Staffordshire Poor Law Unions
An Act of Parliament in the year 1834 took the responsibility of administering to the poor from the local parish church to the doorstep of civil government. The government grouped each civil parish into a union of parishes. There were nearly 600 such unions throughout England, each one comprising close to 20 or more parishes, and were specifically setup to meet the demands of the poor among their local populations, with a workhouse on the premises. The responsbility was transferred from local parishes to a Board of Guardians in each union. These groupings or unions were known as poor-law unions. Staffordshire had many poorlaw unions within its boundaries.
Contents
Staffordshire Poorlaw Unions[edit | edit source]
- Alstonfield Gilbert Poor Law Union (later Alstonfield Union), Staffordshire
- Burton upon Trent Poor Law Union,Staffordshire
- Cannock from 1877 replaced Penkridge Poor Law Union, Staffordshire Genealogy
- Cheadle Poor Law Union, Staffordshire Genealogy
- Dudley Poor Law Union, Staffordshire Genealogy
- Leek Poor Law Union, Staffordshire Genealogy
- Lichfield Poor Law Union, Staffordshire Genealogy
- Newcastle under Lyme Poor Law Union, Staffordshire Genealogy
- Penkridge Poor Law Union, Staffordshire Genealogy
- Seisdon Poor Law Union, Staffordshire Genealogy
- Stafford Poor Law Union
- Stoke Upon Trent Poor Law Union, Staffordshire Genealogy
- Stone Poor Law Union, Staffordshire Genealogy
- Tamworth Poor Law Union, Staffordshire Genealogy
- Uttoxeter Poor Law Union, Staffordshire Genealogy
- Walsall Poor Law Union, Staffordshire Genealogy
- West Bromwich Poor Law Union,Staffordshire
- Wigmore Schools, Walsall and West Bromwich, Staffordshire Genealogy
- Wolstanton and Burslem Poor Law Union, Staffordshire Genealogy
- Wolverhampton Poor Law Union, Staffordshire Genealogy
The Records[edit | edit source]
Records from the poorlaw unions, which were created from this time forward include the following:
- Guardianship
- Creed Registers
- Rate books
- Workhouse Lists of Inmates
- Register of Apprentices
- Register of Births
- Register of Deaths
- Vestry Rate Books
- Admission and Discharge Registers
- Board of Guardians' Records
Records at The Family History Library[edit | edit source]
To determine records availability for each poorlaw, search the FamilySearch Catalog under the name of the county (Staffordshire), and then under the name of the poorlaw union, i.e. Stoke on Trent, then under the term[s] "poorlaw" or "poorhouses".
Online Transcriptions of Records Relating to Poorlaw[edit | edit source]
1) Lichfield - poorlaw records for this Union - online
2) For more information on the history of the workhouse, see Peter Higginbotham's web site: www.workhouses.org.uk, a 'gateway' website with some information on Staffordshire's poor
3) Here is a website with approximately 10 percent of the county's poor
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