At top, Mary's workhouse discharge on January 17, 1874, indicating she had a bad leg, and was being sent to Newington workhouse. This time, she was without her children. Often, her children were also sent to the workhouse with Mary, to be sure they had meals and shelter.
In 1875, as shown above, Mary was still "destitute" and released from this workhouse "to Poplar" workhouse while her children were kept a couple more days (to be fed) and then discharged to Forest Gate School in the notoriously poor area of Whitechapel, London.
Thanks to my cousin Anna, who visited the London Metropolitan Archives last year, I know that Mary Shehen Slatter was diagnosed with "melancholia" when admitted to Colney Hatch Asylum and, later, sent to Banstead Asylum. The asylum's notes indicate that Mary's real problem was poverty and misfortune. She died in Banstead of tuberculosis.
Yet every one of her children grew up and had a good life. One was taken in by Grandma Slatter at an early age. The others muddled through the school/workhouse system, and then the boys joined the British military as young teens. Both girls came to America, married, and had families of their own.
Thanks to the many Rootstech sessions I attended on how to locate parish chest records, my plan is to flesh out the family's backstory by doing more research in their London parish. For background, see this Family Search wiki discussion of parish chest records, and another Fam Search article here. FindMyPast has some parish chest records here (not for "Misfortune Mary," however).
This is my post #12 in Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors challenge for 2018.
What a sad life for that young family, in and out of workhouses. At least there seemed to have been some provision for the children. Those places, by all accounts, were horrid.
ReplyDeleteAs sad as this story is, it reminds us that people don’t have to stay down just because they came from poor conditions. In our family are several relatives “saved” by the military.
ReplyDeleteMy father's family lived in the Whitechapel area from approximately 1795-1859. It appears they left for America in search of a better life - I found a debtor's notice in an 1858 newspaper. Tough times for sure.
ReplyDelete