UK Census 1851 Look-up

[Kate]

Hello All

Would someone be kind enough to look at the UK 1851 Census for
Harriett Thompson, Widow, (sorry no age) Cannon Street, Deptford New Town.
If found, would like to know persons in household.

Thank you

Regards, Kate
(Sydney, Australia)

[Janet]

Hi Kate,

She is in the Union Workhouse with 1,035 other people plus 11 officers.
Harriet is aged 70, a Seamstress, born Deptford.

Cheers
Janet

[Kate]

Hi Janet

Thank you very much for this information which leaves me very surprised as
she had left a Will. I had never imagined anybody in a Workhouse would have
one solitary thing to leave to anybody. So, big surprise, as she also
received an Annuity and had a daughter living in the area. This poses more
questions than answers.

Good of you to help, thanks again.

Regards, Kate
(Sydney, Australia)

"Janet" wrote in message news:khej4o$jju$1...@dont-email.me...

[Doug Laidlaw]

Kate, have you seen http://www.workhouses.org.uk/ ? It has grown immensely
since I first found it. I have a returned soldier who died in a workhouse
hospital. He was a Chelsea out-pensioner, boarding privately. The
hospitals served as public hospitals as well, and some had separate wards
for the workhouse people and for the public. You may find something there
to explain the apparent contradiction in your case.

HTH,

Doug.

[Kate]

Hi Doug

Thank you for that information.

A friend in England (it's her family) and myself, have been searching for
this lady for the last 2-3 years. Over the past four months we have searched
full on, on a daily basis, every Newspaper, Journal, Periodical we could
find (as well as friend tripping up to London a number of times) as she was
supposed to have gone to Ceylon with her husband in 1843, being listed as
passenger on a ship in Sept. of that year. We found husband many times but
she had just disappeared.
It has been a brick wall of mammoth proportions.

Your post is timely as we actually found her two days ago. We still can't
get over the shock.
It appears she did not leave England, changed her name to her former married
name and stated she was a Widow with an Annuity. We had searched for her
under that name as well but no joy. It was only for the fact that her
daughter lived in a particular area in the 1851 Census that caused us to try
all variant spellings of her given name that gave us the clue to a Will in
that area.
We toyed with the idea of there being an Infirmary in the Workhouse (as you
have just explained) but couldn't fathom how a Widowed Seamstress (with the
wrong age) could leave a three page Will. Was this our lady or not?
Knowing a three page Will can mean two lines at the bottom of page one and
two at the top of page three, it nonetheless would leave at least a full
page.
My friend searched the burials on Ancestry and Parish records and everything
fell into place.
We have now sent for the Will and hopefully will find why she acted as she
did.
Her husband was still very much alive, had sailed to Ceylon without her and
though he sailed back and forth on matters pertaining to his position a
number times, he remained in Ceylon for about sixteen years and died nine
years after her.

This has been quite a journey.

Thank you for your response Doug.

Regards, Kate
(Sydney, Australia)


"Doug Laidlaw" wrote in message
news:5tge1a-...@dougshost.douglaidlaw.net...