Durham Poor Law

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 responsbility was transferred from local parishes to a Board of Guardians in each union. These groupings or unions were known as poor-law unions. Durham had the following poorlaw unions within its boundaries:

The Poorlaw Unions

• Auckland Poor Law Union, Durham
• Chester le Street Poor Law Union, Durham
• Darlington Poor Law Union, Durham
• Durham Poor Law Union, Durham
• Easington Poor Law Union,Durham
• Gateshead Poor Law Union, Durham
• Hartlepool
• Houghton Le Spring
• Lanchester_Poor_Law_Union,Durham
• Sedgefield Poor Law Union, Durham
• South Shields Poor Law Union, Durham
• Stockton
• Sunderland Poor Law Union, Durham
• Teesdale
• Weardale

The Records

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

1. Guardianship
2. Creed Registers
3. Rate books
4. Workhouse Lists of Inmates
5. Register of Apprentices
6. Register of Births
7. Register of Deaths
8. Vestry Rate Books
9. Admission and Discharge Registers
10. Board of Guardians' Records

Records at The Family History Library

To determine records availability for each poorlaw, search the Family History Library Catalog under the name of the county (Durham), and then under the name of the poorlaw union, i.e. Darlington, then under the term[s] "poorlaw" or "poorhouses".

Online Transcriptions of Post-1834 Poorlaw Records

Here are workhouse inmates as found in the 1881 census for the following Durham Poorlaw Unions:

South Shields

Sunderland

Durham - a county listing (approx. 10%) from 1861 census