Hi again,
The burials listings for the Manningfords and Pewsey post-1837 are not fully transcribed online as yet,to my knowledge. They are held at the Wiltshire Archives in Chippenham and you would need to email them. They are very helpful, for a fee. As Alan very kindly said, it looks as if Maria Bailey died in the Pewsey registration district in 1854. If she were my direct great ancestor,I would order her death certificate from the General Records Office. It would give you her place of death as well as date and cause and also whether she was the wife or widow of her husband.
There are several possibilities for Thomas Bailey in the Pewsey reg. district. I think that the 1851 one was a chap in Enford, so can be written out. The other two, for 1852 and 1859, are possibilities and Maria's death cert. should give you a pointer as to which is your chap.
Both Thomas and Maria seem to be elusive in a search of the 1841 census. There was a Thomas, aged 50 and a wheelwright, living with two other wheelwrights in Manningford Bruce in the 1841 census but no sign of Maria and it's a common name. There are no Baileys of any spelling in Bohune, Abbots or Pewsey in 1841 (not even the workhouse!). I think you may have found out that Thomas and Maria were paupers from the 1851 census when they were living in Bohune and he is listed as "pauper,former ag lab". They were obviously "on the parish" by then and accepted as such by the Poor Law overseers,which may mean that they had been resident for the required period. They would have been helped while living in their own home. Alan's link to an explanation about entitlement is very good. No parish wanted to be liable for needy poor who did not qualify according to the rules in Alan's article. Even very sick people would be transported back to their previous parish of entitlement.
Hope this helps a little. I'll get back to you if I find anything else relevant.
Linda
