Union Workhouse at Poplar

[NZTracey]

Hi, I have a relative who died at the Union Workhouse in 1881, she was only there a month and died of 'senile decay'. The 1881 census has her listed as an 'imbecile' at another address, hence how I know she was only at the workhouse for no more than a month. She left a will of 185-5-9 pounds which was resworn in 1883 to 816-9-7. I thought workhouses were for the poor and destitute? Although not married she's been part of a large family and lived with various members on & off during her life.

Did workhouses take paying inmates?

[Megan Roberts]

I think that workhouses sometimes acted as infirmaries and asylums.

There is a useful web site about workhouses that might help. https://www.
workhouses.org.uk/intro/

[malcolm99]

This isn't really an answer to your enquiry but have you seen this?

https://www.
workhouses.org.uk/Poplar/

[NZTracey]

Thanks yes I have

[Peter Goodey]

Thanks yes I have

Presumably you didn't spot

"Originally, workhouse infirmaries were intended solely for the care of those resident in the workhouse. The beginnings of a change in this practice came with the establishment of the Metropolitan Asylums Board in 1869 which provided certain types of medical care for all London's poor. From the 1880s, admission to workhouse infirmaries was increasingly permitted to those who — though poor — were not sufficiently destitute to require entry the workhouse. Like all recipients of union relief, such patients first needed to have their means assessed by the union relieving officer and, where appropriate, might be required to contribute towards their maintenance whilst resident in the infirmary".

I seem to recall that the charitable hospitals, which would have been the alternative for most people, were not keen on admitting people who didn't stand a good chance of recovering.

[NZTracey]

I thought 185 pounds at that time was a fair amount of money and she wouldn't have qualified, her family must have been fairly well off, a sister leaves her another 600 pounds in her will. Anyway I have learnt that workhouses by 1881 were not just for people with no money etc. Makes me wonder why they put her there and not at an asylum in the area. Wonder what that sort of place cost?