How sad - Grandmother born in the workhouse

[lspittles]

I received my paternal grandmother's birth certificate from the GRO yesterday only to discover that she had been born in the workhouse at St. Giles in London in 1879. Luckily, according to the 1881 census, the parents were no longer there but living in lodgings. This was never mentioned in the family and I wonder if even my grandmother knew. The records of the St. Giles workhouse are at the London Metropolitan Archives so I'm going to pop down to London and have a look. Bit sad really but I guess it happened to a lot of people.

[sandiep]

Yes my grandmother was born in Gloucester in the workhouse but her certificate didnt have the fathers name and I have been stuck at this point..........if your grandmother has both parents down sometimes people used the workhouse infirmary for births but were not living in the workhouse.

sandie

[lspittles]

That's a good point, Sandie. I hope to find out more when I look at the records in London.

Lesley

[SUSSEXDER]

Yes my grandmother was born in Gloucester in the workhouse but her certificate didnt have the fathers name and I have been stuck at this point..........if your grandmother has both parents down sometimes people used the workhouse infirmary for births but were not living in the workhouse.

sandie

(QUOTE)carter-adams,
My gt,gt,Grandfather was born in the WORKHOUSE BRIGHTON 1863.
I found that sad to learn from his Birth Cert. His mother I presume was there just for the birth. She had no name for the Father, on the Cert.

[Peter Goodey]

How sad - Grandmother born in the workhouse

Not necessarily sad - workhouse infirmaries were the nearest thing at the time to the NHS (admittedly not very near ) and people used them as they needed to.

You've probably already done it, but don't forget to check the catalogue before setting off for LMA - the survival rate of poor law records is so patchy.

[SBSFamilyhistory]

Yes my grandmother was born in Gloucester in the workhouse but her certificate didnt have the fathers name and I have been stuck at this point..........if your grandmother has both parents down sometimes people used the workhouse infirmary for births but were not living in the workhouse.

sandie

my grandmother's brother or as we now know half brother was born in Birmingham workhouse in 1870 we doubt he knew where he was born or that the person he knew as his father was not his father.


as People have said workhouses were often used for people to have babies as they had doctors and also to house ill children/adults to stop the spread of infection amongst the wider community.

[Ladkyis]

Isn't LMA closed until end of February for alterations and refurbishment?

[Colin Moretti]

They reopened this morning (allegedly):

Opening hours
LMA is currently closed for refurbishment. We will reopen on Monday 21 January 2008 at 9.30. Our normal opening hours will be:

Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9.30am - 4.45pm
Tuesday and Thursday 9.30am - 7.30pm

http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corpo...r_information/

Colin

[Wilkes_ml]

Although I haven't had any workhouse births, I have many work house deaths. I think the workhouse also acted as a nursing home for the elderly. I found this hard to understand when a elderly person had several children - but I guess in some communities (especially farming), the whole family had to work to survive, and could not care for their elderly relatives.

[suedent]

Michelle it all depends I suppose. My ggg-grandmother died in the Workhouse in 1894. In the 1891 census she is listed as being an imbecile. As there was no sign of any problems before I can only assume that she was suffering from some form of senile dementia. (Both my great-gran & great-aunt had Alzheimers). With a busy family all working on farms or in service I can imagine that she was better off in the Workhouse for her own safety, harsh as it may seem.