Hampshire Poor Law

Beginning Research

Record Types

Hampshire Background

Local Research Resources

An Act of Parliament in the year 1834 took the responsibility of administering to the poor from the local parish church to the doorstep of civil government. The government grouped each civil parish into a union of parishes. There were nearly 600 such unions throughout England, each one comprising close to 20 or more parishes, and were specifically setup to meet the demands of the poor among their local populations, with a workhouse on the premises. The responsibility was transferred from local parishes to a Board of Guardians in each union. These groupings or unions were known as poor-law unions. Hampshire had the following poor law unions within its boundaries:

The Poor Law Unions

Alresford
Alton
Alverstoke
Andover
Basingstoke
Bournemouth & Christchurch
Catherington
Droxford
Fareham
Farnborough
Fordingbridge
New Forest
Havant
Hartley Wintney
Headley Gilbert Union, Hampshire
Hursley
Kingsclere
Lymington
Petersfield
Portsea
Ringwood
Romsey
Southampton
Stockbridge
South Stoneham
Whitchurch
Winchester
Isle of Wight

The Records

Records from the poorlaw unions, which were created from this time forward include the following:

Guardianship
Creed Registers
Rate books
Workhouse Lists of Inmates
Register of Apprentices
Register of Births
Register of Deaths
Vestry Rate Books
Admission and Discharge Registers
Board of Guardians' Records

Records at The FamilySearch Library

To determine records availability for each poorlaw, search the FamilySearch Catalog under the name of the county (Hampshire), and then under the name of the poorlaw union, i.e. Whitchurch; then search under the term[s] "poorlaw" or "poorhouses".

Online Transcriptions Relating to Poor Law Records

For more information on the history of the workhouse, see Peter Higginbotham's website: The Workhouse

Paupers in Workhouses 1861 (10% sample)