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Workhouse

The other thing is - there is an Alfred Brierley (witness at the marriage of Charles and Mary) who is on the prison records on Ancestry. It could be someone totally different but not a terribly common name so likely. I did wonder if Charles was in similar trouble, it might explain why Mary is one her own on the 1901 census but doesn't explain his absence.
 
pjmburns said:
The other thing is - there is an Alfred Brierley (witness at the marriage of Charles and Mary) who is on the prison records on Ancestry. It could be someone totally different but not a terribly common name so likely. I did wonder if Charles was in similar trouble, it might explain why Mary is one her own on the 1901 census but doesn't explain his absence.
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I think that is the right Alfred Brierly because I think his address is quite close to where Charles and Mary lived and also he and Charles has similar jobs. Could be coincidence but I don't think so.
 
Did Amy marry Thomas Betts? If so, interesting that she is listed as Amy Elizabeth Humphrey.

Going from her birth registration it would be appear that Charles Hill was her father so despite her being illegitimate I would have expected her to use Hill.
 
Amy married Thomas Betts and went on to have 16 children with him including my mother who always said her grandfather was 'Charlie Hill.' My grandmother, who was born before they were married, never took his name and on my mother's birth certificate has the maiden name 'Unfrith.' I guess someone wrote down what they thought hey had heard.
 
I believe it was called that, after the steel spike, used to separate the naval tarred rope, called "picking Oakum", which was the main (employment), of the undeserving poor!!!!
 
The book "The People of the Abyss" published in 1903 by Jack London gives a description of an estimated half a million contemporary London poor.
In chapter 9 he describes the Spike, the casual ward.
Cold bath taken on entering, given 6 ounces of bread and 3 parts of skilly (oatmeal stirred into 3 buckets and a half of hot water) Then you do your task, pick 4 pounds of oakum, clean and scrub, or break 10 to 11 hundredweight of stones. Dinner 8 ounces of bread, I and a half ounces of cheese and cold water. Supper same of before. Next morning turned loose.

To gain access to the casual ward you must be destitute and be subjected to a rigorous search.

The book is free as an audio book Via Audiobook or read via…

 
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Joining this late but just got the Birth Cert in the workhouse as against the Infirmary....my Mother in law born in Infirmary and the cert just says the address...not the workhouse....
 

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hi keith that cert says it was a boy who was born or do you mean your mother in law was sarah hill the mother of charles ?

lyn
 
Sorry for a confusing reply...........will try and word it better........

2 separate things.....the cert says workhouse which means not only in the infirmery but living in the workhouse......BUT.....

In 1923 my M in Laws Cert said 77 Dudley Road which was the infirmary and we have seen the entries in the Infirmary book which says D.O.B and the arrival and departure when he Mom was in the Infirmary...10 days if I remember properly.....

This is in reply to the original question and answer.
 
As far as I can tell I think this is down to date rather than place.
Use of 77 Dudley Road to avoid the stigma of a "workhouse" birth (workhouse on certificate) didn't start until 1904.
I am curious where you saw the record book as when I checked it said records were destroyed. Thanks
 
pjmburns said:
As far as I can tell I think this is down to date rather than place.
Use of 77 Dudley Road to avoid the stigma of a "workhouse" birth (workhouse on certificate) didn't start until 1904.
I am curious where you saw the record book as when I checked it said records were destroyed. Thanks
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Saw the 1923 record in the workhouse records book at the Library of Brum.
 
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