Liverpool workhouse.

[kentish maid]

Can anyone help me please? My ancestor Sarah Elizabeth Atkinson was born 1848 in Gravesend, Kent. She was orphaned in 1851 and I have found her in the workhouse in Gravesend in the 1861 census. In the 1871 census she is in Liverpool workhouse (St Columbus, Mount Pleasant). In the 1881 census she had moved to the 'Penitent Home, in Leicester which seems to be a home for unmarried mothers.
My question is was it usual practice to move people between workhouses as Liverpool and Kent are many miles apart also are the records for the Liverpool workhouse available online?
Many thanks
Maureen

[Fledge]

Maureen, this is worth a read, if you haven't done so already. http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Liverpool/

You are in luck as there are records in existence (there aren't any surviving for any of my relatives who were in different Workhouses up and down the country). These are held at Liverpool Library; I don't think you'll find any online. If you are unable to get up here, or get anyone to look for you, the staff at Liverpool will do a search on your behalf for a basic fee. They are very good.

It is quite some distance between Liverpool and Kent. I've had a number of ancestors turn up in Workhouses a hundred miles away where I was least expecting to find them, so wonder if they did move them around a bit. Otherwise, perhaps something brought your Sarah to Liverpool... maybe she didn't travel over land, but around the coast on a ship? Just a thought.

[kentish maid]

Thank you very much, as I live 'down south' I will contact the library and see what the charges are.
Again, thanks.

[Hilary]

In the 1871 census Sarah's occupation is given as a servant. In 1861 she is listed as training for service (I think) so she may well have come to Liverpool for work but then fallen on hard times and had to enter the workhouse. For many young woman entering the workhouse the cause is that they are pregnant and have nowhere to go.

Moving to the Sarah in 1881 she is listed as Sarah Ann and a slightly later date of birth. She is still an inmate in Leicester in 1891 and 1901 I am not completely convinced that these 2 Sarah's are the same person. They may be a Sarah Elizabeth and a Sarah Ann both born in Gravesend within a couple of years of each other.

Maybe your Sarah married?

[kentish maid]

Thanks Hilary, that thought had occurred but still can't find a marriage/death that would be appropriate if she stayed in Liverpool. Will keep on looking, I guess that's what family history is all about.
Thanks again, Maureen

[MaryA]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Not a lot I can add to the good advice given by our crew, except to agree that there are Workhouse Records on microfilm at the Library, but not online, unless of course you may find a burial recorded as being from the workhouse (ancestry).

I wondered if it was work that would make her travel but perhaps the jobs didn't pan out as she expected and fell on hard times.

[dickiesam]

After her stay in workhouses Sarah seems to have been resident in Penitent Homes. This is the one in Leicestershire where Hilary may have found her in 1881, 1891 and 1901... The Home, Stoneygate Road, Leicester.

Profile of one Stoneygate house
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoneygate
In Stoneygate Road (No. 58), on the corner of Aber Road, is a large three-storey red brick Victorian building in the gothic style. This was built in 1880 to plans by local architect William Beaumont Smith to relocate the 'Home for Penitent Females' from its previous premises at 16 Blue Boar Lane in Leicester. 'The Home', as it was known, was a charity run by a Committee of local philanthropists and religious leaders to provide welfare and reform for unmarried mothers (often referred to as 'fallen women'). It is assumed that the women's children would have been taken from their mothers and would be treated as orphans or adopted soon after birth. The charity would generate income by taking in washing which would be done by the inmates.

In 1910+1 it is listed as the 'Home For Friendless Girls', Stoneygate Road, Leicester, under the control of the matron 54 year old Anne Elizabeth LYON. The 'girls' are aged from 16 to 35 and are from all over the UK, including Ireland.

Re:

My ancestor Sarah Elizabeth Atkinson was born 1848 in Gravesend, Kent.

If you don't have a marriage for Sarah, how is she connected to you as an ancestor? Or is she a sibling of someone in your direct line?

[MaryA]

'Home For Friendless Girls'

What a sad name

[dickiesam]

'Home For Friendless Girls'

What a sad name

Indeed it is. But it precisely reflects the situation an unmarried mother could find herself in, without a friend in the world. And sad to say it has persisted to this day in some communities.

[kentish maid]

Thanks everyone, Sarah was the only surviving daughter of the sister of my 2x gt grandfather. I am just trying to tidy up the tree wondered what happened to her.
On another subject my husband's 2 x gt grandmother was Ann Thompson, born c1846 in Liverpool. She didn't marry her children's father so what chances of breaking down that 'brick wall'??? Can't find anymore information about her or how/why she came to Kent. Oh well, one day....
Thanks again.

[dickiesam]

On another subject my husband's 2 x gt grandmother was Ann Thompson, born c1846 in Liverpool. She didn't marry her children's father so what chances of breaking down that 'brick wall'??? Can't find anymore information about her or how/why she came to Kent. Oh well, one day....
Thanks again.

At that time there were only two registration districts in Liverpool. If Ann Thompson was reasonably consistent with 1846 being her YoB in later censuses there were only 4 such named births registered in Liverpool between 1844 and 1848....
Births Jun 1846: Thompson, Ann - West Derby 20 1171
Births Mar 1847: Thompson, Ann - Liverpool 20 500
Births Sep 1847: Thompson, Ann - Liverpool 20 495
Births Dec 1847: Thompson, Ann Jane - Liverpool 20 451

While it is possible her birth was never registered, if she never used Jane or J on any birth cert or on her death cert, it reduces the probables to 3.

Have you tracked any of these 3 in 1851 and later, and found family/siblings? She may have used 'familiar' names for her own children that could provide a clue as to who she was. When does she first appear in Kent and what surname is she using?

[kentish maid]

Have had another look at my Ann Thompson records and it seems more than likely that she was born c1833, her age does vary on the census info. It seems that she was in the workhouse from at least 1891 to her death in 1908. Her 'partner' Frederick Dunk was in the workhouse in 1901 census and died there in 1902. What a sad end to their lives, wonder if they were allowed to see each other while they were there? Anyway will keep on hoping I can trace her origins.