Poverty

Gressenhall Workhouse, Norfolk

Many of the women whose stories we tell found themselves living in poverty at some point in their lives. You can access the stories by clicking on the women's names below.

Here are some resources to help with this topic:

Bagley, John J & Bagley, Alexander John The English Poor Law Macmillan (1968)

Burlison, Robert Tracing your Pauper Ancestors: a guide for family historians Pen and Sword (2009)

Cale, Michelle Saved from a Life of Vice and Crime: reformatory and industrial schools for girls, c.1854-c.1901 unpublished thesis for the University of Oxford (1993)

Cole, Anne An Introduction to Poor Law Documents before 1834 FFHS 2nd edition (2000)

Family Search Wiki Poor Law Records pre-1834

Fowler, Simon Workhouse: the people, the places, the life behind doors Pen and Sword (2014)

Gear, Gillian Carol Industrial Schools in England 1857-1933: moral hospitals or oppressive institutions? Unpublished PhD thesis for University of London Institute of Education (1999)

Genguide Overseers of the Poor Accounts

Hawkings, David T Pauper Ancestors: a guide to the records created by the poor laws in England and Wales The History Press (2011)

Higginbotham, Peter The Workhouse Encyclopaedia The History Press (2014)

National Archives’ Podcast Living the Poor Life: poverty and the workhouse in the nineteenth century

National Archives; Research Guide: Poverty and Poor Laws

National Archives’ Research Guide: Workhouse Inmates and Staff

National Archives’ Research Guide Workhouses

Raymond, Stuart A Tracing your Poor Ancestors Pen and Sword (2020)

Stubley, Peter A Pauper’s History of England: a 1000 years of peasants, beggars guttersnipes Pen and Sword (2015)

Tate, W E The Parish Chest Phillimore (3rd edition 2011)

Poor Law and Rural Communities

Settlement

The Ragged School Museum

Workhouses

Annie Banks, aka Annie Williams, aka Annie Mullins, aka Annie Brooks, aka Annie Donovan, aka Ellen Donovan c.1862-?, from Marylebone, Middlesex - Alcoholism, Lawbreaking, Poverty, Farmfield Reformatory for Inebriate Women. 7 minute read.

Mary Ann Bennett c.1868-?, from Worcester, Worcestershire - Alcoholism, Illegitimacy, Lawbreaking, Poverty, Prostitution, Farmfield Reformatory for Inebriate Women. 8 minute read.

Margaret Best c.1860-?, from Southampton, Hampshire - Alcoholism, Lawbreaking, Poverty, Suicide, Farmfield Reformatory for Inebriate Women. 6 minute read.

Mary Bickley 1819-?, from Wem, Shropshire - Lawbreaking, Poverty, 1819. 6 minute read.

Mary Chidley c.1819-1882, from Tawstock, Devon – Disability, Illegitimacy, Poverty, Schools for the Deaf (Exeter), 1819. 8 minute read.

Honoria Coleman c.1866-1949, born at sea near Singapore - Alcoholism, Lawbreaking, Poverty, St. Joseph’s Inebriate Reformatory. 3 minute read.

Margaret Conway c.1864-?, from Cardiff, Glamorganshire - Alcoholism, Lawbreaking, Poverty, St. Joseph’s Inebriate Reformatory. 4 minute read.

Catherine Crate, later Catherine Stanley, afterwards Catherine Luen c.1833-1914, from Dublin, Ireland – Lawbreaking, Poverty, Dorchester Prison. 10 minute read.

Minnie Donovan c.1860-?, from Douglas, Co. Cork, Ireland - Alcoholism, Lawbreaking, Poverty, St. Joseph’s Inebriate Reformatory. 4 minute read.

Ann Ebrey, later Ann Rowlands 1819-1909, from Wem, Shropshire - Accident, Poverty, Women at Work, 1819. 11 minute read.

Annie Foley, later Annie Norris aka Ellen Norris 1852-1907 from Somers Town, Middlesex – Abandonment, Alcoholism, Lawbreaking, Mental Health, Poverty, St. Joseph’s Inebriate Reformatory. 3 minute read.

Linda Gummer, later Linda Bush 1867-1920, from Deptford, Kent – Alcoholism, Child Mortality, Domestic Abuse, Lawbreaking, Poverty, Farmfield Reformatory for Inebriate Women. 4 minute read.

Rose Howard 1861-?, from Richmond, Surrey Alcoholism. Lawbreaking, Poverty, Prostitution, Farmfield Reformatory for Inebriate Women. 4 minute read.

Elizabeth Instrell c.1794-1848, from Popham, Hampshire - Mental Health, Poverty. 4 minute read.

Sarah Jameson, later Sarah Woods 1881-?, from Newport, Monmouthshire - Alcoholism, Lawbreaking, Poverty, St. Joseph’s Inebriate Reformatory. 9 minute read.

Rebecca Jenkerson, later Rebecca Hudson, afterwards Rebecca Rix 1819-1865, from Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk – Child Mortality, Illegitimacy, Poverty, Sickness, 1819. 25 minute read.

Elizabeth Jones, later Elizabeth Wannell 1863-1930, from Southwark, Surrey – Alcoholism, Child Mortality, Lawbreaking, Mental Health, Poverty, Farmfield Reformatory for Inebriate Women. 14 minute read.

Alice Kilkenny, later Alice Clancy c.1860-1929, from Kilclogher, Leitrim, Ireland - Alcoholism, Lawbreaking, Poverty, St. Joseph’s Inebriate Reformatory. 4 minute read.

Margaret Lynch, later Margaret Colgrove 1871-?, from Ireland – Abandonment, Alcoholism, Illegitimacy, Lawbreaking, Poverty, St. Joseph’s Inebriate Reformatory. 4 minute read.

Julia Mahoney, later Julia Loveridge 1897-1968, from Bermondsey, Surrey - Abandonment, Disability, Domestic Abuse, Lawbreaking, Poverty. 11 minute read. Please note that this story contains an account of domestic abuse.

Henrietta Maunder c.1832-1903, from Salcombe Regis, Devon – Disability, No Descendants, Poverty, Women at Work, Schools for the Deaf (Exeter). 5 minute read.

Ellen O’Donoghue, later Ellen Heather 1863-1913, from London, Middlesex - Alcoholism, Disability, Lawbreaking, Mental Health, Poverty, St. Joseph’s Inebriate Reformatory. 3 minute read.

Catharine Oliver 1829-1855, from Charlton Marshall, Dorset - Disability, No Descendants, Poverty, Schools for the Deaf (Exeter). 6 minute read.

Minnie O’Shea c.1854-1916, from Cork, Ireland – Alcoholism, Lawbreaking, Poverty, Sickness, St. Joseph’s Inebriate Reformatory. 20 minute read.

Sarah Ann Sadler, later Sarah Ann Spibey 1842-1884, from Whitchurch, Shropshire - Mental Health, Poverty, Sickness. 7 minute read.

Ellen Sampson c.1858-?, from Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland - Alcoholism, Illegitimacy, Lawbreaking, Poverty, Prostitution, St. Joseph’s Inebriate Reformatory. 15 minute read.

Bridget Sullivan, later Bridget (H)usher aka Mary (H)usher, aka Alice Arnold 1866-1928, from Knightsbridge, Middlesex – Accident, Alcoholism, Child Mortality, Lawbreaking, Poverty, St. Joseph’s Inebriate Reformatory. 12 minute read.,

Winifred Sullivan c.1870-?, from Wandsworth, Surrey - Alcoholism, Lawbreaking, Poverty, Sickness, St. Joseph’s Inebriate Reformatory. 4 minute read.

Eliza Ann Thrasher, later Eliza Ann Barker 1847-1905, from Northampton, Northamptonshire - Abandonment, Alcoholism, Poverty. Warning, this story involves child abuse. 8 minute read.

Bridget Toomey, aka Mary Ann Gotten, aka Bridget Smith c.1878-1943 and Mary Toomey 1879-?, from Fulham, Middlesex Surrey - Alcoholism, Disability, Lawbreaking, Poverty, St. Joseph’s Inebriate Reformatory. 12 minute read.

One of our A Few Forgotten Women Fridays focussed on the girls from Leeds Industrial and Ragged School so you will find many stories in this category on the dedicated page for L eeds Industrial and Ragged School .