| Letter from the Clerk to the Salford Poor Law Guardians giving
the cause of death - starvation - of one James Ashton, who died just after
entering the workhouse. Rather than surrender their independence and go
into a workhouse, some old people tried to eke out an existence on 'outdoor'
(i.e. outside the workhouse) poor relief payments. Although Ashton's age
is not given, he may fall into this category. When Maria Wood of Homerton,
east London, died in the summer of 1901, the coroner's verdict was 'died
from destitution'. She had been drawing poor relief payments of 2s 6d a
week, plus 6d in kind, and had refused to go into Hackney Union workhouse. |
