Wellingborough workhouse records

[tony vines]

The 1901 census record of Wellingborough workhouse shows Henry Vines aged 40, married and identified as "epileptic". The same census shows his wife and family living elsewhere in the county but she says that she is married as well. The recently released 1911 census records do not appear to record Henry at all but his wife is still recorded as "Married" implying that Henry was still alive at that time.

In 1917 Henry's wife married her boarder!

I can find no record in census or BMD records of Henry after the 1901 census record. My research has taken in the period up to and decades beyond her second marriage. I rather expected to find his death recorded but he seems never to have died.

Does anyone have access to Wellingborough workhouse records for the period in question please. Alternatively can anyone throw any light on why Henry's presumed death is not recorded on the usual sites?

I should add that Henry does not come up on a name search of Ancestry.com for the 1901 census but he can be found because, for all its faults, Ancestry does at least enable County/District/Institution image searches on a street by street basis unlike the official 1911 site which requires you to rely on their transcriptions and search engine to identify the right image.

Any help would be much appreciated
Cheers

[Pennie]

Hi Tony ...

What about this one (found on FreeBMD)?

Mar 1909
VINES Harry Theodore 48
Cheltenham
6a 322

The age fits well, and it would explain why he can't be found on the 1911 census. Any family connections with Gloucestershire???

Pennie

[tony vines]

Hi Pennie

Thanks for trying to help but the man I'm looking for is Henry James Vines born in Staffordshire but living most of his life in Northamptonshire. There are certainly a large number of Vines families in the West Country but I am fairly confident that they are completely unrelated - probably going back several centuries anyway. My ancestors came from the East Midlands and maybe Lincs.

However I do greatly appreciate your taking an interest.

[janbooth]

If nobody comes up trumps with the records for you on this Forum, Northamptonshire Record Office hold Wellingborough Workhouse Masters records 1898-1931 and Wellingborough Admission & Discharge Registers 1896-1933 and Registers of Deaths 1867-1914 so it could be worthwhile sending them an email to find out how much it would cost you for the information.

Janet

[southistle]

The Eureka Partnership have indexed Wellingborough Union Workhouse births and deaths. 1867-1914
There are no VINEs in the index so he left the workhouse..

Might he be one of these in Freebmd - no 's' on the end

Deaths Sep 1916
Vine Henry J 59 Lewes 2b 178


Deaths Jun 1917
Vine Henry J 56 Bingham 7b 543

[tony vines]

Janet

Thank you for that very helpful information. I must get myself up to Northampton to read these as well as parish registers for the area.

Thank you Southistle too. He was definitely in the workhouse in 1901 but as I understand your reply he is not shown as dying in there so logically left there before doing so. That means that the entry and exit records Janet refers to will be critical.

Once again thanks to everyone for their help.

[tony vines]

A few months ago I asked for help concerning the later whereabouts and subsequent death of the relative referred to further up this thread. He was in Wellingborough Workhouse in the 1901 census where his record said he was epileptic. As usual several of you kindly offered thoughts and these were much appreciated so I thought that I would update and comment on what we discovered subsequently.

We found a record of Henry in an asylum in Northampton in the 1911 census. His name was mis-spelt which was why we couldn't find him to start with. However by 1917 he had been moved to another asylum near Nottingham where he died of consumption as was quite common in those days. His widow promptly married her lodger, scarcely drawing breath after burying him.

I cannot help but feel sorry for someone who these days would probably have been successfully medicated to suppress and control his epilepsy thus enabling him to remain in society and live a useful and rewarding life. He was apparently first consigned to a workhouse because his condition prevented him from earning a living in the boot and shoe industry for which he was trained. Later they obviously felt that his condition was better suited to asylum residence but not only that, they later moved him to an asylum that was in another county some 30-40 miles away from where his family lived.

What a sad way to live 20-30 years of your life! I wonder how many illnesses or conditions we cannot deal with today and which still render someone incapable of working or taking a full part in society will be treatable in 100 years time.

Thanks to everyone who helped us close the rather sad book on Henry Vines.

Cheers

[tony vines]

Post Script

I mentioned above that Henry was transferred to an asylum a long way away from home and it now transpires that there was a reason. Apparently the asylum he was originally moved to was to be cleared of patients to make way for soldiers from the Great War who had been gassed.

Another bit of poignant history!

The records of the asylums are also pretty shocking in that they evidence a shocking level of violence both between patients and by staff on patients. Our ancestor was regularly beaten up, although his behaviour may have been at least in part responsible for his beatings. What a desparate way to spend the last 17 years of your life.

A different age....I hope!

[janbooth]

Oh, what a sad story, Tony, but at least you have been able to close the book on Henry. It never ceases to amaze me how cruel we humans can be to each other - I remember watching a TV programme which featured young girls locked up in lunatic asylums just for having illegitimate children, thus becoming institutionalised and never being able to function outside the asylum even after society itself had become liberal.

Janet

[tony vines]

Thanks Jan and also for your help earlier.

best regards