England Poor Law

= Introduction =

English poor law resulted from a gradual development of a poor relief or welfare system dating to medieval times. The first laws enacted for dealing with poverty, vagrancy, and economic distress were the Statutes of Labourers of 1349-1351.

= Poor Law Records =

Poor Law Records are records created by the process of caring for the poor. This includes records of rates (taxes) collected, as well as disbursements of, application for, and administration of poor relief or welfare. In England, the term poor law records usually applies to records created between the beginning of the English Poor Law Acts around 1600 until the abolishment of the Poor Law system in 1948.

English records relating to the poor fall into three time periods, namely:


 * 1) Prior to the establishment of the Poor Law System in the late 1500's (acts of 1597, 1598, and 1601)
 * 2) The Old Poor Law (1600-1834)
 * 3) The New Poor Law (1834-1948)

Pre-1600 Records of the Poor
Prior to 1600, responsibility for poor relief rested early on with the feudal Lord and later the Manorial Lord. Those who were neither serf nor manorial tenant as well as those travelling relied on the Catholic monasteries for relief from economic distress, temporary disability, or illness while away from family and friends.

The Family History researcher's best hope for finding any mention of a specific person during this time period (other than the nobility and manorial Lords) lies with records of daily life on the Manor. Manorial records mention many of the individual tenants and often give clues to their lives and even family relationships. See England Manorial Records.

King Henry VIII's break with the Pope and the Catholic Church led to the establishment of the Church of England in 1534 and the abolishment of the monasteries by 1538. This led to a shift to the English parish for responsibility for the poor. A system developed for caring for the poor, which was codified with a series of Poor Law Acts of 1597, 1598, and finally the establishment of the Poor Law System in 1601.

The New Poor Law (1834-1948)
= Finding Records =

http://www.sussexrecordsociety.org/plhome.asp?an=&amp;ap=

Poor law database for Sussex

http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/poorlawov.html

http://www.fourbears.worldonline.co.uk/html/union_finder_database.html

Workhouse database

A wiki article describing this collection is found at:

England Cheshire Workhouse Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)

SOURCES: