Poorhouse in 1851

On census night (30 March) in 1851 Sarah Wills is living with her family.
The address in the census is "The Village, Dunsford"

On the birth certificate of her (illegitimate) daughter born on 5 May 1851
the place of birth simply states "Dunsford".

In the Dunsford parish register the entry for the baptism of her daughter on
8 June 1851 gives her abode as "Poorhouse"

squealing...

...

However, in the same register, for the baptism of her youngest sister on 1
May 1849 the parents' abode is also given as "Poorhouse"

I have not been able to find any parish chest records for this period.
According to family legend (unsupported by any documented evidence so far)
the father of the child was a son of the local baronet and there was some
informal financial provision.

My questions are: Does Poorhouse mean the same as Workhouse? Would there be

squealing...

Normally, though they are both slang terms.
After 1834 the proper name would be so-and-so Poor Law Union House.

Peter Goodey...

Workhouse is the word used in the 1834 Act and I've never seen them
referred to in official documents as anything other than workhouses.

Eve McLaughlin...

Not necessarily. Many smaller villages, pre 1834, had no workhouse under
the old legislation, but provided for the poor if possible in their own
homes (by paying allowances, and even rent for a short period), but if
there were lone paupers with no local family who could take them in, and
paying rent for a cottage could not be justified, then a Poor house, as
a sort of old folks' home' could be set aside. Widows, widowers, a few
ageing spinsters, might be unable to manage solo, but could communally,
with a little attention from able bodied paupers or a doctor paid by the
overseers of the poor.
Our (Haddenham) poor house was two cottages and after 1834, when the
Workhouse in Aylesbury (head of the Union) took over, the Poorhouses
were turned over to normal tenants. More recently, the two cottages have
been combined into one, given a lick of paint and an en suite or so, and
last changed hands for getting on for Ł750.000/ So a Poor House could
be an ordinary building, possibly somewhat larger than average, as once
used for multiple occupation.
Same goes for the Pest House in another village - when not in use as
an isolation place for fevers, it was a normally tenanted house. Bit
worrying, sans Dettol, though.

a union workhouse in a village the size of Dunsford? Could it just be the

squealing...

Assuming this is Devon, see :
It says the Union House was built at Redhills, in what is now a western
suburb of Exeter, about 5 miles from Dunsford.

Prior to the formations of Unions there were typically some sort of local
parish support for the poor - which might have been a dedicated house (I
have seen the term Dole House used elsewhere), or a system of "out-relief",
whereby poor people (which could be the majority of the village, at times!)
would be given dole while living at home.
The directory entry for Dunsford on the site above suggests that
out-relief was the norm before 1836.

name of the building they were living in? In 1845 the family were living at
"New Buildings" and in 1861 at "Butts Cott", is it probable that they were
on the edge of viability and moved in and out of the workhouse as their
circumstances changed? If we have identified the correct person (the name is
fairly common) in 1881 her father was in the St Thomas Union Workhouse in
Exeter.

David Marshall

Ken Gibb...

Unmarried & "begat" by some rich sod is on the cards.

Ken

Ken Gibb...

Ken & Jill Gibb, gibb@westnet.com.au
Mordialloc,
Vic. Australia.