The poor, old and infirm

The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 set up Poor Law Unions, groups of parishes combined together to maintain the poor, old and infirm. Boards of Guardians were elected to run the Unions, levy poor rates and maintain a workhouse and infirmary to provide indoor relief and menial work, and look after the sick and infirm. In London, a central body called the Poor Law Commission until 1847, the Poor Law Board from 1847, and Local Government Board from 1871, supervised the administration of the act. Records of these bodies and their dealings with the Poor Law Unions are held here among the records of the Ministry of Health.

Poor Law Correspondence

Records of Boards of Guardians and records of workhouses, staff and inmates are held locally in county record offices. Records of paid Union officers from 1837 to 1921 can be found in series MH 9. The MH 12 series consists of correspondence of the Poor Law Commission, the Poor Law Board and the Local Government Board with Poor Law Unions and other Local Authorities. It covers the period 1834 to 1900. The papers cover the whole field of the poor law and (after 1871) local government and public health administration.

The records can contain information on individual cases of inmates, including apprenticeship, emigration etc., and details of appointments, resignations and dismissals of Union and workhouse staff. The papers are arranged alphabetically under counties and unions. This arrangement, originated by the Poor Law Commissioners, continued after the advent of the Local Government Board so it is necessary to find papers on a Municipal Borough, or other Local Authority, to know in which Union area that Authority was situated. The census indexes of names and places provide a means of reference. Subject indexes to the correspondence are in MH 5.