Brian Austin <brian.austin@btinternet.com> wrote: > It's often forgotten that poor people went into the workhouse because they > needed medical attention not because they couldn't support themselves > financially. One of my great great grandmothers who had been living with one > of her daughters, did just that and died there. I remember discussing this > with a distant relation who was quite upset to think of it despite my > pointing out that this was quite normal. And indeed many of them did become hospitals when the workhouse system shut down. Before that, you are quite right - I've several instances of people going into Ecclesall Union (later Nether Edge Hospital) in Sheffield to have babies. It stands out a bit because the families concerned normally did their GRO registrations in Sheffield RD, but these were registered in Ecclesall Bierlow. John. -- Please reply to john at yclept dot wanadoo dot co dot uk.

John Hill wrote: > Brian Austin <brian.austin@btinternet.com> wrote: > >> It's often forgotten that poor people went into the workhouse because they >> needed medical attention not because they couldn't support themselves >> financially. One of my great great grandmothers who had been living with one >> of her daughters, did just that and died there. I remember discussing this >> with a distant relation who was quite upset to think of it despite my >> pointing out that this was quite normal. > > And indeed many of them did become hospitals when the workhouse system > shut down. > > Before that, you are quite right - I've several instances of people > going into Ecclesall Union (later Nether Edge Hospital) in Sheffield to > have babies. It stands out a bit because the families concerned normally > did their GRO registrations in Sheffield RD, but these were registered > in Ecclesall Bierlow. Deanhouse http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Huddersfield/HuddersfieldDeanhouse1881.shtml was another example. It's noticeable that relatively few inmates in this list were married and also that a relatively high proportion were born some distance away. -- Ian The Hotmail address is my spam-bin. Real mail address is iang at austonley org uk

From: nemo@erewhon.invalid (John Hill) > Brian Austin <brian.austin@btinternet.com> wrote: > > > It's often forgotten that poor people went into the workhouse because they > > needed medical attention not because they couldn't support themselves > > financially. One of my great great grandmothers who had been living with > one > > of her daughters, did just that and died there. I remember discussing this > > with a distant relation who was quite upset to think of it despite my > > pointing out that this was quite normal. > > And indeed many of them did become hospitals when the workhouse system > shut down. > > Before that, you are quite right - I've several instances of people > going into Ecclesall Union (later Nether Edge Hospital) in Sheffield to > have babies. It stands out a bit because the families concerned normally > did their GRO registrations in Sheffield RD, but these were registered > in Ecclesall Bierlow. > > John.> Quite correct, both of you. In the days before we had the NHS etc, many poor people treated the workhouse as a temporary hospital and dropped in and out of the system when they needed to, sometimes being there only for a few days. This is not always understood by many people who seem to think their ancestors spent their lives in a workhouse. I am wondering if this will come across in the TV programme. I myself was born in St Luke's Hospital, Bradford, which until the late 1920s was the union workhouse until it was converted into a general hospital for the whole community. However, on my birth certificate it makes no mention of the fact that it was a hospital, it simply gives an address which makes it look as if it was a private house. I subsequently discovered that many people born in Bradford had the same address on their birth certificates and this went on apparently into the 1960s because the local register office was sensitive about the fact that many people even at that time regarded it as a stigma to be born in what had once been the workhouse. There's nowt so queer as folk! -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Famous family trees blog: http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/tag/roy-stockdill/ "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE