Liverpool, Lancashire Poor Law Union

History
Liverpool built its first workhouse in 1732 at the corner of College Lane and Hanover Street.

In 1769-1772 a House of Industry was built at Brownlow Hill and the 1777 Parliamentary report refers to Liverpool Borough offering up to 600 people accomodation and it is known that out-relief was offered by several parishes.

Liverpool workhouses were governed by a group known as the Select Vestry formed after the 1818 parliamentary Act for the Regulation of Parish Vestries (58 Geo. III c. 69). This Act set up a plural voting system in a parish vestry, depending on the rateable value of property. A landowner of property worth £50 was eligible for one vote; for every further £25 a man was given another vote up to a maximum of six votes. This scale was used later by the Poor Law Amendment Act (1834) for the election of Guardians of the Poor. The term Select Vestries Acts collectively refers to two Acts of Parliament passed in 1818 and 1819 respectively, the Act for the Regulation of Parish Vestries (Vestries Act 1818, 58 Geo. III c. 69), and the Act to Amend the Law for the Relief of the Poor (Poor Relief Act 1819, 59 Geo. III c.12). These acts were promoted by William Sturges Bourne, MP and Chairman of a Committee to reform the Poor Laws, and are therefore also known as the Sturges Bourne Acts.

This system was effective in Liverpool and despite the creation of the Liverpool Poor Law Union after the Poor Law Amendment Act, the Borough objected to the national legislation being imposed. The Liverpool Union came into being on 25 March 1841 and had the largest population of any English Poor Law Union.

After continual petitioning, in 1842 Parliament approved a local Act which enabled the Union to revert to the Select Vestry system. The Select Vestry remained in control until it's dissolution when the Liverpool area and it's workhouses became part of the West Derby Poor Law Union (1865).

Liverpool Union Sites

 * Brownlow Hill Workhouse. The original site was enlarged in 1842-3 and became large enough to house 3,000 people. On 7 September 1862 a serious fire caused the death of 21 children and two staff. Liverpool employed from 1865 Nightingale School nurses. William rathbone had introduced this scheme. When Rathbone's first wife Lucretia was dying in 1859, the care given by a nurse prompted him to campaign for a system of district nursing to enable the poor to benefit from similar care. The involvement of Florence Nightingale led to a close friendship. In 1862, the Liverpool Training School and Home for Nurses was established, from which basis a district nursing system was implemented in Liverpool through the 1860s and spread throughout the country. His involvement with this scheme also made him aware of the poor state of the workhouse hospitals, and he did much to assist in the reform of nursing in workhouses. Rathbone was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool in 1868, and sat for the city until 1880. It became increasingly common in workhouse Infirmaries to employ nurses as a result of this development. Brownlow Workhouse was demolished in 1931 and the site now houses The Roman Catholic Cathedral designed by Sir Edward Lutyens.
 * Kirkdale Industrial School. The Select Vestry built an industrial school at Kirkdale (now Westminster Road) in 1843 and this was further expanded offering 1250 places by 1866, and after 1868 this increased to 1900. The school closed in 1904 and became Kirkdale Homes for the aged and infirm. These were taken over by the West Derby Poor Law Union in 1922 and by Liverpool City Council in 1929. In 1948 The Liverpool city Council and Regional Hospital Board took control. In the 1950's they became known as the Westminster House Home until closure in 1968. The buildings were later demolished.


 * Olive Mount Cottage Homes. In 1898 the Select vestry built cottage homes for pauper children at Mill Lane, Wavertree and the site took it's name from the existing Olive Mount House and lodge. Later the site formed Olive Mount Children's Hospital. The site was largely demolished in the 1990's but the original Olive Mount house became North Mersey Community NHS Trust Headquarters.


 * Highfield Infirmary and Sanitorium. The Select Vestry opened an infirmary for epileptics in 1903 at Old Swan. In 1922 this transferred to Liverpool Corporation and was called Highfield Sanitorium, treating those with tuberculosis. In 1929 it became Broadgreen Sanitorium and later in 1948 Broadgreen Hospital.


 * Heswall Sanitorium(Cleaver Hospital). In 1901-2 a combined initiative by Liverpool, West Derby poor Law Union and Toxteth Park Township established a sanitorium for the treatment of tuberculosis in children (often referred to as phthisis). Heswall was the first sanitorium on it's own site within the Poor Law history outside London. It later became Cleaver Hospital.

Constituent Parishes
Parishes within the Union included:


 * Bevington, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St Peter and St Nicholas, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool All Saints, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool All Souls Vauxhall, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool Blessed Virgin Mary,
 * Liverpool Christ Church, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool Holy Innocents, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool Holy Trinity,
 * Liverpool St Anne, Lancashire
 * Liverpool St Andrew, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St Barnabas, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St Bartholomew, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St Bride, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St Catherine, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St David, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St George, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St John, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St John the Evangelist, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St Luke,
 * Liverpool St Mark, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St Martin in the Fields, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St Matthew, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St Matthias, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St Paul, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St Peter, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St Philip, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St Saviour, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St Silas, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St Simon, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St Stephen, Lancashire,
 * Liverpool St Thomas, Lancashire,
 * Toxteth Park St Thomas, Lancashire, Other Toxteth churches built during the 19th century include St John the Baptist's, 1832; St Barnabas's, 1841; St Clement's Windsor, 1841; St Matthew's, 1847; St Paul's, 1848; Holy Trinity, 1858; St Silas's, 1865; St Cleopas's, 1866; St Margaret's, 1869; Christ Church, 1870; St Philemon's, 1874; All Saints', 1884; St Gabriel's, 1884; St Agnes's, 1884; St Bede's, 1886; St Andrew's, 1893;

Parish pages for the Liverpool area are needed, contributors please link contributed pages to this page.

Records
Workhouse Chapel at Liverpool, baptism registers, 1831-1928


 * Microfilm copy of original records at the Record Office in Liverpool, England. Liverpool Record Office no.: 353 SEL 16/1-3.
 * Baptisms, 1831-1849. FHL BRITISH Film 1647999 Item 6
 * Baptisms, 1849-1858, 1874-1928. FHL BRITISH Film 1648000 Items 1 - 3

Apprenticeship indentures with index, ca. 1841-1870


 * Microfilm copy of original records at the Liverpool Record Office. Liverpool Record Office no.: 353 SEL 12, 12/1-631, 12/2/1-271.
 * Index 1841-1870 Indentures 1841-1851 FHL BRITISH Film 1647758 Items 4-5
 * Indentures 1850-1859 FHL BRITISH Film 1647759
 * Indentures 1859-1868 FHL BRITISH Film 1647997
 * Indentures 1868-1870 Indentures 1840-1870 FHL BRITISH Film 1647998

Admission and discharge registers, Liverpool Board of Guardians


 * Microfilm copy of original records at the Record Office in Liverpool, England. Liverpool Record Office no.: 353 SEL 19/1-101.
 * Registers include names entered by surname in alphabetical order, date of admission, age, location admitted to, by whom admitted, settlement and remarks, date of discharge, and conditions of discharge.
 * Admissions and discharges (A-M) 1841-1844 FHL BRITISH Film 1648000 Item 7
 * Admissions and discharges 1840-1849 FHL BRITISH Film 1648001
 * Admissions and discharges (K-Z) 1848-1850 Admissions and discharges 1846-1848 Admissions and discharges (A-F) 1850-1851 FHL BRITISH Film 1648002
 * Admissions and discharges (F-Z) 1850-1851 Admissions and discharges (A-W) 1851-1853 FHL BRITISH Film 1648003
 * Admissions and discharges 1852-1854 Admissions and discharges (A-L) 1855-1856 FHL BRITISH Film 1648026
 * Admissions and discharges (M-Z) 1855-1856 Admissions and discharges 1856-1857 Admissions and discharges 1857-1859 (Register for 1857-1859 are not in alphabetical order.) FHL BRITISH Film 1648027
 * Admissions and discharges 1857-1859 Admissions and discharges 1859 FHL BRITISH Film 1648028
 * Admissions and discharges 1860-1861 Admissions and discharges (A-T) 1861-1862 FHL BRITISH Film 1648029
 * Admissions and discharges (T-Z) 1861-1862 Admissions and discharges 1862 Admissions and discharges (A-M) 1862-1863 FHL BRITISH Film 1648030
 * Admissions and discharges (M-W) 1862-1863 Admissions and discharges 1863-1864 Admissions and discharges (A-J) 1864-1865 FHL BRITISH Film 1648031
 * Admissions and discharges (J-Y) 1864-1865 Admissions and discharges 1865-1866 Admissions and discharges (A-C) 1866 FHL BRITISH Film 1648032
 * Admissions and discharges (C-Z) 1866 Admissions and discharges (A-R) 1866-1867 FHL BRITISH Film 1648033
 * Admissions and discharges (R-Z) 1866-1867 Admissions and discharges 1867-1868 Admissions and discharges 1868 FHL BRITISH Film 1648034
 * Admissions and discharges (A-Z) 1868-1869 FHL BRITISH Film 1648035
 * Admissions and discharges (A-G) 1869-1874 FHL BRITISH Film 1648036
 * Admissions and discharges (G-M) 1869-1874 FHL BRITISH Film 1648093
 * Admissions and discharges (M-Z) 1869-1874 Admissions and discharges (A-B) 1874-1880 FHL BRITISH Film 1648094
 * Admissions and discharges (B-J) 1874-1880 FHL BRITISH Film 1648095
 * Admissions and discharges (J-Q) 1874-1880 Admissions and discharges (A-C) 1880-1883 FHL BRITISH Film 1648096
 * Admissions and discharges (C-M) 1880-1883 FHL BRITISH Film 1648097
 * Admissions and discharges (M-Z) 1880-1883 Admissions and discharges (A-B) 1883-1886 FHL BRITISH Film 1648098
 * Admissions and discharges (B-P) 1883-1886 FHL BRITISH Film 1648099
 * Admissions and discharges (P-Z) 1883-1886 Admissions and discharges (A-F) 1886-1889 FHL BRITISH Film 1648100
 * Admissions and discharges (F-O) 1886-1889 FHL BRITISH Film 1648101
 * Admissions and discharges (O-Z) 1886-1889 Admissions and discharges (A-C) 1889-1893 FHL BRITISH Film 1655036
 * Admissions and discharges (C-L) 1889-1893 FHL BRITISH Film 1655037
 * Admissions and discharges (L-T) 1889-1893 FHL BRITISH Film 1655038
 * Admissions and discharges (T-W) 1889-1893 Admissions and discharges (A-H) 1893-1895 FHL BRITISH Film 1655039
 * Admissions and discharges (H-T) 1893-1895 FHL BRITISH Film 1655040
 * Admissions and discharges (T-Y) 1893-1895 Admissions and discharges (A-H) 1895-1898 FHL BRITISH Film 1655041
 * Admissions and discharges (H-T) 1895-1898 FHL BRITISH Film 1655042
 * Admissions and discharges (U-Z) 1895-1898 Admissions and discharges (A-H) 1898-1901 FHL BRITISH Film 1655043
 * Admissions and discharges (H-S) 1898-1901 FHL BRITISH Film 1655044
 * Admissions and discharges (S-Z) 1898-1901 Admissions and discharges (A-G) 1901-1903 FHL BRITISH Film 1655045
 * Admissions and discharge (G-Q) 1901-1903 FHL BRITISH Film 1655046
 * Admissions and discharges (R-Z) 1901-1903 Admissions and discharges (A-C) 1903-1906 FHL BRITISH Film 1655047
 * Admissions and discharges (D-M) 1903-1906 FHL BRITISH Film 1655048
 * Admissions and discharges (M-Z) 1903-1906 Admissions and discharges (A-C) 1906-1907 FHL BRITISH Film 1655089
 * Admissions and discharges (C-M) 1906-1907 FHL BRITISH Film 1655090
 * Admissions and discharges (M-Z) 1905-1907 Admissions and discharges (A-C) 1907-1909 FHL BRITISH Film 1655091
 * Admissions and discharges (C-M) 1907-1909 FHL BRITISH Film 1655092
 * Admissions and discharges (M-Z) 1907-1909 Admissions and discharges (A-C) 1909-1911 FHL BRITISH Film 1655093
 * Admissions and discharges (C-M) 1909-1911 FHL BRITISH Film 1655094
 * Admissions and discharges (M-Z) 1909-1911 Admissions and discharges (A-D) 1911-1913 FHL BRITISH Film 1655095
 * Admissions and discharges (D-R) 1911-1913 FHL BRITISH Film 1655201
 * Admissions and discharges (R-Z) 1911-1913 Admissions and discharges (A-G) 1913-1915 FHL BRITISH Film 1655202
 * Admissions and discharges (G-S) 1913-1915 FHL BRITISH Film 1655203
 * Admissions and discharges (S-Z) 1913-1915 Admissions and discharges (A-H) 1915-1920 FHL BRITISH Film 1655204
 * Admissions and discharges (H-W) 1915-1920 FHL BRITISH Film 1655205
 * Admissions and discharges (W-Z) 1915-1920 Admissions and discharges (A-H) 1920-1923 FHL BRITISH Film 1655206
 * Admissions and discharges (H-Q) 1920-1923 FHL BRITISH Film 1655207
 * Admissions and discharges (R-Z) 1920-1923 Admissions and discharges (A-D) 1923-1928 FHL BRITISH Film 1655208
 * Admissions and discharges (E-S) 1923-1928 FHL BRITISH Film 1655209
 * Admissions and discharges (S-Z) 1923-1928 FHL BRITISH Film 1655210 Item 1

Admission registers to the Liverpool workhouse, Brownlow Hill, 1869-1902


 * Microfilm of original records at the Liverpool Record Office. Liverpool Record Office no.: 353 SEL 18/1-24, 26-36.
 * Information from registers includes date of registration, name, sex, and age of registrar, religion, trade or calling, and marital status.
 * Admission registers, 1869-1871 Admission registers, 1871-1872 (A-K) FHL BRITISH Film 1656852
 * Admission registers, 1872-1873 (A-K) Admission registers, 1871-1873 (L-Z) Admission registers, 1873-1875 (A-Z) FHL BRITISH Film 1656853
 * Admission registers, 1873-1875 (L-Z) Admission registers, 1875-1877 (A-Z) FHL BRITISH Film 1656854
 * Admission registers, 1877 (L-Z) Admission registers, 1877-1879 Admission registers, 1879-1880 (A-K) FHL BRITISH Film 1656855
 * Admission registers, 1880-1881 (A-K) Admission registers, 1879-1881 (L-Z) Admission registers, 1881-1883 (A-K) Admission registers, 1881 (L-Z) FHL BRITISH Film 1656856
 * Admission registers, 1881-1883 (L-Z) Admission registers, 1883-1885 (A-K) Admission registers, 1883-1884 (L-Z) FHL BRITISH Film 1656857
 * Admission registers, 1884-1885 (L-Z) Admission registers, 1885-1886 Admission registers, 1886-1887 (A-K) FHL BRITISH Film 1656863
 * Admission registers, 1887-1888 (A-K) Admission registers, 1886-1888 (L-Z) Admission registers, 1888-1890 (A-K) FHL BRITISH Film 1656864
 * Admission registers, 1890 (A-K) Admission registers, 1888-1890 (L-Z) Admission registers, 1890-1892 (A-K) Admission registers, 1890-1891 (L-Z) FHL BRITISH Film 1656865
 * Admission registers, 1891-1892 (L-Z) Admission registers, 1892-1893 (L-Z) Admission registers, 1893-1895 (L-Z) FHL BRITISH Film 1656866
 * Admission registers, 1893-1895 (L-Z) Admission registers, 1895-1896 FHL BRITISH Film 1656867
 * Admission registers, 1895-1896 (L-Z) Admission registers, 1896-1898 Admission registers, 1898-1899 (A-K) FHL BRITISH Film 1656868
 * Admission registers, 1899-1900 (A-K) Admission registers, 1898-1900 (L-Z) Admission registers, 1900-1901 (A-K) FHL BRITISH Film 1656869
 * Admission registers, 1901-1902 (A-K) Admission registers, 1900-1902 (L-Z) FHL BRITISH Film 1656870

Kirkdale industrial schools registers, 1869-1904


 * Microfilm of original records at the Record Office in Liverpool, England. Liverpool Record Office no.: 353 SEL 24/1-6.
 * Includes names, ages, and religion.
 * Admissions and discharges (boys) 1869-1881 Admissions and discharges (girls) 1869-1881 Admissions and discharges (boys A-T) 1881-1887 FHL BRITISH Film 1655288 Items 2-4
 * Admissions and discharges (boys T-Z) 1881-1887 Admissions and discharges (girls) 1881-1887
 * Admissions and discharges (boys) 1887-1898 Admissions and discharges (girls) 1887-1899
 * Admissions and discharges (boys) 1898-1904 Admissions and discharges (girls) 1899-1904 FHL BRITISH Film 1655289 Items 1-6

Register of sickness and mortality, and boys and girls industrial school registers, 1846-1869


 * Microfilm of original records at the Liverpool Record Office. Liverpool Record Office no.: 353 SEL 17/1, 4-5.
 * Contents: item 4, Register of sickness and mortality, 1846-1847 -- item 5, Industrial school-girls register, 1867-1869 -- item 6, Industrial school-boys register, 1867-1869.
 * Includes dates, names, home addresses, and remarks.
 * Register of sickness and mortality, and boys and girls industrial school registers, 1846-1869 FHL BRITISH Film 1648000 Items 4-6

Classification registers for boys and girls, 1845-1897


 * Microfilm of original records at the Liverpool Record Office. Liverpool Record Office no.: 353 SEL 23/1-13.
 * Includes names, year of birth, where born, parent's names and occupation, status such as illegitimate, orphan, deserted, etc., admitted or discharged, absconded, apprenticed, placed in service or died, and remarks. Dates based on when each were admitted.
 * Classification register (boys) 1845-1857 Classification register (girls) 1845-1857 FHL BRITISH Film 1656114 Items 5-6
 * Classification registers (boys) 1857-1880 Classification registers (girls) 1857-1879 FHL BRITISH Film 1656115
 * Classification registers (girls) 1879-1881 Classification registers (boys) 1880-1897 FHL BRITISH Film 1656116 Items 1-4

Burial records

Burials at the parish burials cemetery of St. Mary, Liverpool:


 * Microfilm of original records at the Lancashire Record Office.
 * Includes baptisms of Workhouse in Liverpool.
 * Burials 1829-1838 and baptisms 1831-1838. FHL BRITISH Film 1068953 Items 12-20
 * Baptisms and burials 1839-1849. FHL BRITISH Film 1068954 Items 1-9

Burials in the parish cemetery of St. Martins, Liverpool:


 * Microfilm of original records at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston.
 * Includes baptisms 1848-1853 at workhouse in the parish of Liverpool.
 * Burials 1830-1844. FHL BRITISH Film
 * 1068952 Items 2-16
 * Burials 1845-1853; baptisms 1848-1853 (Workhouse). FHL BRITISH Film
 * 1068953 Items 1-11

Websites
For more information on the history of the workhouse, see Peter Higginbotham's web site: www.workhouses.org.uk and http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?Liverpool/Liverpool.shtml The Workhouse website has maps and images of the Liverpool union sites and further history.