England Poor Law: Difference between revisions

{{CountrySidebar

|Country=England

}}{{breadcrumb

| link5=[[England Poor Law|Poor Law]]

 

 

'''English poor law''' resulted from a gradual development of a poor relief or welfare system dating to medieval times.<ref name="Quigley">{{cite web|author=Quigley, William P.|url=https://www.uakron.edu/law/lawreview/v30/docs/quigley.pdf|title=Five Hundred Years of English Poor Laws, 1349-1834: Regulating the Working and Nonworking Poor|accessdate=14 Nov 2011}}</ref> The first laws enacted for dealing with poverty, vagrancy, and economic distress were the Statutes of Labourers of 1349-1351.<ref>{{cite web|author=Bertha H. Putnam|url=https://www.archive.org/stream/enforcementofsta00putnrich|title=The Enforcement of the Statute of Labourers During the First Decade After the Black Death|location=New York|publisher=Columbia University|year=1908|ref=704 pp}}</ref>

Poor law records deal with providing food, shelter, and sometime work for those who were in need. Records include settlement certificates, removal orders, workhouse records, minutes of meetings, accounts, rate books, appointment books (of overseers). Some of these records include names, dates, places and ages, while others are merely statistical. Records were kept in the parish chest and are included in the general term "parish chest records." For a fuller discussion of the records of the poor kept during this time period, see [[England and Wales Poor Law Records Pre-1834|England and Wales Poor Law Records Pre-1834]]. <br>  

Settlement Law was established in 1662, and modified by numerous subsequent acts of Parliament. Generally, before money was given to a person in need, the parish (or civil) overseer determined the parish of settlement. Money was hard to come by, and was only given in cases where it was justified by settlement as well as indigence. The parish of settlement was not always the parish of birth, since there were ways a person could re-establish settlement in another parish. When a woman married, her husband's parish of settlement became her parish of settlement. For more information on settlement, see [[England and Wales Poor Law Records Pre-1834|England and Wales Poor Law Records Pre-1834]]. <br><br>For a list of and full text of Acts establishing and modifying settlement law and poor law, see [http://www.workhouses.org.uk www.workhouses.org.uk]. <br>  

Records of the Union Workhouse and Union Board of Guardians are often extensive. While they vary by Union, they typically include<ref>[https://search.lma.gov.uk/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/RESEARCH_GUIDES/web_detail_rg/SISN+33?SESSIONSEARCH Poor Law Records in London and elsewhere], Research Guide 4 at the London Metropolitan Archives, accessed 16 October 2023</ref>:  

A set of four volumes details records which survive for each Poor Law Union and where the originals are housed. Gibson, Jeremy, Colin Rogers and Cliff Webb. Poor Law Union Records: Birmingham, England: Federation of Family History Societies, 1993 (later editions vary by part #).{{WorldCat|230100951}} {{FSC|644238|item|disp=FS Catalog book 942 P37gj}}. The four volumes are:<br><br>1. South-East England and East Anglia.<br>2. The Midlands and Northern England. <br>3. South-West England. The Marches and Wales.<br>4. Gazetteer of England and Wales.<br>  

 

 

*Many poor law records have been indexed on the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/ Access to Archives (A2A)] web site. Go to the site and click on search, but be sure to read the “help” before conducting a search. If a relevant record is found on A2A, you may be able to find a copy of the original record at the FamilySearch Library (see next item). If no record is available at the FS Library, a photocopy of the document may be ordered from the record office or archive where the original document is located. A2A will provide the contact information for the archive.  

*[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/workhouse-inmates-and-staff.htm National Archives]: Looking for records of a workhouse inmate or member of staff  

*Victorian Poor Law pages - [http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/poorlawov.html http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/poorlawov.html]  

{{Poor Law}}