Newport Pagnell Workhouse Records 1850's

[vivijune]

I've located an ancestor of mine on the 1851 census where she is living in the Newport Pagnell Workhouse. In the 1861 census she's back in her original village of Astwood. I want to know how long she stayed in the workhouse. I'm fairly sure she was still there in 1853. Is there a site to can go to (link) where it would give me that information or is it only possible to get a snapshot from the census records?

Thanks for any help.

[CaroleW]

Newport Pagnell is in Buckinghamshire - not Bedfordshire.  I'll ask the moderator to move your post for you

WH records are not online - you could try contacting Bucks RO to see whether they still hold them for that period

[flateric999]

I have a feeling the records are archived in aylesbury. I haven't found any online.
How is the tree looking? I am assuming you are looking at Flute?! Did you research the ww1 soldier who is remembered in the church?

[carol8353]

I did find some parish records for someone once who was also looking at Newport Pagnell,in Milton Keynes central library. Maybe worth emailing them to ask?

[flateric999]

Parish records are in mk library and searchable by anyone. STARBUCKS is across the road too!

The records for the workhouse I couldn't find, which makes it difficult.

Assuming you are researching Harriet, i am guessing that she is there because she is pregnant. They don't stay long after baby is born i don't think.

[vivijune]

Thank you all for your information on where to source those records.

Flatteric, yes it's Harriet and it seems maybe she stayed longer in the workhouse. William Hart Flute was born to her alone in Bedford in 1848 and she is shown as a 'lacemaker' in the census for the workhouse in 1851 so maybe she had no alternative but to take him with her, listed as 3 years old. She had a daughter born in 1853, according to the record, in Newport Pagnell.  I have ordered their birth certificates in the hope they supply more information. My curiosity came from how long she could have been in that workhouse? Somehow she resolved her situation and came back to her family in Astwood Bury by 1861, then married a Thomas Fensom in 1862 and raised a second family. She lived close to all her Flute relatives and next door to her first son for the rest of her life. Some stories have happy endings.

[flateric999]

My feeling when I dug a little (sorry couldn't resist) was she entered the workhouse pregnant with her daughter.

This almost fits with the records I saw last night.

I also wondered if "hart" might be Williams dads surname?

Mike.

[vivijune]

Hi again.

No, not his surname, Robert Hart worked with her father and was the same age as her father, William Walker Flute in Astwood growing up. He may have been her godfather or a witness at her christening in Astwood in 1826. 

The family story handed down was that she went into service aged 19 in 'a big house' but 'the sons of the house ran wild with no supervision' and she became pregnant. When the parents found out 'she was turned out into the street.' It's the 1849- 1854 period I'd love to know about. When she shows up living in Astwood Bury for the census in 1861 she is living with her children right next door to the widowed Robert Hart and all her extended family. Son William Hart Flute is aged 12 and an agricultural laborer.

You said you looked at some records last night, just wondering what those are? How could you tell she entered the workhouse in 1853 and was pregnant? Am I missing something? I'm outside England so I can't go into a records office which is why I was hoping there was something on line.

Thanks again for taking an interest. 

[flateric999]

Hi,

On Ancestry the 1861 census gives daughter Caroline's dob as 1852 in 1871 Caroline is "Fensome" again birth year is 1852.

My guess is that she was pregnant when she went into the workhouse in 1851 and her son, william is there too. Her daughter would have born at some point after March 1851. Free MBD index gives April 1851

(http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=FreeBMDBirth&h=3695053&ti=5538&indiv=try&gss=pt&ssrc=pt_t38984331_p28130049974_ktidz0q3d38984331z0q26pidz0q3d28130049974z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dtidz0q257cpidz0q26pgpsz0q3d28130049974)

If she was in the workhouse as you suspect until 1853 she would have struggled to have become pregnant while an inmate as the regimes, i understand where very strict.

It mirrors one of my ancesters who entered the workhouse to have her second child. Her children where bought up by there Grandparents Reuben and Sarah and she never returned to astwood.

(Reuben is the brother of Eliza who married a Charles Flute)

Mike