Dorset Poor Law Unions

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. Dorset had the following poorlaw unions within its boundaries:

The Poorlaw Unions



 * Beaminster Union
 * Blandford Union
 * Bridport Union
 * Cerne Union
 * Dorchester Union
 * Poole Union
 * Shaftesbury Union
 * Sherborne Union
 * Sturminster Union
 * Wareham &amp; Purbeck Union (formed separately in March 1836, merged together September 1836)
 * Weymouth Union
 * Wimborne &amp; Cranborne Union (formed separately in September 1835, merged together October 1836)

Some Dorset parishes were included in Unions formed in neighbouring counties


 * Axminster Union (in Devon)
 * Chardstock
 * Charmouth (1836-1894)
 * Hawkchurch
 * Lyme Regis
 * Thorncombe (1836-1894)
 * Chard Union (in Somerset)
 * Wambrook
 * Mere Union (in Wiltshire)
 * Bourton (1835-1894)
 * Silton (1835-1894)
 * Wincanton Union (in Somerset)
 * Buckhorn Weston (1835-1894)
 * Kington Magna (1835-1894)

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 (Dorsetshire), and then under the name of the poorlaw union, i.e. Weymouth; then search under the term[s] "poorlaw" or "poorhouses".

Online Transcriptions Relating to Poorlaw Records
1) For more information on the history of the workhouse, see Peter Higginbotham's web site: www.workhouses.org.uk, a 'gateway' website with some information on Dorsetshire's poor

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

3) Axminster Poor Law Union, Devon and Dorset, 1834-1848