ODHS, High st Westbury on Severn (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Monday, October 08, 2018, 15:23 (2019 days ago) @ Brian Meek

Hi Brian,
yes Number 1 was indeed the old Workhouse, they started using this address in 1904, as described on this excellent webpage;
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/WestburyOnSevern/

Unfortunately that page doesn't tell us much about it's latter years in the time your Great Uncle was there. However we get a lttle more from the British History page for W-o-S, namely;

"In 1835 Westbury was included in the Westbury Union, which bought the workhouse for its own use. The workhouse, which stands west of Westbury village street, comprises a long three-story brick range, apparently incorporating the original parish workhouse, and a larger brick range behind, evidently built in 1874, in which a chapel is included. The buildings later housed a county council welfare home, called Westbury Hall, which was closed in 1969. A local board of health for Westbury was formed in 1863,and in consequence the parish became an urban district under the act of 1894, but it was taken into Gloucester Rural District in 1935."
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol10/pp97-98

Altho not mentioned in the above website, there were definitely hospital facilities at the Workhouse since it's enlargement in 1869, see
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=7144

I'm sure we touched more on this subject in the past but am struggling to find the old thread, although I can find this one which is relevant. I've just updated it to include a mention & photo of nurses at Westbury c1925.
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=16761

Since late Victorian times the Workhouse hospitals often saw "short-term" stays from people who couldn't afford medical care, especially pregnant mothers who would admit themselves to the local workhouse hospital to have their child, so as to be under good medical care rather than at home, alone, perhaps. Maybe this is similar to what happened with your Great Uncle, given the dates of his birth maybe his father was away from home in the armed forces and his mother was on hard times ?.
These prior posts may be of interest in this respect;
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=entry&id=45593
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=entry&id=42498