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Poor Law

For anybody who is interested in the Poor Laws - you may find the following website useful - www.thepotteries.org/dates/poor.htm
This site provides a list of key dates relating to the Poor Laws in Great Britain from 1300 to 1899.

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Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

I imagine that the survival of Poor Law documents is very patchy over the country as a whole, but I had the good fortune to find that it is excellent in Lincolnshire, where I researched some of my ancestors 20 years ago at the Lincoln Archives.

This area of research provided me with my oldest family history document. It dates from 1724 and is an example of a document obtained in order to live and work outside a person's parish of birth. Without such a document, it would have been difficult for people to move to a new parish, as under the Poor Laws the new parish would have become responsible for them if they ever fell on hard times. These documents provided proof that the parish of birth would retain this responsibility. The two documents of which I have photocopies are close in date to the named individual's marriage.

My transcription of the 1724 Poor Law document for John Spring is as follows):

Lincoln Lindsay Willoughby

These are to certify [to] ye Churchwardens and Overseers of Croft in ye County of Lincolnshire and ye rest of ye inhabitants belonging to ye same yt [that] John Spring his wife and children are legal members of our [said] parish of Willoughby; and whensoever ye [said] John Spring, his wife and children or any of them shall become (or be in likelihood to become) chargeable to ye [said] parish of Croft or be forc’t to ask relief of any of ye parishioners thereof we do hereto promise to take care and provide for ym [them] as such provided they do not procure themselves a more legal settlement according to ye Statute in yt [that] case made provided. For Testimony whereof we have set our hands and seals ys [this] fourteenth day of March in ye year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and twenty-four [1724].

Signed and sealed by ye John Ostler (?)
Churchwardsn & Overseers Robt Proctor
of ye Poor in ye Parish of Churchwardens
Willoughby in ye foresaid:

Richard Lill Thomas Flower (?)
Maths Willkinson John Hanby
Overseers

Allowed by us two of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace Quo2 (?)
Cowper (?)
N. Marshall
Ricd Pilkington

I was thrilled to find this source and hope that this lead might be useful to other forum readers with ancestors from other parts.

Best wishes
Ruth

Interesting read Ruth. I can't say that I have stumbled on any for Staffordshire but then I haven't sought them out. West Yorkshire (Calderdale Archives) seem to have good resources at Halifax and I believe Lancashire Record Office is also well stocked. My only complaint for Halifax, though complaint is a little too strong a word, is that one of the archivists does his best to talk you out of viewing some documents. They 'won't hold anything that will take your tree further back' or 'the name is too common to be sure it is your family' are two of the comments I have received when making requests. My response is always 'I'd like to look anyway, it's not just about getting more names in my file.' I don't think he wants to put people off research but I think it requires a little effort on his part to locate the documents requested. My obstinance has paid off on more than one occasion. I once requested an apprentice record and met with one of the above responses. I stood my ground and I''m glad I did. It solved the riddle of a 14 year old boy living with my 4x gt grandfather in 1841. As you know, 1841 does not reveal relationship and the boy was no longer with my ancestor in 1851. It runs out that the boy was the nephew of my ancestor and did in fact help me to confidently take my tree back another generation where a parentage link had been a little sketchy previously.

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Mel

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