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Records in this collection
- Britain, Executions 1606-1955
- Bury Union Workhouse (Jericho Institution) Admission Registers
- Bury Workhouse Creed Registers
- Bury Workhouse Discharge Registers
- Chertsey Poor Law Union Admission and Discharge Books post-1900
- Chertsey Poor Law Union Admission and Discharge Books pre-1900
- Cheshire Workhouse Records (Baptisms)
- Cheshire Workhouse Records (Births)
- Cheshire Workhouse Records (Burials)
- Cheshire Workhouse Records (Deaths)
- Cheshire Workhouse Records, Admissions and Discharges
- Cheshire Workhouse Records, Religious Creeds
- City of York calendars of prisoners 1739-1851
- City of York hearth & window tax 1665-1778
- Cobham, Reed’s School Annual Reports 1818-1901
- Derbyshire hospital admissions and deaths 1892-1913
- Derbyshire hospital admissions and deaths 1892-1913
- Derbyshire Workhouse Reports
- Devon, Plymouth Prison Records 1832-1919
- Devon, Tavistock Borough Court Luxton Manuscripts, 1839-1896
- Dorking Poor Law Union Application and Report Books 1837-1847
- England & Wales, paupers in workhouses 1860
- England and Wales, Crime, Prisons and Punishment 1770-1935
- Farnham Board of Guardians Minute Books 1872-1910
- Godstone Poor Law Union Application and Report Books 1869-1915
- Guildford Infirmary Deaths 1933-1939
- Guildford Workhouse Births 1866-1910
- Guildford Workhouse Deaths 1887-1914
- Hambledon Board of Guardians Minute Books 1836-1910
- Hampshire, Portsmouth Hospital Records
- Hampshire, Portsmouth Workhouse Registers
- Hampshire, Portsmouth, Portsea Island Rate Books
- Ireland, Licences to Keep Arms 1832-1836
- Ireland, Ulster Covenant 1912
- Irish Tontines Annuitants 1766-1789 - Annuities
- Irish Tontines Annuitants 1766-1789 - Deaths
- Irish Tontines Annuitants 1766-1789 - Marriages
- Kent, Bexley Asylum Minute Books, 1901-1939
- Lancashire, Manchester cholera victims 1832
- Lincolnshire Poor Law Removals 1665 - 1865
- Lincolnshire Settlement Certificates 1675 - 1860
- Lincolnshire Settlement Examinations 1721 - 1861
- Lincolnshire, Workhouse Guardians' Minutes
- Lincolnshire, Workhouse Guardians' Minutes - Bourne
- Lincolnshire, Workhouse Guardians' Minutes - Caistor
- Liverpool Workhouse Registers
- London, Bethlem Hospital Patient Admission Registers and Casebooks 1683-1932
- Mayford Industrial School Admissions 1895-1907
- Middlesex, Harrow School photographs of pupils & masters 1869-1925
- Middlesex, London, Old Bailey Court records 1674-1913
- National School Admission Registers & Log-Books 1870-1914
- Princess Mary Village Homes Pupils 1870-1890s
- Prison ship (Hulk) Registers 1811-1843
- Redhill, Royal Philanthropic School Admission Registers 1788-1906
- Richmond Poor Law Union Application and Report Books 1870-1911
- Roxburghshire, Kelso Dispensary Patient Registers 1777-1781
- Royal Society of Arts Membership Lists and Minute Books
- Scotland prison registers index 1828-1884
- Scotland, Buchanan Society Members 1725-1948
- Scotland, Edinburgh Temperance Pledges 1886-1908
- Scotland, Inverness-Shire, Dores Free Church Adherents 1893
- Scotland, Linlithgowshire (West Lothian), poorhouse records 1859-1912
- South Yorkshire Asylum, Admission Records
- Surrey County Gaol Deaths 1798-1878
- Surrey feet of fines 1558-1760
- Surrey feet of fines place list
- Surrey Quarter Sessions 1780 -1820
- Surrey, Southwark, St Saviour Poor Relief 1818-1821
- Warlingham Military Hospital Chaplain's Department baptisms, confirmations and deaths 1917-1919
- Warwickshire bastardy index
- Warwickshire, Coventry workhouse admission and discharge registers 1853-1946
- Warwickshire, Coventry, Vehicle Registration Plates (1921-1944)
- Warwickshire, Coventry, Vehicle Registrations 1921-1944
- Westminster, poor law and parish administration - Admissions
- Westminster, poor law and parish administration - Apprentices
- Westminster, poor law and parish administration - Bastardy
- Westminster, poor law and parish administration - Examinations
- Westminster, poor law and parish administration - Land tax
- Westminster, poor law and parish administration - Paupers
- Westminster, poor law and parish administration - Poor law and workhouse records
- Westminster, poor law and parish administration - Valuations
- Wiltshire Asylum Registers, 1789-1921
- Woking, St Peter’s Memorial Home Patients 1885-1908
- Women’s Suffrage Petition 1866
- Yorkshire, Sheffield Crime Courts and Convicts 1737-1938
- Yorkshire, Sheffield Crime Courts And Convicts 1769-1931
- Yorkshire, Sheffield social and institutional records 1558-1939
- Yorkshire, Sheffield, asylum & hospital admissions & subscriptions 1748-1937
- Yorkshire, Sheffield, Workhouse Admissions 1700-1915
Find your ancestors in England & Wales, paupers in workhouses 1860
Discover more about these records
Each record includes:
- Name
- Period of continuous residence in workhouse
- Reason for being a resident
- Poor Law Union workhouse
- County
- Whether brought up in a district or workhouse school
The information within this record set comes from a parliamentary report ordered by the House of Commons in June 1860. Parliament asked for a return "from each workhouse in England and Wales, of the name of every adult pauper… who has been an inmate of the workhouse during a continuous period of five years; stating the amount of time that each of such inmates shall have been in the workhouse, and the reason assigned why such persons are unable to maintain themselves."
An adult was defined as being aged 16 years and over.
The information was gathered and the report duly published in summer 1861. 14,216 individuals met the criteria for inclusion – in other words, had been living in a workhouse for at least five years. Of these, 6,569 were men and 7,647 were women. It was calculated that there were about 67,800 inmates of workhouses and therefore that about 21% of them were long-term institutional residents. For context, the population of England & Wales at the time of the April 1861 Census was 20,066,224.
The reasons given were categorised into the following broad groupings:
- “Old age and infirmity” – 5,932 individuals
- “Mental disease” [which included learning difficulties] – 4,989 individuals
- “Bodily disease” – 924 individuals
- “Bodily defects” [which included blindness and deafness] – 1,619 individuals
- “Moral defects” [which included mothers of illegitimate children] – 182 individuals
- “Other causes” [which included orphans and deserted wives] – 570 individuals