Find your ancestors in Yorkshire, Calderdale Workhouse Registers

About these records

This recordset comprises Workhouse Records from Halifax Ovenden Workhouse, Halifax Gibbet Street Workhouse and Todmorden Gauxholme Workhouse. The transcriptions were made from records held at West Yorkshire Archive Service and completed by members of Calderdale Family History Society.

This was a complex project due to the multiple different formats from the 3 workhouses and over time from each workhouse. The recordset has been formulated using the majority of data available in the Registers. As a result some of the fields require some explanation:

Class:

There are 4 options for this field :-

• Admittance –for when the individual entered the workhouse on this occasion.
• Discharge – for Todmorden Workhouse only, when the individual was discharged. This is a separate entry for this workhouse, because Discharges were listed separately from Admittances.
• In Situ – for when the individual was already resident when the entry was made generally when a new record book was started & the names of existing residents were entered first.
• Apprentice – in a small number of cases, where the resident had been apprenticed out for a particular trade.

Record Date:

The date of the event described by this entry. Apart from Discharges from Todmorden, this is the date that the resident was initially admitted, although the record involved may be recording events that followed on from that date. Where the Class is “In Situ”, this is the date that the entry was made for an individual who was already resident in the workhouse.

Parish:

The parish from whence the individual came. This was important because charges were often made on the parish involved concerning the individual.

By whom Admitted:

The person responsible for sending the individual to the workhouse. Mostly it is “Self” where the individual had offered themselves up, but quite often it could be parents or officials such as the police.

Abode:

The usual home address from where the individual came. These are only present in later (20th century) entries.

Responsible Adult:

Only used in a minority of cases, usually where the individual was an apprentice, so this was the “master” to whom he was apprenticed. Reason for Discharge: The reason for the individual being discharged. This is often due to the death of the individual.

Last Discharge Date:

There are 2 types of book which do not conform to the standard format.

• Where there is a page for each month of the year. On these, all residents will be entered if they are there, which resulted in numerous entries, month by month, for the same information. Every entry has not been transcribed – just the 1st one, with the date of the last one (that of discharge) being entered in this field. See also “Date Range” below.
• Where the book allowed for multiple entries of admittance & discharge on the same row. Here, as in the option above, the individual admissions and discharges have not been entered – just the last Discharge date – See also “Date Range” below.

Admission Date if Discharge:

For Todmorden Workhouse only, where Discharges are listed separately from Admissions, there is sometimes an Admission Date entered on the Discharge entry. On some entries, the year is not shown, so the date is just shown as dd-mm – eg 3/11 or 3-Nov for 3rd November.

Number of Admissions:

In the cases described as the 2nd type in “Last Discharge Date” above, where there have been multiple admissions & discharges over a period, the number of admissions has been entered in this field.

Period of Attendance(s):

For the 2 types of entry described in “Last Discharge Date” above, this field contains the years covered by the admissions and discharges for this individual. It is in the form of first - last year – eg 1878-1881

Observations:

Where there are specific observations written in the book about the entry concerned, they will be described in this field. This should be read in conjunction with the “Notes” field (see below).

Notes:

Any further explanatory notes will be entered here, either as an extension of the “Observations” field (see above) or to express opinions by the transcriber on the interpretation of the information given. West Yorkshire Archive Service (WYAS) Document Reference: This is the specific reference for the book from which this entry was taken. There may be occasions when the researcher needs to clarify information, or where specific information has not been transcribed. There are certain books in the workhouses where information has not been transcribed. For instance, in Todmorden Workhouse, details of diet for each individual are shown but were either too cumbersome, or thought not to be of sufficient interest to researchers to be transcribed. This reference can be quoted to WYAS to allow them easily to access the correct document. It is in the format “WYAS O ice- reference no.” – eg Wakefield-C333/5/1 The records on the file are in the sequence surname/forename/date. As well, a view of the complete page in a book can be valuable, because other family members of an individual of interest can be more easily seen.