St Pancras Workhouse Records - Strange Abbreviation!

[trachelospermum]

Hi, after spending an exhausting day at the London Metropolitan Archives searching the workhouse records I am confused. Searching for a John Brett born abt. 1825, I came across a chap of the same name who entered aged 11 in 1835. He left in 1845, which would fit with the marriage I have in 1846. However, why did he stay so long when they were normally apprenticed out as soon as possible? In the far right hand column on the records, headed "Remarks" is the abbreviation H.C. next to his entry. This appears to have been written at his time of exit as opposed to entry as the ink is different. This abbreviation had two ladies at the record office stumped, so I'm passing it over to the knowledgable people of this forum! Thanks, Jo.

Edited to add that he went on to be a carpenter and disappears by 1861, although his wife and kids are still about!

[hepburn]

A wild guess..House Carpenter,seeing that was what he ended up doing, and the reason he didn't leave till he was 21..

[loo]

I have no idea really, but I'll bet he was some glad to get out of that place and have a life, after all those years!

Do you suppose he could have served his apprenticeship right there in the workhouse?

Here are the names of some books which I have accumulated.  I do not have the books in my possession, but they are in some libraries.  Perhaps you will find a clue in one of them, if no one else knows:

Longmate, Norman.  The workhouse.  London : Temple Smith, 1974.  320 p.   ISBN:  0851170382 

Webb, Cliff.   London, Middlesex and Surrey workhouse records : a guide to their nature and location.  Surrey : West Surrey Family History Society, [1998], c1999, rev. 20 p.  ISSN:  0261-5673

Morrison, Kathryn. Workhouse : a study of poor-law buildings in England.  Swindon : Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1999.   255 p.  ISBN 1873592361.  Includes bibliographical references (p. 240-243) and index.

Marshall, J. D.   The Old Poor Law, 1795-1834; prepared for the Economic History Society. 
London, Macmillan, 1968. 

Englander, David.   Poverty and poor law reform in Britain : from Chadwick to Booth, 1834-1914.
London : Longman, 1998.  142 p.    ISBN:  0582315549(pbk.) 

Derek Fraser, ed. The New Poor Law in the nineteenth century.  London : Macmillan, 1976.   218 p.   ISBN:  0333166558

[trachelospermum]

Thanks for that, I did check the apprenticeship indentures and ther was no record of him being apprenticed. I'll have a look for those books, thanks, Jo

[behindthefrogs]

In general indentures were kept by the parent and the master although in the case of the workhouse this might replace the father.

It was normal practice for workhouses to place young poor boys in apprenticeships and the workhouse records and prior to 1834 those of the overseers of the poor were the places to look for apprenticeships.  After 1834 one would expect to find details in the records and minutes of the guardians of the poor.  Is this where you were looking when you said you had looked at the workhouse records?

David

[trachelospermum]

I can't remember what the name of the record was, I was a bit boggle-eyed by that time! It was basically a book (on film) full of children in the workhouse and the details of their apprenticeships. There was a separate folder for the guardians so I guess I didn't look thoroughly! I am thinking that the C in the H.C. may be carpenter, but this abbreviation didn't appear anywhere else in the 10 years preceding and following 1845, unlike "removed" which appeared a lot  . Jo

[loo]

Maybe it doesn't mean anything, and is just the initials of someone who needed to verify something for some reason?

[tyr]

Hello Jo
Hope you dont mind this enquiry but I am trying to track the records of my Great grandfather who died in St Pancras Workhouse (in 1899) and my grandmother who was put in the workhouse for a while before being transferred to an orphanage (in 1904).  Would you mind telling me what records in particular you looked at?  I know i have to get a researcher to do the deed but thought it would be better and cheaper if I could give them more details of what I wanted looked at. 
Thank you
Kind regards
Jill
Strathalbyn
South Australia

[trachelospermum]

Hi, I looked at the admissions for the years surrounding, although the records are different for the years you are talking about. It's all on microfilm, so it's easy to find, and i expect a professional would find it very quickly anyway as all I did was ask for the record when I got there and they took me to it straight away. Jo