Poverty and the Poor Laws

1. Why use this guide?

This is a guide which can help you to find records of the poor, mainly in England and Wales. There are suggestions for further reading and links to online resources.

You might prefer to start your research by reading our research signpost on workhouse inmate and staff records.

2. Essential information

There is little in The National Archives about the operation of the Elizabethan Poor Law and its system of outdoor relief for the deserving poor, and Houses of Correction for the undeserving poor. There will be letters and comments in State Paper Domestic and Home Office correspondence series.

Try the relevant county record office, as the records produced in the course of proving settlement can be very informative for family history. See Cole, An introduction to Poor Law documents before 1834.

3. The Elizabethan Poor Laws

Paupers have attracted the active interest of the state since the Act of Relief for the Poor 1601. However, most records will be found locally, as paupers were a charge on their parish of settlement, and local taxes were raised for their support. The parish of settlement was generally the parish of birth, or of the husband's birth.

For a brief and lucid guide to the poor relief system, the various poor laws, and the idea of settlement, see Herber, Ancestral trails (pp 285-305).

4. The New Poor Law (1834) and the workhouse system

Workhouses (to supply indoor relief) were set up under the New Poor Law of 1834. They were designed in as repulsive a way as possible, to try to put people off from applying for help. The Poor Law Unions continued until 1930.

The records of the Poor Law Commission and the Poor Law Board are in The National Archives, in the MH department code. They are not particularly easy to use, as the lists are very uninformative, so any search is likely to be lengthy, but it can be very rewarding.

MH 12 is the main series of correspondence, containing the names of thousands of individuals. It is one of the premier record series for nineteenth century local government. Most of it is listed only by poor law union and covering dates of correspondence; the correspondence is indexed (but only partially and only a small percentage of them) by specialised administrative subjects in MH 15. Many of the original records are also in a poor condition.

However you can search and download some of the records. The online collection of 19th century Poor Law Union and workhouse records covers over 20 Poor Law Unions. Searching indexes is be free but there may be a charge to download. This collection includes correspondence between the unions and the central authorities, which can offer details of individual paupers and workhouse staff.

The following were digitised and catalogued under the 'Living the poor life' project in 2009-2010 by over 200 volunteers mainly living in the area covered by each union.

5. Poor Law Union staff

For registers of staff of the workhouses, 1837-1921, see MH 9. The registers give dates of appointment and salary and sometimes date of death.

Personal details of people appointed may be found in forms among the mass of papers in MH 12 although virtually all papers after 1900 were destroyed by fire in the 1940s. The forms give full name, age, address, details of previous jobs and reasons for appointment to the present post, and salary. Names of wives and number of children are sometimes given, as are details of religion and qualifications. MH 12 can also contain references for applicants, and correspondence on dismissal.

You may find it worth checking the Index to Parliamentary Papers (available on CD-ROM in The National Archives Library), to check on returns of Poor Law Union officials made to Parliament which might also give personal details.

6. Records in other archives

To find out in which union a particular parish was, see Gibson and Youngs, Poor Law Union records: 4 gazetteer of England and Wales. The three previous pamphlets in this series give advice on the range of records to be found, and references to documents whether in local record offices or The National Archives.

The workhouse is a website with extensive information about workhouses in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The 'records and resources' section may help you find out which local archives hold workhouse records.

7. Further reading

The following recommended publications are available in The National Archives' Library. Where indicated a publication is also available to buy at The National Archives' Bookshop.

A Cole, An introduction to Poor Law documents before 1834 (FFHS, 2000) - Available to buy

Booths London poverty maps, 1889 (Old House Books, 2009) - Available to buy

Trevor May, The Victorian workhouse (Shire, 2005) - Available to buy

JSW Gibson, C Rogers and C Webb, Poor Law Union records: 1. South-East England and East Anglia (The Family History Partnership) - Available to buy

JSW Gibson and C Rogers, Poor Law Union records: 2. The Midlands and Northern England (The Family History Partnership - Available to buy

JSW Gibson and C Rogers, Poor Law Union records: 3. South-West England, The Marches and Wales (The Family History Partnership) - Available to buy

JSW Gibson and FA Youngs, Poor Law Union records: 4. Gazetteer of England and Wales (The Family History Partnership) - Available to buy

M Herber, Ancestral trails (second edition, Sutton Publishing, February 2004) - Available to buy

P Carter, Bradford Poor Law Union: Papers and correspondence with the Poor Law Commission, October 1834 to January 1839 (Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, 2004)

Index to Parliamentary Papers

E McLaughlin, Annals of the poor (FFHS, 1987)

S Pearl, 'Charities: the forgotten poor relief', Family Tree Magazine (May 1991)

W Tate, The parish chest (Cambridge, 1969)