Devon 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. Devonshire had the following poorlaw unions within its boundaries:

Axminster
Barnstaple
Bideford
Crediton
Devonport
Exeter
Holsworthy
Honiton
Kingsbridge
South Molton
Newton Abbot
Okehampton
Plymouth
Plympton
St Thomas,
Stoke Damerel
East Stonehouse
Tavistock
Tiverton
Torrington
Totnes

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 Family History Library

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

Online Transcriptions Relating to Poorlaw Records

1) Here's a 'gateway' website with some information on Gloucestershire's poor

2) Here is a website with approximately 10 percent of the county's poor