Colchester, Essex Poor Law Union

History
In 1698, following the example of Bristol two years before, Colchester successfully promoted a private Act of Parliament (9 William III, c.37) for the "erection of hospitals and workhouses for better employing and maintaining the poor." In a parliamentary report of 1776, Colchester was listed as having a workhouse with accommodation for 50 inmates. Colchester Poor Law Union formally came into being on 19th October 1836. The new Colchester Union workhouse was built in 1836-37 to designs by John Brown. Brown was responsible for a number of workhouses in Norfolk including Blofield Poor Law Union,  Docking Poor Law Union, Norfolk and  Henstead Poor Law Union.

Later additions included a laundry (1896), casual wards (1898) and a porter's lodge. The workhouse later became Colchester Public Assistance Institution, then St Mary's Hospital which closed down in 1993. After a period of standing derelict, the site has now been redeveloped for residential use.

Constituent Parishes
Berechurch, Essex Colchester All Saints, Essex

Colchester Holy Trinity, Essex Colchester St Botolph, Essex Colchester St Giles, Essex Colchester St James, Essex Colchester St Leonard, Essex Colchester St Martin, Essex Colchester St Mary Magdalen, Essex Colchester St Mary at the Walls, Essex Colchester St Nicholas, Essex Colchester St Peter, Essex Colchester St Runwald, Essex Greenstead St Andrew Lexden, Essex Myland St Michael, Essex

Records
Essex Record Office, Wharf Road Chelmsford CM2 6YT. Relatively few personal records survive. Holdings include: Guardians' minute books (1835-1930); Deaths of lunatics (1915-2)

Essex Record Office Reference G/Co Title [COLCHESTER UNION] The POOR LAW Amendment Act of 1834 removed responsibility for the POOR from parishes (see D/P.../11-18) and transferred administration to Boards of Guardians of the POOR. The Guardians administered groups of parishes or POOR LAW UNIONs. Each UNION had its own workhouse. In 1872 the Public Health Act created urban and rural sanitary authorities, with the Guardians constituted as the rural sanitary authority for those parts of each UNION not in an urban sanitary authority. The Local Government Act of 1894 replaced rural sanitary authorities with rural district councils (see D/R). The Local Government Act of 1929 abolished the Boards of Guardians and transferred their powers to the Public Assistance Committees of County Councils (for minutes of Essex County Council Public Assistance Committee 1929-1948 see C/MPa 1-22). Many of the workhouse infirmaries continued as hospitals after 1930, continuing after the introduction of the National Health Service in 1948. The records of St. Mary's Hospital, COLCHESTER (A/HN 4) formerly the COLCHESTER UNION infirmary are also available. For other records illustrating the work of the Guardians see D/P.../18. For orders, directions and declarations of POOR LAW Commissioners responsible for grouping parishes into UNIONs, 1835-1837, see Q/RSw 2-5. For catalogue of correspondence between POOR LAW UNIONs and POOR LAW Commission (later POOR LAW Board and Local Government Board) 1834-1900 see List and Index Society vol. 56. G. Cuttle The Legacy of the Rural Guardians (Heffer, 1934 E.R.O. Library 362 50942) provides a good account of the work of the Guardians in six mid-Essex UNIONs, together with the newscuttings he collected and used in writing the book (T/P 181). For analysis of ledgers see Journal of the Society of Archivists II, pp. 367-369. COLCHESTER UNION consisted of the parishes which constituted the Borough - All Saints, Holy Trinity, St. Botolph, St. Giles, St. James, St. Leonard, St. Martin, St. Mary-at-the-Walls, St. Mary Magdalen, St. Nicholas, St. Peter, St. Runwald and the Liberties of Berechurch (or West Donyland), Greenstead-juxta-COLCHESTER, Lexden and Mile End.

Websites
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Colchester/Colchester.shtml Workhouses website