Wiltshire Workhouses

Wiltshire Workhouses

Alderbury
Amesbury
Bradford on Avon
Calne
Chippenham
Devizes
Highworth
Malmesbury
Marlborough
Mere
Pewsey
Salisbury
Swindon
Tisbury
Trowbridge
Warminster
Wilton
Wootton Bassett

Wiltshire Poor Law Unions and Workhouses

The poor law unions classified as being in the County of Wiltshire are Alderbury, Amesbury, Bradford, Calne, Chippenham, Cricklade, Devizes, Highworth and Swindon, Malmesbury, Marlborough, Melksham, Mere, Pewsey, Salisbury, Tisbury, Warminster, Westbury and Wilton

Twenty Second Report of the Commissioners in Lunacy to the Lord Chancellor
From PP 1867/68 Vol XXXI pp 1-301
Submitted by Alan Longbottom

p 255 J - Workhouses, List of those visited in 1867
With Name of the Workhouse and numbers of
insane, idiotic, and imbecile inmates,

	MALE	FEMALE	TOTAL
Crickdale & Wootton Bassett	2	4	6
Highworth & Swindon	2	3	5
Malmesbury	3	2	5
Tisbury	6	5	11

From Census Statistical Volume 1901
County of Wiltshire in PP 1902 Vol CXXI Cd 1,378
Submitted by Alan Longbottom

Summary of Results.
Workhouses.
Pauper inmates of Workhouse establishments in the Registration County number 1,714 persons of all ages, 1,048 Males and 666 Females. These represent approximately 0.65% of the general
population.
At advanced ages the proportion is far higher; at 55 years and upwards the % is 2.51% and at 65 years and upwards is 3.75%

Prisons
Prisoners at Devizes 123, Of these 114 are Males and 9 Females.
Their age and civil condition are shown in Table 31.

The Blind, Deaf and Dumb
The number of persons returned as Blind is 217, and of these 10 suffer from some other Infirmity also.

Deaf and Dumb persons including 9 returned simply as Dumb, number 105, and of these 5 suffer from some other Infirmity also.

Lunatics
Lunatics number 1,458, and the Imbecile and Feeble-minded 492, including 10 otherwise afflicted. The total of these classes is 1,950.
In comparing these figures, however, attention must be paid to the fact that the eading to the Infirmities Column of the Census Schedule was not uniform at the two Censuses.
In 1891 the words adopted were "Lunatic, Imbecile or Idiot" and this expression might have led to more frequent concealment of cases of mental derangement than the form of words adopted at the recent Census, when Occupiers were instructed to describe the afflicted person either under the title of Lunatic or under that of Imbecile, feeble minded.

For these reasons a calculation of the increase per-cent on the population would be misleading. It may be noted that, of the 1,950 persons returned as mentally deranged, 1,626 were the
inmates of institutions, including 1,459 in Public and Private Lunatic Asylums, 167 in Workhouses. the remaining 324 were residing with relatives or in unlicensed houses.
Of the 167 mentally deranged persons enumerated in Workhouses, 17 were returned as Lunatics and 150 as Imbecile, or Feeble-minded;
and of the 324 not enumerated in Institutions, 4 were returned as Lunatics and 320 as Imbecile or Feeble-minded.

Records are held by Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office, County Hall East, Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, Wiltshire. BA14 8BS
Telephone: (UK) 01225 713709

Page updated August 06, 2007 by Rossbret