Chelmsford, Essex Poor Law Union

History
Parish workhouses described in a parliamentary report of 1777 were:

Great Baddow, Essex (with accommodation for up to 20 ),

Buttsbury, Essex (10),

Chelmsford, Essex (100),

Danbury, Essex (18),

Fryerning, Essex (20),

South Hanningfield, Essex (9),

Roxwell, Essex (20),

Springfield, Essex (35),

Stock Harvard, Essex (10),

Great Waltham, Essex (100),

Little Waltham, Essex (20),

Writtle, Essex (100).

Chelmsford Poor Law Union was officially formed on 10th August 1835.

At the first meeting of the Board of Guardians, held on 15th August 1835 at the Black Boy Inn, it was agreed that the parishes of Great Leighs, Little Leighs, Rettendon, Runwell and Woodham Ferris [Woodham Ferrers] would be added to the union.

The new Chelmsford Union workhouse was erected in 1837 at the west side of Wood Street, on a site known as Chelmsford Barracks Ground. It was designed by William Thorold who was also the architect of the Rochford Poor Law Union, Essex  workhouse as well as several in Norfolk. A new infectious disease infirmary ward was added in 1877.

In 1886, the old workhouse was almost completely destroyed by a fire. A new building, designed by Fred Chancellor, was erected on the existing site and opened in 1889. It incorporated a few surviving parts of the old workhouse. The new workhouse could accommodate 435 inmates and cost £16,000.

The former workhouse later became St John's Hospital.

Chelmsford Union Children's Homes
The Chelmsford Guardian's opened two homes for its pauper children, one for boys at Writtle, and one for Girls on Baddow Road, Great Baddow.

The Writtle home for 25 boys was opened in September 1905 in a house known as Greenbourne at the south-west corner of Writtle Green, a former school for young ladies.

The home was in use until the 1970s, a resident from the home set fire to the parish church in 1974 and it was subject to an inquiry. In the early 1980s Greenbourne became a private house again, and the large extension at the back was pulled down. The large garden was sold off and houses built on the land, the road being called Comyns Place.

The union's home at Great Baddow opened in 1908 and could accommodate 22 girls.

Constituent Parishes
Boreham, Essex Broomfield, Essex Buttsbury, Essex Chelmsford, Essex Chignall Smealy, Essex Chignall St James, Essex Danbury, Essex East Hanningfield, Essex Fryerning, Essex Good Easter, Essex Great Baddow, Essex Great Leighs, Essex Great Waltham, Essex High Easter, Essex Highwood, Essex Ingatestone, Essex Little Baddow, Essex Little Leighs, Essex Little Waltham, Essex Margaretting, Essex Mashbury, Essex Moulsham, Essex Pleshy, Essex Rettendon, Essex Roxwell, Essex Runwell, Essex Sandon, Essex South Hanningfield, Essex Springfield, Essex Stock Harvard, Essex West Hanningfield, Essex Widford, Essex Woodham Ferrers, Essex Writtle, Essex

Records
•Essex Record Office, Wharf Road Chelmsford CM2 6YT. Holdings include: Guardians' minutes (1835-1930); Ledgers (1835-1929); Admissions and discharges (1883-88, 1891-4, 1897-8, 1926-9); Indoor relief books (1886-1931);

Essex Record Office reference G/Ch Title [Chelmsford Union] 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. 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 Health 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/RSw 2-5. 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. The CHELMSFORD UNION consisted of the parishes of Great Baddow, Little Baddow, Boreham, Broomfield, Buttsbury, Chelmsford, Chignal St. James, Chignal Smealey, Danbury, Good Easter, Fryerning, East Hanningfield, South Hanningfield, West Hanningfield, Ingatestone, Great Leighs, Little Leighs, Margaretting, Mashbury, Pleshey, Rettendon, Roxwell, Runwell, Sandon, Springfield, Stock, Great Waltham, Little Waltham, Widford, Woodham Ferrers, Writtle

Websites
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?Chelmsford/Chelmsford.shtml