Genealogy Chat

my father spent most of his childhhood in croydon parish workhouse. his mother sent him and various siblings there when she beecame too poor to feed them. some she would come and release when she could support them. sadly he was the one that was always left till last, as a result he never went home again, he ran away at the outbreak of ww2 and signed up to the army even though he was only 14 (they still took him off to fight in tangiers and italy). an even more cruel p.s. to this story happened recently when he suffered a minor heart attack. he was taken to mayday hospital in croydon (the old workhouse) and woke up in the same room that was used as the punishment room. where they would whip the children with birch when they were caught doing something wrong. as you can imagine this caused him more grief that the medical disorder that he went in for. and the staff just couldnt understand why he was "making a fuss" - like most people they thought that workhouses were a thing of the distant past, and refused to believe him. or more importantly move him.

Thank you all very much for your thoughts on this matter. I tried looking into this matter for a couple of hours and managed to get nowhere. Thanks to you, my questions were answered very quickly. Thank you again......Janine

I have a relly who had a child whilst in a workhouse, the reason being that she was unmarried. Lisa

Hello Janine, This has also happened in my family - my grandad was born in Newington Workhouse in London in 1898. I think they may have anticipated a problem with the birth, therefore she gave birth in the workhouse where free medical assistance was available. best wishes, Karen

Westham union work house (Laytonstone) Langthorne park. built 1842, housed up to a 1000 inmates from Walthamstow, leyton,Stratford and Westham. Conditions were no better than a prison and in 1906 5 Gauardians and 4 officers were arested for coruption. between 1930-1948 it was slowly turned in to an NHS hospital to care for the elderly. I can only think your relle was there becuse the family had fallen on hard times so she ended up there wile he tryed to make some money to get back on there feet.

Hi, My local workhouse seemed to fulfil many functions, only one of which was looking after paupers. It also had a medical dispensary and cared for people who were sick if there was no one at home to look after them. Perhaps your relative was having some kind of medical treatment? Regards, Mary

Hi everyone, My family seem to be driving me mad. Every time I think I have answered one question, five more pop up. I have noticed that when my great grand mother had her first child (in 1891) she was listed as living at the Union Workhouse, Leytonstone, London. Can anyone shed some light on this as I do not know why she was there. Her husband (my great grandfather) was living at a different address, which was their marital home. I am so confused and yet desperate to know why my great grandmother was in a Workhouse. Is there anyway I can find the reason why?.......Thank you all.....Janine