Author Topic: Unusual relationships in 1861  (Read 1135 times)

Offline andrewalston

  • RootsChat Aristocrat
  • ******
  • Posts: 2,932
  • My granddad
    • View Profile
Unusual relationships in 1861
« on: Monday 27 November 17 13:13 GMT (UK) »
Just came across this family on the outskirts of Holmes Chapel in Cheshire.

They are not the usual relationships one finds in that column of a census!

John may be just an "ag lab", but the couple seem to be making a bit extra by taking in children from the workhouse.
Looking at ALSTON in south Ribble area, ALSTEAD and DONBAVAND/DUNBABIN etc. everywhere, HOWCROFT and MARSH in Bolton and Westhoughton, PICKERING in the Whitehaven area.

Census information is Crown Copyright. See www.nationalarchives.gov.uk for details.

Offline andrewalston

  • RootsChat Aristocrat
  • ******
  • Posts: 2,932
  • My granddad
    • View Profile
Re: Unusual relationships in 1861
« Reply #1 on: Monday 27 November 17 13:19 GMT (UK) »
Just looked at them in 1871, and there are three different children as boarders, all marked as "Pauper from Workhouse".
Looking at ALSTON in south Ribble area, ALSTEAD and DONBAVAND/DUNBABIN etc. everywhere, HOWCROFT and MARSH in Bolton and Westhoughton, PICKERING in the Whitehaven area.

Census information is Crown Copyright. See www.nationalarchives.gov.uk for details.

Offline Thornwood

  • RootsChat Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 166
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: Unusual relationships in 1861
« Reply #2 on: Monday 27 November 17 16:02 GMT (UK) »
I do hope their reasons for giving the children a home were good ones and that they didn't just want free labour. The children would have been expected to earn their keep but at least they would have been out of the workhouse and hopefully with kind people.

Offline mike175

  • RootsChat Aristocrat
  • ******
  • Posts: 1,756
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: Unusual relationships in 1861
« Reply #3 on: Monday 27 November 17 21:02 GMT (UK) »
I hope the three children under the age of 3 wouldn't be expected to earn their keep  ;)

Does anyone know if they would have received any support from the workhouse or the parish in these circumstances? This is not something I have come across in my research, although I did find a child described as a foundling.
Baskervill - Devon, Foss - Hants, Gentry - Essex, Metherell - Devon, Partridge - Essex/London, Press - Norfolk/London, Stone - Surrey/Sussex, Stuttle - Essex/London, Wheate - Middlesex/Essex/Coventry/Oxfordshire/Staffs, Gibson - Essex, Wyatt - Essex/Kent


Offline Ayashi

  • RootsChat Aristocrat
  • ******
  • Posts: 1,789
  • William Wood, who was your mother??
    • View Profile
Re: Unusual relationships in 1861
« Reply #4 on: Monday 27 November 17 21:34 GMT (UK) »
This is interesting because I do have one family where there's a child half way through with a different surname, occupation "base child"... I always assumed it was his! Incidentally the child was named after the rest of the children of the marriage at the time but before his mother in law and the servants lol