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Showing posts with the label victorian workhouse

Born on St Patrick's Day: Happy 115th Mary

They say that its good luck to be Irish, and that the luckiest of all are those who are born on St Patrick's Day. No doubt this is what was said the day that my great grandmother was born. However, her life was not necessarily filled with the good luck that the superstition had predicted. As much as she had a hard life, her life was also an "ordinary" one of a young British immigrant to Canada. Despite that, the simple life she led in youth was filled with fun. She embrace the changing times, new found freedoms, and innovations. Its the heirlooms from that chapter of her life that fascinate me the most because they show a side to her that none of my relatives knew - a woman who was happy. So today, I am going to share the side of her - that one that the heirlooms tells. I have a small black autograph book that was hers.  At almost 100 years old, the book binding has all but disintegrated yet the leather cover is in near pristine condition and the partially bound pages are...
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Pte. James Sword - Poverty, Industrial Schools, and Military Service

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Yesterday I wrote about how to read a British militia attestation form and used the example of a young man named James Sword. His story truly embodies what it was like to grow up in poverty during the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras.  The Early Years James was born July 27 1889 in Bow, London, England - making him the baby of the Sword family. He had four older sisters and one older brother. At the time of his birth the family was struggling financially, and that would only worsen a month later when his father died. Now widowed with five children still in her care, James' mother had no choice but to turn to the Board of Guardians for relief. Within a year the entire family was admitted to the Wandsworth and Clapham Union Workhouse. The duration of the family's stay was brief. By 1901, they had left the workhouse but were still struggling to get by. They were living on Ammiel St in Bow. Their home literally fell down around them, and the neighbouring homes that remained...
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How to read Poor Law Records

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They say that 1 in 10 people with British ancestry can trace their family back to the workhouse. For my family this statement is true. The process of filing for relief from the Board of Guardians was long and required the individual to provide detailed information about themselves.  In two of my previous posts I spoke of a woman named Bessie. After her father died in 1889, her mother mad no choice but to turn to the workhouse. She had six children between the ages of one month and 15 to support. The Poor Law records I found on this family contained a wealth of information - much of which I had never seen before.  Settlement Examination   The process began by with a settlement examination. The main purpose of this record was to determine what Poor Law Union was responsible for the pauper's upkeep (otherwise known as residency). The head of the family would be asked to provide the following information: where each member of the family was born if they are married and i...
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Born on St Patrick's Day: Happy 115th Mary

They say that its good luck to be Irish, and that the luckiest of all are those who are born on St Patrick's Day. No doubt this is what was said the day that my great grandmother was born. However, her life was not necessarily filled with the good luck that the superstition had predicted. As much as she had a hard life, her life was also an "ordinary" one of a young British immigrant to Canada. Despite that, the simple life she led in youth was filled with fun. She embrace the changing times, new found freedoms, and innovations. Its the heirlooms from that chapter of her life that fascinate me the most because they show a side to her that none of my relatives knew - a woman who was happy. So today, I am going to share the side of her - that one that the heirlooms tells. I have a small black autograph book that was hers.  At almost 100 years old, the book binding has all but disintegrated yet the leather cover is in near pristine condition and the partially bound pages are...
Read more

Ford's Folly and the Slum of Little Hell

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Battersea: The Sinkhole of Surrey During the Victorian Era, Battersea had gained the reputation as being “the sinkhole of Surrey” due to its widespread poverty and slum-like conditions. Many of the poor in Battersea were subject to irregular income from the building trades. For a family to scrape by in the winter they would have to apply thrift spending during the summer. This was often complicated by the reliance on alcohol which was used as a means of escape from the depression of living in such widespread poverty. The irregular income caused many of Battersea’s poor to frequently be on the move. On average a family lived in one place for less than two years before moving no more than a few streets away. After hopping from neighbourhood to neighbourhood the family would eventually return to where they were once exiled from, moving in only a few doors away from their former address. Ford’s Folly and the slum of Little Hell In Keith Bailey’s report Orville Road, Battersea: a Victor...
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F.A.N. Club: How to perform a Hub Analysis

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FAN club analysis is one of the most valuable tools at a genealogists disposal. Conventionally it is used to build a network of people around a single ancestor or family, however the process can be reversed to determine the nature of unknown relationships. The Hub analysis is a method that I came up with that helps break a large group of people into small social circles that are centered around something that they all have in common. For example, this could be a place of employment, worship, or even a club/hobby. By grouping the people in this way we can identify what subgroups exists within the FAN club (I wrote a post here on how these subgroups can be visually represented used a net diagram).  The easiest way to explain the process is by using an example. Lets take a look at a list of names that I found of people who called the family following my great grandfather's death.  **Please note that for privacy reasons I have redacted the full surname and addresses of any person...
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