Romford, Essex Poor Law Union

History
Romford (or "Rumford") is mentioned in a report from 1724 of a parish workhouse. Other workhouses mentioned include Barking ( Bury-king) and Hornchurch. A parish workhouse operated at Upminster in a building on St Mary's Lane dating from around 1751. A parliamentary report of 1777 recorded parish workhouses in operation at Barking (for up to 70), Dagenham (30), and Upminster (20). Romford Poor Law Union formally came into being on 31st May, 1836. The new Romford Union workhouse was built in 1838-39 on a 5 acre site on Oldchurch Road to the south-west of the town. The site, then open farmland, was bought from a Mr Philpot at £160 per acre. The workhouse with a capacity of 450 was designed by Francis Edwards, the only example of his work. In the 1940’s the buildings were to form part of Oldfield Hospital until demolition in 2000. The Romford Guardians decided to adopt the scattered homes system for its pauper children in 1905. Two large semi-detached houses were purchased for use as a receiving and probationary home. Initially, thirty children were housed there under the care of a foster mother and one assistant. On 24th September, 1907, Gertrude Smedley was appointed foster mother of the "cottage homes" at 3, Adelaide Villas, Mawneys, Romford — aged only 19 years she was the youngest ever foster mother employed by the union. By 1914, there were children's Homes at 5-8 Laurie Square, and 1-2 the Croft, Heath Park Road. In 1914, there were scattered homes operating at Gilmore House, 36 Pelham Road, and Richmond House, 38 Pelham Road, Ilford. In 1929, there were homes at 26-28 Manor Road, 42-44 Brentwood Road, and on King Edward Road.

Constituent parishes
Barking, Essex Barkingside Trinity, Essex Cranham, Essex Dagenham, Essex Great Ilford, Essex Great Warley, Essex Havering-atte-Bower, Essex Hornchurch, Essex Rainham, Essex Romford, Essex Upminster, Essex Wennington, Essex

Records
Essex Record Office, Wharf Road Chelmsford CM2 6YT. Relatively few records survive. Holdings include: Guardians' minute books (1836-1930)

Essex Record Office reference G/R Romford Union Scope and Content The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 removed responsibility for the poor from parishes (see D/P.../11-18) and transferred administration to Boards of Guardians of the Poor. The Guardians administered groups of parishes or Poor Law Unions. Each Union had its own WORKHOUSE.In 1872 the public Health Act created urban and rural sanitary authorities. with the Guardians constituted as the rural sanitary authority for those parts of each Union not in an urban sanitary authority. These records are catalogued here as G/...S. The Local Government Act of 1894 replaced rural sanitary authorities with rural district councils (see D/R). The Local Government Act of 1929 abolished the Boards of Guardians and transferred their powers to the Public Assistance Committees of County Councils (for minutes of Essex County Council Public Assistance Committee 1929-1948 see C/MPa 1-22). Many of the WORKHOUSE infirmaries continued as hospitals after 1930, continuing after the introduction of the National Heath Service in 1948. For other records illustrating the work of the Guardians see D/P.../19 For orders, directions and declarations of Poor Law Commissioners responsible for grouping parishes into Unions, 1835-1837, see Q/RSw2-5. For catalogue of correspondence between Poor Law Unions and Poor Law Commission (later Poor Law Board and Local Government Board) 1834-1900 see List and Index Society Vol. 56. G. Cuttle The Legacy of the Rural Guardians (Heffer, 1934 E.R.O. Library 362.50942) provides a good account of the work of the Guardians in six mid-Essex Unions, together with the newscuttings he collected and used in writing the book (T/P 181). For analysis of ledgers see Journal of the Society of Archivists II, PP. 367-369. ROMFORD Union consisted of the parishes of Barking, Cranham, Dagenham, Havering-atte-Bower, Hornchurch, Rainham, ROMFORD, Upminster, Great Warley, Wennington

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/Romford/Romford.shtml Workhouses site