England, Norfolk Poor Law Union Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Collection Time Period
This collection covers records for the years 1796 through 1900.

Record History
Poor Law records were created by the parish vestry in collecting, dispersing, and protecting the funds for the legitimate poor of the parish. The first poor law came into effect with the Poor Law Act of 1601. Under this law the Church of England parish served as a unit of the local government in managing the care of the poor who lived in the parish. The vestry council, or “vestry” for short, was the administrative body of local government. Each English parish was independent of any other parish and had to care for its poor by collecting taxes (known as “raising rates”). As a result, parish officers were careful to keep the needy poor of other parishes out of their parish, and they kept a close watch on new move-ins.

One or two churchwardens and overseers were chosen each year as parish officers in the vestry. They were usually from the prominent men of the parish. The churchwarden collected taxes from all householders (anyone who owned or rented property) in the parish, except the poor. The overseer handled all matters relating to the care of the poor.

Why This Record Was Created
Poor Law records were created by the parish vestry in collecting, dispersing, and protecting the funds for the legitimate poor of the parish.

Record Description
Records created by the parish vestry to care for the poor are collectively known as poor law records. These records are also called parish chest records because they were stored in a chest at the church or at the priest’s house.

Poor law records include:


 * Vestry council minutes document the discussions and decisions of the vestry.
 * Churchwardens’ rate books list the tax receipts.
 * Overseers’ disbursement books track the distribution of money and in-kind materials.
 * Settlement certificates identify an individual’s or family’s parish of legal settlement. The Settlement Law of 1662 required that a person have legal settlement in the parish before he or she could qualify for aid.
 * Settlement examinations were conducted to establish the financial condition of the individual or family who had left their parish of legal settlement without obtaining a settlement certificate and to determine their parish of legal settlement.
 * Removal orders were issued to have the individual or family removed from the parish and transported back to their parish of legal settlement.
 * Apprenticeship indentures placed orphans and the children of poor families under the care of a master, which helped limit the costs of their maintenance.
 * Bastardy documents of various types were created to deal with children born out of wedlock.

Key genealogical facts found in the collection are listed below:

The information in each type of record varies, but the document usually includes the:


 * Name of the parish
 * Date of the events or transactions
 * Names of the individuals involved

Some documents may list:


 * Family relationships
 * Specific residences
 * Children’s ages
 * Father’s occupation

How to Use the Record
Use poor law records to find the names of a couple and their children. (Some records identify an entire family, while others name only the father, mother, or some of the children.) Use the records to track a poor family’s movements between parishes, even if the parishes are in different counties. In the case of an illegitimate birth, you may be able to discover the name of the child’s father

To search for a person in Poor Law Records, you should know the following:

The names of your ancestors The name(s) of the parishes where the ancestor lived The time period of when the ancestor(s) lived

Related Websites
Norfolk Record Office Online Catalogue

Related Wiki Articles
England and Wales Poor Law Records Pre-1834

England and Wales Poor Law Records 1834-1948

Sources of This Collection
"England and Wales, Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8)," database, FamilySearch; from Her Majesty's Stationery Office (Great Brittain). "Index to the Non-conformist record classes RG 4-8." National Archive, London (England). Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

How to Cite Your Sources
Instructions for citing this source can be found at: Cite Your Sources (Source Footnotes)