Old Age Pension in 1911

[Kit]

Did it exist in the UK then?

I just found my 3g grandfather on the 1911 census with his step daughter and he is listed as an old age pensioner.

Was he actually receiving a pension and if so, how did a person qualify?

I only ask as I found another relative in the work house and wonder why she couln't get a pension?

[Phoenix]

The old age pension had recently been introduced. If you look on the census forms, it says that they are not to be used as proof of age for Old Age Pensions.

I don't know who qualified for pensions, but do know there were several marriages as a direct result of it, so presumably married men got more.

I also don't know how much it was, but I bet it was hard to live on it alone, particularly if you had to pay rent.

[Kit]

Thanks Phoenix.

My 3g grandfather was a ong time widowed in 1911 so he wouldn't have gotten much. Luckily he had family to live with.

I just can't get over my 3g aunt who was in a workhouse. I can't understand why her family didn't take her in. More so now if there was some kind of pension to help slightly.

[Olde Crone]

Kit

Wasn't a lot - 5 shillings a week for the over 70s, whose income was less than 12 shillings a week (means tested, in other words).

The lady in the Workhouse may have been there for other reasons - was she ill, senile, just plain difficult? She would not have been entitled to a pension whilst in the Workhouse, I don't think, or if she was, it would have been taken for her keep.

OC

[Phoenix]

My great great grandfather died in the workhouse. The records don't survive to show how long he was actually in there, and previously he had clearly been passed around between his children (he's with one in 1911)

But the implication within the family was not that he was admitted in a final illness, but that everyone got fed up with looking after a drunk.

Sometimes the family rallies round to look after those who can't look after themselves, but equally I've seen the children of wealthy families who end in the workhouse.

[Olde Crone]

Phoenix

My 2 x GGF was a disreputable old drunk, who embarrassed the **** out of his three upwardly mobile sons.

They shifted him off to lodgings with a very distant relative who lived a good 50 miles away and there he eventually died.

Not all old people are nice and sometimes they do reap what they have sown.

On the other side of the family, a 2 x GGM died in the Workouse, even though she had eleven children. All her children were married with huge familes and were dirt poor themselves. Census returns show they lived in one or two rooms. Absolutely no room whatsoever for 2 x GGM.

OC

[Uncle John]

If you read the "Para Handy" stories by ?Neil Munro? which were made into a TV series yonks ago, there is one story about someone who set up a "pension farm". He persuaded lots of old folks to lodge with him in exchange for their pensions. Not a lot different from modern care home finances.

[Kit]

OC no idea on the 3g aunt. She was not listed on previous census as having a problem although she may have acquired one in the 10 year gap. She may also have been an awful old woman.

I just feel sorry for her being in the workhouse. Mind you I would not like to have to live with either of my parents again.