broken door;
There, where the putrid vapours, flagging, play,
And the dull wheel hums doleful through the day;
Parents, who know no children's love, dwell there,
Heartbroken matrons on their joyless bed,
Forsaken wives, and mothers never wed;
Dejected widows with unheeded tears,
And crippled age with more than childhood fears;
The lame, the blind and, far the happiest they,
the moping idiot and the madman gay."
The Workhouse
As with most British families we have found ancestors associated with the Workhouse. Each case is tinged with sadness. After a visit to Southwell Workhouse the only complete workhouse remaining in the care of the National Trust and with some understanding of the social situation of the era in which they operated it is easier to understand the philosophy of the institutions. The history of Workhouses is thoroughly covered in Peter Higginbotham’s comprehensive website
The parishes elected Overseers of the poor who levied a tax on property to provide the funds enabling the parish to make provision for its elderly and infirm residents, to find employment for the children of poor families and to make provision for unmarried mothers Many parishes had built a house of employment or a “workhouse” long before the 1834 Act. The workhouse in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, had been built in 1824 and Higginbotham reports that Rugby had a workhouse operating as early as 1777 as did Grandborough (where several ELLARD and CROFT ancestors are from). Rugby then formed a union with other parishes and a new workhouse was built and opened in 1819. More parishes joined the union by 1821 it was serving 21 parishes. An entry in the Willoughby vestry book, signed by William ELLARD [5131] the churchwarden and William ELLARD [5154] the overseer, shows that Willoughby did not join the union at that time.
“In consequence of a vestry called by the Churchwardens and overseers of the parish on Dec 7th 1820 for the purpose of considering the propriety of uniting with Rugby and other parishes respecting their industry House -
By 1834 it was clear that it would be more economical to the care for the poor collectively. The Willoughby vestry book shows the property “Tax” was increasing so eventually Willoughby did join the Rugby Union. Although the church played a major role in establishing the Workhouses, for example Rev. J.T. Becher designed the one at Southwell, even his “model” house did not have a chapel. There was however a visiting chaplain who took services on Sundays in the Board room and instructed the children in religious education. The daily regieme included morning and evening prayers, on Sunday only necessary household work was done and Good Friday and Christmas day were “Days of Rest”.
Each parish in the union sent unmarried mothers, orphaned children and elderly and infirm people to the work house. Most families tried to support their own elderly relations but with large families and small houses it was not always possible.
Flora Thompson described the rural situation in her book “Lark Hill to Candleford” in which she writes about her childhood in a North Oxfordshire hamlet in the 1880s
Chapter I “Some of the cottages had two bedrooms, others only one, in which case it had to be divided by a screen or curtain to accommodate parents and children. Often the big boys of the family slept downstairs, or were put out to sleep in the second bedroom of an elderly couple whose own children were out in the world. ... Still it was often a tight fit, for children swarmed, eight, ten or even more in some families, ... beds and shakedowns were often so closely packed that the inmates had to climb over one bed to get into another.”
Chapter V ”The old people ...not in comfortable circumstances had no homes at all worth mentioning, for, as soon as they got past work, they had either to go to the workhouse or find accommodation in the already overcrowded cottages of their children. A father or mother could usually be squeezed in so one child would take one parent and another the other, and even then there were the in laws to be dealt with. It was a common thing to hear ageing people say that they hoped God would be pleased to take them before they got past work and became a trouble to anybody.”
Many farm workers lived in tied cottages at that time so once they stopped work they had to leave the house
The unemployed were at first given aid by the parish occasionally in money sometimes in goods such as: new shoes, coal and a bread allowance. This aid was phased out with the establishment of the union workhouses so although no one was forced to enter, they became the only place to get any help. The workhouse was deliberately austere and unwelcoming to the able bodied of both sexes. The diet was meagre and monotonous. Personal possessions were discouraged by only providing a peg each bed and there were no shelves in the dormitories. The daily routine was arduous and depended on sun rise and set to elevate the need of candles. The rooms were heated by single coal fires. Visits could be arranged occasionally but were supervised. Children were able to visit their mothers again under supervision. In Southwell, the schoolroom windows were glazed with frosted glass to prevent the children seeing their parents in the work yards. Work was hard and manual. The women scrubbed the floors, did the laundry, did the cooking, picked oakum and drew water from the pump. The men broke coal, broke stones, dug the garden (where vegetables were grown for the kitchen), picked oakum and whitewashed the walls. In Southwell you can still see the many layers of paint on some walls.
In the workhouses the orphans were reasonable looked after and received a basic schooling and training for work. The school teacher lived in even sleeping with the children, The teacher often had more restrictions than the inmates being on duty night and day and being on contract had no opportunity of leaving. The older children were found apprenticeships, so there were never any “big” children around to help the little ones. The infirm were nursed in the workhouse infirmary under the supervision of a visiting doctor and with nurses often recruited from the inmates. Eventually the infirmary services were made available to the whole community and nursing was improved.
An extract from “The Village” written in 1783 by George Crabbe a Suffolk parson describes the parish Industrial House.
"Theirs is yon house that holds the parish poor -
Where walls of mud scare bear the broken door;
There, where the putrid vapours, flagging, play,
And the dull wheel hums doleful through the day;
Parents, who know no children's love, dwell there,
Heartbroken matrons on their joyless bed,
Forsaken wives, and mothers never wed;
Dejected widows with unheeded tears,
And crippled age with more than childhood fears;
The lame, the blind and, far the happiest they,
the moping idiot and the madman gay."