Tracing Your Leeds Ancestors by Rachel Bellerby

Author:Rachel Bellerby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REFERENCE / Genealogy & Heraldry
ISBN: 9781473874015
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Published: 2015-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

Workhouse letter books often give vivid accounts of workhouse life

In other letters, inmates ask for leave of absence. Because these letters aren’t indexed by name, it is a matter of exploring the records and seeing what you find. And even if an ancestor isn’t named, the records give a flavour of workhouse life. Many of the letters from inmates are written in an educated hand with perfect grammar, proof perhaps that it could be sheer bad luck that brought a family to the workhouse.

Reports on individual inmates found within the letter books again name individuals and if you are lucky enough to find an ancestor mentioned, there can be plenty of information on the person’s character and fate. However, you may be surprised at the lack of compassion shown in the reports: ‘Dishonest, dirty, idle and untruthful’, ‘dishonest, dirty, idle and bad in every way’, ‘works in a factory and is a very wild, bad girl’ and poignantly: ‘Imbecile, no improvements’.

There are glimmers of the less ordinary too, including a master’s report on a lady visitor who smuggled a bottle of whisky to one of the visitors: ‘the master has kept the same in his custody until the decision of the board’.

Also of interest are records from tradespeople who were providing goods to the workhouse, or advertising their wares. In the 1874 letterbook for Hunslet Union is a leaflet from the Continental and Colonial Traders who were advertising their Californian beef and Sydney mutton for 5¾d and 5¼d respectively, presumably for the workhouse master to purchase for the inmates.

Local newspapers

Local newspapers are worth checking if you believe you had an ancestor who spent time in one of the Leeds workhouses. Nineteenth-century newspapers regularly ran advertisements relating to workhouse inmates who had absconded. These make for poignant reading and often include a detailed physical description, as in this excerpt from the Leeds Mercury on 11 October 1817:

Absconded and left his family chargeable to the township of Leeds: George Blackburn by trade a cabinet maker, stands about 5 feet 7.5 inches high black hair, hair a little bald, a tooth out and stout made. Had on when he left his family a bottle green coat, striped waistcoat and Kerseymere breeches.

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