Workhouse Records

[AudreyF]

Emily Thompson was a married woman with a large family. In the 1891 census she is (happily?) with her husband and family. In the 1901 census she is a patient in St. Saviour's Infirmary (Camberwell). In 1907 Emily has an illigitimate son at an address in Greenwich which may have been the workhouse or the infirmary attached to it. The 1911 census has her son living with one of her married daughters and son-in-law. I haven't found Emily in 1911 (she was born 1862 in Lambeth) but she does not seem to be with any of her children that I have traced. In 1914 Emily arrives drunk at a friend's house. Emily has lost her job and is distraught as to how she will support her illigitimate child. The friend agrees to let Emily stay for a week but she is found dead on the kitchen floor the next morning. Suicide.

Any ideas if on line workhouse records will fill in more information about her situation in 1901 and when her son was born in 1907. I'm really not sure where to look and if it will reveal anything useful.

I have other information (census references, family dates/names etc.) if it helps point me in the right direction but don't want to bog this down with it all just yet.


AudreyF

[Megan Roberts]

I doubt that there is any information on line that would assist you.

The best bet (I think) would be to find out which record office has the records for the workhouse(s) that you are interested in, and then see if they will undertake some limited research for you.

I had a query about inmates in the Haverfordwest workhouse and spoke to the Pembrokeshire Record Office who agreed to undertake a limited amount of research for me in exchange for a small charge, which from memory I think was about £15. For that I got details of the numerous admittances of the "lady" in question. However, the details are dates rather than anything else.

[Peter Goodey]

In 1907 Emily has an illigitimate son at an address in Greenwich which may have been the workhouse or the infirmary attached to it.

What was the address?

[Mutley]

Emily Thompson is quite a common name and presumably, not her maiden name.
Census references are very useful and should be given as they save us looking at the the wrong person.

[Mutley]

Is this her, as a widow, in 1901?
RG13/503/140/31.

[AudreyF]

The son was born at an address given as 48 Vanbrugh Hill, Greenwich and I understand this was a workhouse and had an infirmary and it was deemed 'polite' in later years not to give the address as the infirmary so the street name and number was used.

Emily Thompson married William Springall in 1882. Sorry for any confusion.

Yes, the census reference for 1901 is correct. William Springall died in 1900. On the birth certificate of her illigitimate son she is noted as "Emily Springall formerly Thompson". I'm not sure why she is in 1901 as Thompson. The death certificate and newspaper report of her death/inquest refer to her as Emily Springall. She was clearly 'estranged' from her husband and family at some point but whether that was before or after the 1907 birth is hard to know. I wondered if workhouse records might throw some light on it.

I might be able to ask a friend in the UK to go and look at the relevant records if I'm sure where they are.

Gillian

[Coromandel]

You can browse images of 'London, England, Poor Law Records, 1430-1973' on Ancestry:

https://
search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1557

Choose Greenwich from the 'Borough' menu, then Greenwich again in 'Parish or Poor Law Union', then look for anything covering the right date. There are some records labelled 'Hospital and Infimary, Vanburgh Hill' in the Admission and Discharge category, for example.

For Camberwell workhouse look under the borough of Southwark.

[Peter Goodey]

You won't find much on line although you may have some luck with Greenwich.

To find the location of records, see the Hospital Records Database

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/

Greenwich Workhouse Infirmary eventually became Greenwich District Hospital. St Saviours became Dulwich Hospital. You can search the database using the old name.