Biography:
Harriet Davis
1839 –1915
Harriet Davis
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HARRIET DAVIS; 1839 - 1915
Harriet Austin was born in Ashford in Kent. She was deaf from birth. She married George Cook from Wiltshire. She and George lodged with Jane Flint on Berkhamsted’s High Street. George was a domestic servant. Harriet worked as a bookbinder and later as a dressmaker.
George Cook died in 1872 and Harriet found herself a widow after 25 years marriage.
Harriet remarried. Her second husband was George Davis from Tring, a timber merchant’s labourer. Harriet and George did not have children and both died in Berkhamsted Union Workhouse’s infirmary and were buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery in November 1915 within 3 days of each other.
The fact that Harriet died in the workhouse Infirmary does not necessarily mean she was resident in the workhouse. Originally workhouse infirmaries were intended solely for the care of residents in the workhouse, but towards the latter part of the 19th century the standard of care provided improved and from the 1880’s admission to workhouse infirmaries was increasingly permitted to those who though poor, were not sufficiently destitute to require admission to the workhouse. Like all recipients of union relief, they first needed to have their means assessed and might be required to contribute towards their care. The workhouse medical service marked the beginning of a state funded medical service
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HARRIET DAVIS; 1839 – 1915
Harriet Austin was born in Ashford in Kent. She was deaf from birth. She married George Cook from Wiltshire. She and George lodged with Jane Flint on Berkhamsted’s High Street. George was a domestic servant. Harriet worked as a bookbinder and later as a dressmaker.
George Cook died in 1872 and Harriet found herself a widow after 25 years marriage.
Harriet remarried. Her second husband was George Davis from Tring, a timber merchant’s labourer. Harriet and George did not have children and both died in Berkhamsted Union Workhouse’s infirmary and were buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery in November 1915 within 3 days of each other.
The fact that Harriet died in the workhouse Infirmary does not necessarily mean she was resident in the workhouse. Originally workhouse infirmaries were intended solely for the care of residents in the workhouse, but towards the latter part of the 19th century the standard of care provided improved and from the 1880’s admission to workhouse infirmaries was increasingly permitted to those who though poor, were not sufficiently destitute to require admission to the workhouse. Like all recipients of union relief, they first needed to have their means assessed and might be required to contribute towards their care. The workhouse medical service marked the beginning of a state funded medical service
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