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Workhouse birth

S

SBSFamilyhistory

master brummie
My grandmothers half brother was born in Birmingham Workhouse in 1870 is there any way of finding out when they left and how long my Great Grandmother lived there?
 
Workhouses

the 1871 census might help, the workhouse would have been listed in the census it could have been a tempory stay and not a living accomodation
 
Thanks John, I know they were not in the workhouse in 1871 but I wondered if she was there just to give birth or had been there for a longer period. She also shows as being in Uttexter workhouse in 1851 with her sisters.
 
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My father was born at 99 Dudley Road in 1911 - this is the address of the Dudley Road Workhouse Infirmary. I'm not sure whether this is the same as the Birmingham Workhouse - if it's not, then this information may be no help to you :(

Like you, I was interested in getting more information so I contacted the Birmingham Library but was told the majority of the records held on the Dudley Road Workhouse Infirmary are administrative or financial, rather than patient focused, particularly around the time I was interested in. However, it might be worth you contacting the library to see if they have records for 1871.

My father was illegitimate and I think my grandmother just "popped" into the workhouse infirmary to give birth. Three years earlier she had given birth to my uncle at the West Bromwich Union Workhouse which had the address of 88 Hallam Street. In neither case did the birth certificate state "workhouse" and I think it touching that some dignity was bestowed on the hapless children by disguising their true places of birth by using these street addresses.

Cheers, Roger
 
Hi Roger, I have made a number of posts in this section regarding "Workhouse births"
By the time your father was born the workhouse was closed and the infirmary that was to become Dudley Road Hospital was in use. It's not as bad as it seems, but you're not the first to make the unfortunate connection between the workhouse and the infirmary.

see https://forum.birminghamhistory.co.uk/showthread.php?p=46322&highlight=workhouse#post46322

and https://forum.birminghamhistory.co.uk/showthread.php?p=72454#post72454

Also a very interesting article by Chris Upton on page 7

https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/Media/F63.pdf?MEDIA_ID=208832&FILENAME=F63.pdf



Hope that helps

Colin
 
Hi Colin,

Thanks for that.

I knew that it became Dudley Road Hospital but I wasn't sure when. I assume that when my father was born in 1911 there was still some stigma associated with the place which is presumably why the address of 99 Dudley Road was used.

Interestingly, looking at the The National Archives website, they appear to list it as the Birmingham Workhouse Infirmary up to 1920, whereafter it becomes Dudley Road Hospital (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/details.asp?id=207&page=18). Is that just for record classification purposes or did the term "Workhouse Infirmary" survive until 1920?

Cheers, Roger
 
Colin B. My aunt was born at 1 Union Road, Erdington in 1914 I was led to believe it was the Aston Union Workhouse, do you know if that's correct?
 
The Aston Workhouse was in Erdington and became Highcroft Hospital. I cannot find a Union Road in Erdington, although it may have disappeared through time, however there is a Union Road in Aston, could it be wrong information

Colin
 
thanks very much for the responses, I have been very busy over the last few days.

I will look at the links when I have more time.


thanks again

Sue
 
Colin B. The information is from the birth certificate which states Where Born 1 Union Road, U.D. In the Informant column it has: W. Salmon Occupier, 1 Union Road, Erdington. The mother, my grandmother, is named and the address in Saltley Road is correct. Could it be she went to the workhouse for a short period to have the baby? Did the workhouse allow for that scenario? She was unmarried and this was her third illigitimate birth.
 
Union road became Highcroft Road ,ran between Fentham road and Reservoir road,Erdington.
Most of the hospital is now very up market apartments but they have kept much of the original building.
 
Thanks Alberta, that supports Shavedfishs information, and a bit more to add to my database. Do you have a date when the road name changed, and any idea when Highcroft Hospital moved to Slade Road


Colin
 
The Hospital main entrance gate was always in Highcroft Road when I lived nearby,the gate in Slade road was the back gate.
I believe that the small part of the hospital that remains has the address,Slade road.
The hospital was a huge place, boundaries were Fentham Road,Slade Road,Reservoir Road and Highcroft road.

Just found amongst some Birmingham archives.

Highcroft hospital

Pre 1948 General ,maternity Poor law,Local authority.

Post 1948 Geriatric,mental NHS
 
Alberta. Thanks for your input it looks like what I was told is correct. I still don't understand how a pregnant woman with two children can be admitted to the workhouse and then go back to her home shortly after the birth. Perhaps lies come into it because my grandmother was an expert at not telling it how it really is!
 
Hi ShavedFish49,

What you describe seems no different to what my own grandmother did (see my post above) where she went into a workhouse infirmary in 1908 and again in 1911 to give birth to my uncle and my father.

These places were workhouse infirmaries and, as Colin B as pointed out, they were evolving around this time so there was more emphasis on the infirmary bit and less on the workhouse component. I think these women went in to give birth and then came back out, treating the place as a hospital for the poor and having to ignore the workhouse connotations that would have been associated with them.

My grandmother was a domestic servant and at the time she had children her own mother and father had died so it is quite possible that she had nowhere suitable to have her own children so had to turn to the workhouse infirmaries. I would imagine she would have been sacked when she was found to be pregnant.

Cheers, Roger
 
Thanks Roger that makes a lot of sense to me. I know she lived in Saltley Road but probably with someone as a lodger. On the BC it states her occupation but that doesn't necessarily mean she was still employed. Both her previous children were born at her home address which is why I originally tables this question.
 
At the time (pre NHS) births would either be at home attended by a midwife or doctor who would need to be payed, the other option the workhouse infirmary, would have been free the cost being covered by the local Poor Relief Fund committee.
It appears the stigma attached to workhouse births was a national thing, this taken from the London Metropolitan Archives.

Registers of Births
In many London and Middlesex poor law unions or parishes the maternity ward was in the workhouse rather than in the workhouse infirmary. After 1904 a birth certificate should not state that a birth took place in a workhouse giving instead the street and number as the place of birth, for instance, 4 Kings Road, St. Pancras, instead of St. Pancras Workhouse. Alternatively a euphemistic name might be used such as Twyford Lodge for Willesden Workhouse Infirmary or The Lodge, Bancroft Road, for Mile End Workhouse.
Registers of Baptisms
Sometimes Boards of Guardians records include registers of baptisms in the workhouse. Otherwise baptisms solemnised in the workhouse may be recorded in the parish registers of the local church


Colin
 
Thanks again Colin that's an excellent example of how fair and sympathetic the poor were being treated (very pc you might say).
 
That information from the LMA is very interesting, Colin, and ties in with the sanitised addresses on my father and uncle's birth certificates. Perhaps it was a national policy at that time?

For Dudley Road Workhouse Infirmary, do you happen to know if a register of baptisms still exists for period 1908-1911? Which would have been the local church (St Cuthbert's in Winson Green Road?)

I didn't specifically ask a question about baptismal records when I approached Birmingham Library about what has survived.

Thanks, Roger
 
Just a thought Shavedfish49 but I would think that the Head of the workhouse would have to be the informant on any document of a birth in the Hospital.

Maybe not a coincedence but in 1901 the Workhouse master of the Workhouse in Keighley Yorkshire was William Clement Salmon who was born in Birmingham in 1863,he was newly married ( to Selina Davies in 1900) so perhaps he later came down to his home city to work.
A bit off topic but I love trivia.
 
Hi Alberta,

On my father's birth certificate (1911) the informant was T M Hardie of 99 Dudley Road (the address of the Dudley Road Workhouse Infirmary). Ten years earlier, in the 1901 census, T Martin Hardie was described as Head, and as Master of Infirmary. That bears out your theory that the Head registered the births.

On the other hand, when my uncle was born in 1908 at the West Bromwich Union Workhouse his mother registered the birth herself, so the practice may have varied from place to place.

Cheers, Roger
 
Thanks Alberta. Of course William Salmon's name could be a red herring! It's fishy whatever way you look at it. (sorry too good to miss)
 
Workhouse

There was a workhouse at the top of Station Road Erdington and the corner of New Sutton Road.....Cat....:)
 
My great grandfather was born in 1866 and it states Dudley Road Workhouse on his birth certificate so no display of finer feelings there I'm afraid.
 
Sorry Jill, your grandfather was a couple of years too early

"Infirmaries attached to Workhouses were improved following a recommendation by the Poor Law Board in 1868."

Colin
 
Thanks for the information Colin. At least those who were born later didn't suffer the stigma.
 
Colin B said:
Thanks Alberta, that supports Shavedfishs information, and a bit more to add to my database. Do you have a date when the road name changed, and any idea when Highcroft Hospital moved to Slade Road


Colin
Click to expand...


My great grandfather died in 1930. The address given on the death certificate was 18 Union Road which we have been led to believe was connected with the 'workhouse'. If this is the case then the road name must have changed after 1930.

g..
 
Hi All, an interesting book to get is "Highcroft: from workhouse to modern mental health service" by Highcroft History Group. I purchased mine when I went to Newhall Mill open day last year, but I would imagine that you probably could obtain a copy from your library. Its a fasinating book the preface is done by Carl Chinn, it has a timeline in it, a chapter on The Old Poor Law....background to the history of Highcroft, Aston Union Workhouse 1836-1871, The new workhouse at Gravelly Hill 1871-1912, Erdington House 1912-1942, Highcroft Hall 1942-1948. Well worth the buy.
 
I also have a birth certificate (1913)for 99 Dudley Road. If others are the same then I wonder if the births were registered by a TH Hardie like the one in my possession. He his described in a book on the history of Dudley Road Hospital as a "Mr Bumble" type character fom Charles Dickens`s Oliver Twist. Both he and his father before him were associated with institutions of one kind or another.
 
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