A List of Persons Receiving Relief from the Parish of Wolstanton

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Date:1830 - 1831 (c.)

Description:Just who was likely to need help from the workhouse - a place of last resort for ordinary working people in the 1830s?

The list

This list reveals just some of the lives that had fallen on hard times in the parishes of Burslem and Wolstanton in 1831.

From colliers, labourers and potters, to widows and children, many people were at risk from misfortune, illness or injury.

In the days before affordable transport, Shropshire collier Francis Beech was simply far away from home.

Many of these people had to care for families. Some dependents numbered just 2 or 3, but Goldenhill collier Thomas Breeze provided for 10.

Benefits

Most people were paid between 2 and 10 shillings a fortnight - between £6.15 and £30.76 in terms of today's "purchasing power."

Names (in order of appearance)

  • William Alcock, 29, of Burslem, potter, out of employ;

  • Astbury, Jeremiah, of Wolstanton, potter, sick;

  • Alcock, Mary, widow, of Longport;

  • Adams, James, 19, of May Bank, potter, out of employ;

  • Baker, Ralph, 26, of Burslem, potter, out of employ;

  • Beech, James, of Knutton, collier, out of employ;

  • Baker, Charles, 60, of Tunstall, bricklayer, sick;

  • Brown Joseph, 63, of Tunstall, labourer, superannuated;

  • Breeze, Samuel, 51, of Burslem, labourer, sick;

  • Brown, George, 76, of Tunstall, slipmaker, sick;

  • Bough, Samuel's family; of Kidsgrove;

  • Betton, John, 78, of Rogginrow, labourer, superannuated;

  • Barrow, William, 69, of Tunstall, labourer, now dead;

  • Bourne, Joseph, of Pittshill, potter, out of employ;

  • Bourne, John, 41, of Pittshill, slipmaker, out of employ;

  • Billings, Samuel, 34, of Burslem, potter, out of employ;

  • Baddeley, Ephraim, 39, of Burslem, printer, out of employ;

  • Barker, Mary, 41, of Etruria, widow;

  • Brooks, William, of Rogginrow, insane;

  • Booth, William, 35, of Wolstanton, ovenman, sick;

  • Booth, John, 33, of Tunstall, dipper, sick;

  • Blakeman, Ellen, 47, of Burslem, widow;

  • Beech, Francis, 36, of Chesterton, labourer, out of employ;

  • Bainbridge, Mary, of Kidsgrove, removed to Odd Rode;

  • Bourne, Sarah, 46, of Chell, widow and out of employ;

  • Barker, John, of Kidgsrove, collier, out of employ;

  • Briscall, Sarah's child, of Stafford Gaol;

  • Bowers, Thomas, 63, of Chesterton, jagger, sick;

  • Bennett, Mary, 27, of Chesterton, now dead;

  • Bailey, John, of Tunstall, now dead;

  • Breeze, Thomas, 41, of Goldenhill, collier, hurt in Delph;

  • Booth, Mary, 25, of Burslem, transferrer, and widow;

  • Bourne, Jesse, Congleton, labourer, out of employ;

  • Bowers, John, 35, of Chesterton, chairmaker, lame;

  • Booth, Thomas, of Whitehill, labourer, out of employ;

  • Beech, Francis, of Wellington, collier, given money "to carry him home";

  • Baggaley, William's Family, of Tunstall, husband and father in jail;

  • Betton, Daniel, 40, of Chesterton, out of employ;

  • Beech, James, 40, of Chesterton, ill;

  • Blakeman, Elijah, 36, of Burslem, potter, no work;

  • Beech, Wm's family, of Knutton, husband in jail;

  • Bailey, Richard, of Bilston, suspended order, now dead;


  • About this document

    Pottery manufacturer Enoch Wood kept this document, and it is now among the collections of Stoke-on-Trent Museums.

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