Workhouse pregnancies (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Monday, February 23, 2015, 16:27 (3351 days ago) @ biokmst

Hi Cindy,
on the face of it to me that seems quite a wide-ranging question ! I can think of various possible answers, but I'm afraid I'm unsure as to your specific thinking or angle, perhaps you can be a little more specific, please ?.
eg Approx how many pregnancies are you thinking about ?
Do you mean just for one family, or the Workhouse as a whole ?
Or are you surprised that a Workhouse had it's own Chapel ?
Around 1840 time the Workhouse was responsible for an overall local population of abt 9,000 - I don't know how many were resident at the Workhouse itself then, the 1841/1851 Census would give a good idea, it could be more than you might expect; at a guess perhaps 150?, the 1881 Census shows about 250 inmates(see website below).

Also don't forget that Westbury was the local Government/admin centre for the whole Eastern Forest, a fairly large area, as this excellent website shows
"Westbury-on-Severn Poor Law Union was formed on 28th September 1835, its 13 constituent parishes as listed below:
County of Gloucester: Abinghall, Awre, Blaisdon, Bulley, Churcham, Flaxley, Huntley, Littledean, Longhope, Minsterworth, Mitcheldean, Newnham, Westbury.
Later Addition: Hinders Lane and Dockham (1858-84)."
The population falling within the Union at the 1831 census had been 8,760 — with parishes ranging in size from Flaxley (population 186) to Westbury itself (2,032)."
(NB The latter addition of Hinders & Dockham grew into the new town of Cinderford)
from http://www.workhouses.org.uk/WestburyOnSevern/

Furthermore, perhaps as with nowadays, the % of single mothers so perhaps left to fend for themselves during childbirth, might be highest within the poorer classes, ie those already nearest to being "in the Workhouse" ?
I think another major reason is that it wasn't unusual for expectant mothers (particularly the younger ones (less experienced re childbirth), or those without home support from their own family(mother, gran, "nanny" etc) to admit themselves into the Workhouse on a temporary basis, to gain access to the help of their staff and even medical (Infirmary) facilities if they had them. This was certainly the case in later decades, when Poor Law Union Workhouses for larger towns etcs were very often nextdoor to the Union Infirmary, as discussed on this prior thread.
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=entry&id=42498

It was these Infirmaries that became the first NHS Hospitals as we understand them today, many of the UK's major modern Hospitals are still on their original Workhouse sites. A typical example is at Gloucester, whose first Infirmary was built in 1852, see
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Gloucester/

Hope this helps a little, but if you can be more specific then we can try and give better answers, thanks.