England, Cheshire Workhouse Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

England Cheshire

What is in the Collection?
This collection consists of poor law records from the county of Cheshire for the years 1848-1967.

The workhouses started out housing the various types of poor separately. The records generated by the workhouses were kept according to the 1834 poor law act to help local authorities keep track of the poor and account for monies spent for their living expenses. The records for the Cheshire workhouses are from 1837 to the closure of each Poor Law Union. Cheshire Poor Law Unions contains further information about each Union. The majority of the documents are handwritten on printed forms consisting of columns and lines.

One of the 39 historic counties of England, Cheshire is a coastal county in northwestern England which shares its western border with Wales. For a list of the parishes which historically made up this county with links to more information about each of them, see the Cheshire Parishes page.

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search, it would be helpful if you knew the following information:


 * Name of ancestor
 * Approximate year and place of birth

To search this collection by name: Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the wiki article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

Use these records to identify relatives that may not be found in parish registers. The infirmaries attached to the workhouses were opened to the whole community in the later 19th century. The infirmaries generated birth and death records.

Known Issues With This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection, please read the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, feel free to report them at [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Citing this Collection
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