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District Infant Poor Asylum, Birmingham
- Thread starter skylark
- Start date
Peter Walker
gone but not forgotten
Just looked in the 1900 directory and couldn't find anything with as name like that.
Peter
Peter
Phoebe
Half a Brummie
I have the same question as Margaret - possible ancestor in 1851 - so thought it might be worth asking again if anyone knows where this place was? The census has it in the St George district, ecclesiastical district of St Stephen.
I imagine there might be a number of reasons why children might be placed here, often temporary situations. If anyone can cast any light, it would be much appreciated.
I imagine there might be a number of reasons why children might be placed here, often temporary situations. If anyone can cast any light, it would be much appreciated.
claire-brum71
master brummie
There were quite a few workhouses based in birmingham. the only mention i can find of an infant poor asylum anywhere on the net is Summer Lane, it says after overcrowding they moved and created an infant poor asylum in Summer Lane
claire-brum71
master brummie
It said it moved there 1797, so it had been there a while obviously if you have an entry for 1851... i did find a website on Birmingham Workhouses once, will have to have another look if i can find it.. they had pictures and more indepth info
sospiri
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
I know this is a bit late but it might save someone else a search.
My great grandfather, James TAYLOR, was told that he was found on a doorstep (we will never know whether he was told the truth about this) and he was brought up in the Asylum for the Infant Poor where the staff gave him the name "James TAYLOR". As far as I can tell, he was admitted to the institution in 1835.
He told my late grandmother that when he was approaching the age of ten years, they asked him what sort job he would like to be trained for and he replied "a tailor". (I don't know how much choice he had in this!). Accordingly he was trained in tailoring and was a self-employed tailor for the rest of his life. (He died in 1901).
I'm afraid that there is very little information available about the institution and none of the minute books or registers have survived. William Hutton's 1836 "History of Birmingham" contains the following brief note:-
"The Asylum for the Infant Poor, established in Summer Lane in 1797, is conducted by a committee of guardians and overseers. The manufacture of pins, straw-plait, lace, &c., is carried on for the purpose of employing the children, whose labour produces a profit to the parish. There is a bath, garden, play-ground, school, and chapel connected with this institution. There are usually from two hundred to two hundred and fifty children in this parish family."
The 1841 Census contains the usual list of staff and inmates - HO107/1141 Folio 66 - but that is about your lot! I have yet to find a sketch of the place and it appears that it closed when the new Birmingham Workhouse opened in 1852.
My great grandfather, James TAYLOR, was told that he was found on a doorstep (we will never know whether he was told the truth about this) and he was brought up in the Asylum for the Infant Poor where the staff gave him the name "James TAYLOR". As far as I can tell, he was admitted to the institution in 1835.
He told my late grandmother that when he was approaching the age of ten years, they asked him what sort job he would like to be trained for and he replied "a tailor". (I don't know how much choice he had in this!). Accordingly he was trained in tailoring and was a self-employed tailor for the rest of his life. (He died in 1901).
I'm afraid that there is very little information available about the institution and none of the minute books or registers have survived. William Hutton's 1836 "History of Birmingham" contains the following brief note:-
"The Asylum for the Infant Poor, established in Summer Lane in 1797, is conducted by a committee of guardians and overseers. The manufacture of pins, straw-plait, lace, &c., is carried on for the purpose of employing the children, whose labour produces a profit to the parish. There is a bath, garden, play-ground, school, and chapel connected with this institution. There are usually from two hundred to two hundred and fifty children in this parish family."
The 1841 Census contains the usual list of staff and inmates - HO107/1141 Folio 66 - but that is about your lot! I have yet to find a sketch of the place and it appears that it closed when the new Birmingham Workhouse opened in 1852.
sylviasayers
master brummie
Go to www.astonbrook-through-astonmanor.co.uk under the Streets of Aston - if you click on "A" and scroll down to Asylum Road you will find it.
Last edited by a moderator:
Phoebe
Half a Brummie
Thanks everyone who replied. I've found some interesting links. A pity none of the detailed records have survived.
I 'm having some difficulty tracing this branch of my family and wonder if this lad might have been placed in the Infant Poor Asylum temporarily, as I am almost sure his mother at least would have been alive at the time. Just wondering what kind of family circumstance might have made it necessary, if the inmates were not necessarily all orphans. But it may be someone else anyway!
I 'm having some difficulty tracing this branch of my family and wonder if this lad might have been placed in the Infant Poor Asylum temporarily, as I am almost sure his mother at least would have been alive at the time. Just wondering what kind of family circumstance might have made it necessary, if the inmates were not necessarily all orphans. But it may be someone else anyway!
claire-brum71
master brummie
Pheobe have you found his parents on the census living elsewhere? It could be they fell on hard times and were all in seperate Workhouses, or it could be like happened with someone in my Family, the mother died, the dad put the kids in the workhouse and went off and remarried and had more children!
Phoebe
Half a Brummie
I missed your last post, Claire, so a very late reply!
My ancestor's name was Matthew Davis, and he married in 1871, giving his father's name as John Davis, steel grinder. There are lots of John Davises of course, before we even consider the possibility that it might sometimes have appeared as Davies. The MC doesn't say he's deceased, but one can't assume that he wasn't.
In 1881, there is a Lavinia Davis (78) living with the family. No relationship is given, but it's quite likely she's his mother as they have a small daughter also named Lavinia. She may be his aunt or grandmother, though. I've only found Lavinia senior in 1871, widow with a lodger, but the age (65) doesn't quite tally. No sign of her any other time. Tis a mystery!
My ancestor's name was Matthew Davis, and he married in 1871, giving his father's name as John Davis, steel grinder. There are lots of John Davises of course, before we even consider the possibility that it might sometimes have appeared as Davies. The MC doesn't say he's deceased, but one can't assume that he wasn't.
In 1881, there is a Lavinia Davis (78) living with the family. No relationship is given, but it's quite likely she's his mother as they have a small daughter also named Lavinia. She may be his aunt or grandmother, though. I've only found Lavinia senior in 1871, widow with a lodger, but the age (65) doesn't quite tally. No sign of her any other time. Tis a mystery!
B
Beryl M
Guest
My the girls sure got shafted in schools in those days - I can remember the girls from Handswoth Home who attended St Mary's School were taught exactly the same as the boys and still ended up in service -
cornishbrummie
proper brummie kid
does anyone know at what age 'inmates' would have to leave ... would children in the 'asylum for infant poor' (as it was called) have to leave once they reached a certain age, or did they stay on as adults? I have what I believe to be my great-great-great-grandfather William Wiseman (1831-1886) recorded on the 1841 census as a boy of 12 ... this does not tally with all other census records, which all show he would have been two years younger, 10 not 12. I understand, however, that workhouse staff often fabricated the ages of children - making them appear older - in order to legally send them out to work, thus bringing money into the institution. I am unable to trace him any further back, but hope to look at more detailed records when I am next in Birmingham - I see that the library holds workhouse records, so I'm hoping to get some more accurate detail there. I do now that he married a Hannah Forrester in 1853: they later appear together as a family on census records for 1871 and 1886 ... previous to this, on the 1861 census, they are wrongly under the name of 'Wileman'. But no record of him on the 1851 census that I can see - he would be then 20. Any links or info from anyone on here would be much appreciated - thanks in advance!
sospiri
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Cornishbrummie:
The 1841 census is not a very reliable guide to age as the rule about rounding ages seems to have been applied very indiscrimately. My great grandfather was admitted to the Infant Asylum for the Poor shortly after birth in 1835 and my understanding is that he was trained to be a tailor and remained there until the age of 12 years. He was then apoprenticed to a tailor and upon the termination of his apprenticeship set himself up in business as a tailor and remained so until shortly before his death. I'm afraid that no records of this Asylum have survived.
Maurice
The 1841 census is not a very reliable guide to age as the rule about rounding ages seems to have been applied very indiscrimately. My great grandfather was admitted to the Infant Asylum for the Poor shortly after birth in 1835 and my understanding is that he was trained to be a tailor and remained there until the age of 12 years. He was then apoprenticed to a tailor and upon the termination of his apprenticeship set himself up in business as a tailor and remained so until shortly before his death. I'm afraid that no records of this Asylum have survived.
Maurice
cornishbrummie
proper brummie kid
That is great thank you. And the 'tailor' thing has got me thinking .... another great-grandfather was a tailor (James Henry Cooper born 1867 in London, date and place of death so far unknown): I 've had real difficulty finding any definite record of him in his earlier years, so maybe the workhouse / asylum for infant poor is the way to go, seeing as this was one of the trades they were trained up for?
cornishbrummie
proper brummie kid
The records are all now destroyed? I thought the records were all now held at the library - didn't the Asylum for infant poor become the workhouse and later became Highcroft hosptial ... or have I got this all wrong???
cornishbrummie
proper brummie kid
Oh Ok, thank you. So I guess that means I can't get any further back with him then. Booooooo! 
sospiri
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Highly unlikely. As my post #11 explains, my great grandfather simply didn't know who his parents were. I would dearly love to know as on the 1861 census he is shown as being 'partially deaf" at the age of 26. This deafness has been passed down the generations - my grandmother was profoundly deaf for most of her life (and she lived to be 85 years old), my mother (who lived to be 92) was very deaf, so am I, and two of my sons are now beginning to develop deafness in middle age - obviously an inherited genetic problem. So it would be nice to get further back to see where this problem is coming from. Like many Brummies, at least one of one of his parents most likely had rural origins. Alas, I shall never know.
Maurice
Maurice
