Annuitant

[lalkav]

On the 1841 census my 3x great Grandmother Elizabeth Abrahams was a servant at Hampton Court House. 5 years later she married a fellow servant James Frost. On the 1851 census she was living in Belgrave and listed as married but was only with her 2 children, there was no husband. In Nov 1851 she gave birth to her third child Henry. This child was baptised in 1854 and the father was named as James Frost deceased Servant. In 1861 she was living in Marylebone with her 2 daughters, she was a widow and their occupations are plain needlewoman. In 1871 she was again living in Marylebone, was a cook and had her 2 adult children living with her and they were also in employment in a factory and as a plumber. In 1881 she was living in Chelsea and was an Annuitant however the following year she died in the workhouse.

So my question is, how was she receiving an annuity? I can't make any sense of it all. Could it have been from when she was a servant?

[youngtug]

http://www.familyhistory.uk.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=74&Itemid=29

[lalkav]

But where would she have been receiving an annual allowance from? I doubt she would have been in a position to be receiving it from money that she had invested as she was a single mother of 3.

[youngtug]

But where would she have been receiving an annual allowance from? I doubt she would have been in a position to be receiving it from money that she had invested as she was a single mother of 3.

Did you scroll down and read this;   "Often however, it was also used for institutionalized pensioners".

[youngtug]

Friendly society's paid pensions to those who had joined and paid for themselves and their wives

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendly_Societies_Act_1875

[stanmapstone]

It could also mean retired servants in receipt of an annuity from their previous employers.

Stan

[lalkav]

Yes I scrolled down and read about institutionalized pensioners but didn't think that it applied to her as she was classed as an annuitant when she was living in a house in Chelsea.

I did wonder about her receiving an annuity due to her having been a servant but I wasn't sure if she'd had to have been in employment with a particular employer for a certain period of time. She was definitely a servant in 1841 but wasn't by the time of her marriage in 1846.

[youngtug]

Not all recipients of relief from the parish where in the workhouse, many lived at home.

  http://www.pensionsarchive.org.uk/107/text/174/files/Poor%20Law.pdf

[Bookbox]

As regards the above comments, I think it would be quite unusual for someone in receipt of poor-law relief to be described in the census as an Annuitant.

Other possibilities are that she had been left an annuity in the will of a relative or close friend, or by a former employer of her late husband.

A death in the workhouse does not necessarily indicate that she was a pauper or a regular inmate there. She may have been admitted simply because she became ill. The workhouse infirmary was the main provider of hospital care for most Londoners at this period.