Basingstoke Information

Poor Family

Workhouse  census returns

 A national census has been taken in Britain every ten years since 1801. From 1841 we have returns for the occupants of our workhouse for every year until 1911, after which they are restricted.

Each census was designed slightly differently. The lists of have been sorted by name as this often reveals possible family relationships.

At the bottom of each census the  inmates have been counted by age, occupation and place of birth, showing some interesting changes over time. A graph of all eight returns is in the book.

1841 census

1851 census

1861 census

1871 census

1881 census

1891 census

1901 census

1911 census

 

poor-child

Pauper names

From 1835 to early 1872 many people receiving relief in the parishes or in the workhouse were named in various records for all sorts of reasons. These few written names, from the records remaining, are a tiny tip of a huge iceberg. After this time the system became much more routine and very few individuals were mentioned.

In an attempt to feel what was going on during that early period, each name found was noted in a spreadsheet and the names in the census for the workhouse added. We can see the variety of people's problems dealt with by the union.

Here is the original list, and - much more interesting - a second one sorted by name, and from this we can see the trace of individuals and families and a little of what happened to them in the system over four decades.

  • The nature of poverty and illness
  • The variety of circumstances the Board dealt with, from "bastard children" to funeral costs
  • Causes of death and sickness in the workhouse
  • Punishments for bad behaviour
  • Violence
  • Mental illness in the workhouse and the community
  • Emigration
  • Movement of people between unions
  • Loans made to the poor
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Named paupers, 1835 to 1872

 

Named paupers, 1835 to 1872, SORTED BY NAME

 

Union officers

The system could not function without its officers and employees and there is much detail in the book about the stories of these people. We can see from the list of hundreds of names the huge turnover of employees, particularly teachers and nurses. And people marrying or moving from one function to another.

 

       Officers, 1835 to the 1920s

 

 

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Guardians

The Board of Guardians were men who were elected to represent their parishes, administer the union and control the relief of the poor and the workhouse. (Women did not become guardians until the final years of the 19th century). These were usually local influential and well-off landowners and businessmen, and in Basingstoke they were almost all 'yeomen' or gentleman farmers with the occasional tradesman and shopkeeper, particularly in the town.

The information relating to them is difficult, but the first ten years is here as an illustration - Basingstoke people will recognise many of the names, and this is the pattern throughout the country.

 

   Guardians, 1835 to 1845

 

 

TO FOLLOW: Transcriptions

 

Transcriptions of official inquiries into problems within the workhouse and descriptions of events often reveal interesting details of day-to-day life  .... to come later.