In the workhouse and ragged school ... Windebank and Topper

Until the sixth generation (3xgreat-grandparents) of branches of my family tree, my ancestors seem to have managed to stay out of the workhouse - at least as far as the censuses show.  But six generations back, the workhouse or related institutions for the poor begin to loom slightly larger. 

The first I'm aware of (taking my paternal line), is the death at the Gedling Street (?) Ragged School of my 3xgreat-grandfather David Windebank. David was father of Elizabeth Sarah Windebank, who married John Hill, my great-grandmother Susan Caroline Hill's parents.  He was a farrier/smith and died aged 75 at the Ragged School on 15 January 1903 as a result of "Syncope due to atheroma of aortic valves and fatty degeneration of heart - Natural causes PM". The Ragged School Union was formed in 1844 by Lord Shaftesbury, which eventually established over 200 free schools of the poorest children.  Peter Higginbotham's 'Workhouses ' site gives more information about the Ragged Schools and workhouses. I still don't know what David was doing at the school, but it seems it was too much for him, and he collapsed of a heart attack. The only Gedling Street Ragged School I can find is in Nottingham, but David's death was definitely registered in Bermondsey.

David's widow, Elizabeth (nee Topper), died on 20th March 1908 in Bermondsey workhouse. The death was registered in Lewisham, which threw me a bit at first, but this is where her grand-daughter Susan Hill (by then Stocking) was living, and where most recent generations of my paternal line originate. Elizabeth was 81 years old when she died, and is described on the certificate as "Widow of David Windebank Farrier (journeyman) of 298 Lynton Road, Bermondsey".  The cause of death was "senile decay"; the death was registered by her daughter Elizabeth Sarah Evans who was living at 11 Beechfield Road, Catford. Peter Higginbotham's excellent Workhouses site suggests that, by 1908, the Bermondsey workhouse may have referred to the St Olave institution, renamed Bermondsey in 1904. This had a role as an infirmary for the elderly, which may explain why the aged Elizabeth (suffering from senility) should have been there.