HI Peter, I have been reading with interest, your postings on Freemen of my home city. You ended on rather a sombre note, I thought, and so I wanted to add my own thoughts on it. You said that Susannah died in the Workhouse in October 1905, rather than in the care of one of her children's families. I notice that in the 1901 census she was in the Coventry & Warwickshire Hospital, and meanwhile, her husband was staying with his younger brother. This is only my surmise, not fact, but perhaps Susannah was still ill or with a condition requiring nursing care, and the Workhouse may well have had a medical ward, as many did so. From my own experience---- my own paternal grandfather died in High View, Exhall, a hospital for the elderly in 1952. He needed medical care and nursing, beyond what our family could provide. In an earlier age he might well have been in the Workhouse! Perhaps your facts are now more understandable---not a one of apparent family neglect. Regards, Muriel, (NZ).

Muriel is right. Before the advent of government provided hospitals, many workhouses had an infirmary or at least a ward. In a recent project transcribing burials, we noticed some were "of the workhouse" or "pauper" others used or added the next door address, local experts told me this was the "infirmary". So always approach deaths at these addresses with some caution; take into account the times, the lives of those involved and their family circumstances - and the cause of death. Always keep an open mind in family history; always question information you find, and ask others with local knowledge if they can add to the wider picture. Our email discussion lists have people with local knowledge - they just need to be given opportunity to pass it on. Jacqui