Hi all,
I am researching an ancestor called Samuel Payne (born about 1860, Welshpool) who died in 1906 in the West Bromwich Union Workhouse. His death certificate states that he died from pleurisy and his burial record states that he is buried at Heath Lane Cemetery in a paupers grave.
According to the 1901 census he was working as a stone sawyer and living with his wife Susan and four children in West Bromwich Street, Oldbury. In the 1911 census his wife is living in Tabenacle Street, Oldbury with five of their children and no occupation is recorded.
Any help with the following will be appreciated.
1) Are there any records from the workhouse that would be worthwhile looking at?
2) Would he have been in the workhouse because of poverty or just to get treated in the infirmary?
3) Is it likely his wife and children were in the workhouse with him? Is there any way of finding out?
4) What is a stone sawyer and could his job be linked to his death?
5) How could his wife support the children outside the workhouse after his death if she had no occupation?
Thanks in advance