Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Hi,

I am looking into my family tree and have found a relative who died in Liverpool Workhouse (Brownlow Hill we think) in 1869 - we've a date and cause of death but no idea how/why she ended up in the workhouse. Where is the best place I could find additional information about her?

Her husband remarried four years later...and he and his wife were listed as living in the church? Any idea's how or why this would be?

Thanks.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

The records for the Workhouse held at the Liverpool Record Office - Third Floor William Brown Street Library. Hopefully you would find an entry for your ancestor as there are Admissions Registers. It may well be that she was admitted because of illness as the Workhouse would also have been the infirmary.

Can you please give us details of the marriage so that we can give our thoughts.

Hi, thank you for the swift reply - I will be heading down to the library this week so I will have something to look for now, thank you.

The marriage was between Robert Cormick Steele and Annie E Smith on 29th October 1873 at St Simons Church (which I believe was near Lime Street), and they are both listed as living there. Robert has been somewhat elusive to us, and the last we know of him was in 1881 where he was living in Kilshaw Street with his family...after that he has vanished.

Thanks.

The marriage register on Ancestry shows that the parish where they were living was entered rather than a specific address. They didn't live in the church they lived within the parish of St Simon's.


Blue

Ah, that explains that then...thanks. At least now I've got a starting point for them...there's a feeling that Robert went overseas but nothing concrete has been found to support this yet, I've been tasked with finding out anything I can about Annie and the family he left behind..

If you have never used the Record Office before and need a little assistance possibly with microfilms etc. the Society hosts a Help Desk on Tuesday afternoons between 1.30 and 4.00 pm.

It's been about 20 years since I was last there, I might leave it until next Tuesday before I come up and have a bit of time there. In the mean time I have a lead on a burial in Rice Lane Cemetery that may provide some additional information.

Had a good few hours in the records office this afternoon and found some information out that we didn't know before! Does anyone know if there are individual records for those who were admitted or died in the workhouse? I have an individual record number...just wondering what it relates to? Going back to the library next Tuesday for a little more research..

The records for Liverpool Workhouse are on microfilm (353 SEL). They are in date order but have rough alphabetical indexes - all names starting with the same letter are grouped together but they are not in strict alphabetical order as, for example, Brown could come before Baker. Hope that makes sense!

I recently traced one of my ancestors through the workhouse records - between the years 1861 and 1866, she was admitted and discharged 19 times! The sort of information given is:

Admission Number
Date of Admission
Name
Age
Address (often just the parish is given)
Part of the Workhouse they were admitted to
Discharge date
Ward from which they were discharged
Where they went after being discharged

My relative went in once and died there 9 days later - the record did not show who was with her or where she was from, we know she died of an illness which is why it would be safe to assume that she went into the hospital part of it. I was just wondering if there was any further information I could gain about her..

Sadly the possibility is that there may not have been family with her and possibly she was too ill to give much information. Was it an Admittance Register you found and was the information similar to the entries for other people on the same page?

I am a little confused here ! This thread started with a request for further info on a 'relative' who died in the workhouse in 1869 and then moves on to a subsequent marriage in 1873 ?

It would be helpful if the 'relative' of the first instance was given a name and some further detail of what you may actually know already,then possibly, we may be able to assist more accurately in your search for information regarding that person.
With regard to 'Rice Lane' farm/cemetery,you will probably not find very much from there other than a date of Death,Date of burial, which institution the body actually came from,(that would determine which actual workhouse),and how much it cost either the Parish or the Family to bury them. If indeed they are in 'paid for' ground ?

Robert has been somewhat elusive to us, and the last we know of him was in 1881 where he was living in Kilshaw Street with his family...after that he has vanished.

Haven't yet found Robert etc in 1881. Please post the Census Summary page reference for his whereabouts. It will be similar to: RG11 - Piece: 3693 - Folio: 96: - Page: 7.

Where does the Cormick middle name appear? In the 1873 marriage he is plain Robert Steele.

Is this his birth?
Births Sep 1841: Steele, Robert Cormick - Whitehaven 25 160
And this a son?
Births Mar 1868: Steele, Robert Cormick - Liverpool 8b 235

Hi DS,
1881
Robert Steele, bn Whitehaven
Elizabeth, Wife
116 Kilshaw St

Rg11 P3666 F94 Page21

Is this Robert in 1861?
RG09 Piece 2733 Page 32 Folio 19
Address: 28 Hatfield Street, West Derby, Liverpool
William Steele Head 59 1802 Messenger at sailors home - LIVERPOOL, LANCASHIRE
Jane Steele Wife 51 1810 - WHITEHAVEN, CUMBERLAND
Robert C Steele Son U/m 19 1842 Messenger at sailors home - WHITEHAVEN, CUMBERLAND

1871 living with Nathaniel Thomas and family,

lodger & widower,

Rg10 P3843 F54 Page37

Name:
Robert Cormack Steele
Estimated birth year:
abt 1868
Date of Registration:
Apr-May-Jun 1868
Age at Death:
0
Registration district:
Liverpool
Inferred County:
Lancashire
Volume:
8b
Page:
189

The marriage was between Robert Cormick Steele and Annie E Smith on 29th October 1873

Thanks for that Bert. Have to admit I was looking for Robert and Annie Steele... Where are those tablets?

For the crew....
Address: 116 Killshaw St, Everton
Robert Steele Head 38 1843 Cotton Porter - WHITEHAVEN, CUMBERLAND
Elizabeth Steele Wife 27 1854 - IRELAND
Elizabeth Steele Dtr 6 1875 Scholar - LPOOL, LANCASHIRE
Mary Jane Steele Dtr 2 1879 - LPOOL, LANCASHIRE
William Jas Steele Son 0 1881 - LPOOL, LANCASHIRE

He did marry Annie Smith, 1873, so, Elizabeth? known by middle name.

wow!!! I'm very impressed with what people have found...let me tell you what we know about my GGGrandfather Robert:

1841 Born 31a James St. Whitehaven,Dad William mother Jane nee Cormick, Grandad Robert Cormick

1844 sister Catharine born in Liverpool ?

1847 brother Thomas born in Liverpool ?

1850 brother William born in Liverpool ?

1851 stiil living in Whitehaven, parents in 40 Lowther St. West Derby, Liverpool

1861 living in 28, Hatfield St. Liverpool aged 19 with parents

1863 aged 21 married Emma Preston aged 23 yrs on 29 March St Clements Church, Beaumont St, Toxteth, Liverpool

1864 in May (est) baby Emma Born , on 9 August baby Emma died of Diarrhoea of 6 days certified, Robert was a clerk at Sailors home (possibly on dock road)

1865 on 23 April Elizabeth Jane born and Baptised on 20 Feb 1866 at St Peters Church, Church St, Liverpool

1868 Elizabeth Jane died on 18 September of Struma Diarrhoea at 45 Copperas Hill, Robert listed as Cotton Porter, possibly at Wapping Dock, Liverpool.Interred 20 Sept in Rice Lane Cemetry, Walton.

1869 wife Emma Steel (typo) died in Liverpool Workhouse(which one ? Brownlow Hill we think) aged 30 years of Typhus on 19 May, interred

1871 Robert lodging at 83 Troughton Street (off Smithdown Lane),Liverpool

1873 Married Annie E. Smith at St Simons Church near Lime Street, Liverpool on 29 October

1874 daughter Elizabeth (lizzy) born on 11 November and Baptised 4 May in St Peters

1878 daughter Mary Jane born on 4 August and Baptised 19 August in St Peters

1880 Mum Jane Steele died in Southport, had been living in Alms houses in Catherine St, Liverpool

1881 son William James born on 16 February and Baptised on 23 March at St Peters Church ,Census records show that they lived in 116 Kilshaw St,and Robert aged 38 yrs was listed as a Cotton Porter possibly in Wapping Dock, Annie nee Smith aged 27yrs, Elizabeth 6yrs, Mary Jane 2 yrs and William James 2 months.

Then Robert dissapears...I've found his wife later remarried and two of his kids had moved out of that home to work (1901 Census)...and it's him we're after primarily.

Thank you again to all who did some digging for me.