Devon County Council

Why look at Poor Law Records?

Some poor law documents can provide information on family relationships, and relationships between families and places, which is not available elsewhere.  Before the census of 1841, they may be the only surviving record of the lives of ordinary labouring families apart from parish register entries.  They may contain the only record of the movements of families between parishes and even from county to county, and of ancestors’ occupations and employers.  They can provide a way of tracing poor ancestors through their trials and tribulations – unemployment, illegitimate pregnancy, desertion, illness and bereavement.

But they are not only of use to those with pauper ancestors, for they provide information on parishioners from all levels of society.  Remember first of all that even well-established tradesmen and farmers could be put out of business by a fire, an accident, illness or economic pressures, and become dependent temporarily – or permanently - on the parish.

Tradesmen, farmers and minor gentry who were never dependent on the parish may still appear frequently in the records.  They acted as Overseers and Churchwardens, and took apprentices; they may have alternatively employed, supported or housed the poor, provided them with shoes and clothes, or repaired the parish poorhouse.  They may have given evidence about a pauper’s life history in front of a Justice.  Poor law records – particularly poor rate accounts and apprenticeship records - may provide the only surviving information on the properties leased or owned by farming families for some time periods.  Poor law documents of all kinds, including bills, letters and legal opinions, can provide information on the roles of the middle classes – of surgeons, attorneys, and of members of the local gentry who acted as magistrates and Justices of the Peace.

The History of Poor Relief  in England

The Origins of the Old Poor Law

Up to the early sixteenth century, the poor and infirm were cared for by the church, through monasteries, convents and religious charities.  With the decline of monasteries and their dissolution under Henry VIII, and changes in social structure, this voluntary system disappeared, and the parish became responsible for supporting its own poor, raising the money to do this by taxing the parishioners who could afford to pay.

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries laws were introduced in an effort to suppress begging by able-bodied labourers, and to control the movement of vagabonds, beggars, and labourers roaming in search of higher wages and work in areas where labour laws were not strictly enforced.  Gradually parish officers were given greater powers over their own inhabitants, and also over any strangers entering the parish.

The Act of 1598

In 1598, under Elizabeth I, the Act For the Reliefe of the Poore was passed, requiring every parish to appoint Overseers of the Poor who were responsible for

• finding work for the unemployed, and
• setting up parish houses for those incapable of supporting themselves.

The Act of 1601

This Acte for the Reliefe of the Poore, passed 3 years later, was essentially a refinement of the previous Act, but is often said to mark the foundation of the Old Poor Laws. Under this Act, the responsibility of the parish was established. It was obliged to

• relieve its aged and helpless,
• bring up unprotected children in ‘habits of industry’, and
• provide work for the able-bodied who could not work in their usual trade.

The Overseers, who were unpaid, were to be elected annually by the parish vestry meeting, and they were to dispense money and bread, and supervise the parish poorhouse.  The aims were to provide work for adults, apprentice poor children and set them to work, and suppress and punish beggars and vagabonds, in some cases by admitting them to county "Houses of Correction".

Thus every parish was a self-governing body, responsible for its own poor people.

Overseers were given the power to raise money by charging parishioners according to their ability to pay.  This charge, called the Poor Rate, was originally a form of income tax, but evolved into a property tax or "rate" based on the value of real estate.  Generally the tenant paid, instead of the owner.  Failure to pay could lead to a summons to appear before the Justices, a fine and sometimes prison.  You may find summons and distraints for non-payment of rates among parish records.

Overseers kept account books, which recorded the poor rates collected and the payments made to and on behalf of paupers.  Sometimes separate books – poor rate accounts, and disbursement books – were kept.  A record of the arrangements made for the relief of the poor were sometimes recorded in vestry minute books.

The Settlement Act of 1662

Two years after the restoration of King Charles II, an Act for the Better Relief of the Poor of this Kingdom – also known as the Settlement Act – was passed.  This sought to establish the parish to which a person belonged (ie his/her place of "settlement"), and hence clarify which parish was responsible for those who became "chargeable" to the parish poor rates.  It also allowed the Overseers to "remove" newcomers that local Justices deemed likely to become dependent on poor relief.  This could occur unless the newcomers were wealthy, were paying substantial rent, or had some form of security to indemnify the parish against the expense of supporting them.  This might be in the form of a certificate from their own parish stating that they would be received back again.

In 1691 another Act laid down the qualifications for gaining settlement.  Settlement in a parish could be acquired by:

• birth – a legitimate child took its father’s parish of settlement, even if this was not where it was born.  An illegitimate child claimed settlement in its parish of birth.
• apprenticeship, by the parish or privately.
• service.  A hiring agreement of a full year or more (ie continuous employment for at least 365 days), each subsequent settlement replacing the previous one.
• marriage or remarriage.  A woman took her husband’s place of settlement on marriage.
• renting property worth at least £10 a year (well beyond the means of a labourer), and paying parish rates
• election to a parish office (e.g. overseer or church warden) for a year

From 1697, under yet another amendment to the Act, poor people could move to a new parish provided they brought a Settlement Certificate with them.  This protected them from being removed to the parish to which they "belonged," unless they actually applied for poor relief.  If they survived on wages alone they could not be removed.  The parish Overseer often kept the Settlement Certificates addressed to him in the parish chest, and used these as proof of settlement when removing unwanted paupers who had claimed poor relief; this saved unnecessary time and the expense of examining the paupers and establishing their place of settlement.

A century later, in 1795, this protection against removal was extended to all poor persons not claiming poor relief, except pregnant unmarried women.  Parish Overseers made them least welcome as they were considered the most expensive to support, and they were commonly removed from any parish they entered, back to their place of settlement.  This was done by the issuing of a Removal Order signed by two Justices of the Peace.

Later Acts amending the laws relating to settlement, employment and relief of the poor allowed the setting up of parish workhouses from 1723 and the formation of unions of parishes which could set up a shared workhouse, for the old and infirm, from 1782. About 600 parish workhouses were set up in England by 1750.  Less than 100 unions of parishes were formed under the 1782 Act, but it was under this Act that Exeter set up its Corporation of the Poor to better organise the relief of the poor living in parishes within the city walls.

The operation of the Settlement Act and all its subsequent amendments proved complex, confusing and contentious.  Parishes often appealed to the Court of Quarter Sessions over disputed removal orders, settlement decisions, and over claims by other parishes for repayment of paupers’ upkeep costs.  Expensive legal battles often took place between parishes over their responsibility to support individual paupers.  The records of some of these disputed cases survive in parish records and Quarter Sessions records.

Catalogues listing most of the Devon Heritage Centre parish records, including many Overseers of the Poor records, can be searched on-line through The National Archives Discovery Catalogue (they were formerly on the Access to Archives website, but that has now been incorporated into the updated Discovery Catalogue).

Click below for more details on types of Poor Law records:

• Settlement records
• Apprenticeship Records
• Other Poor Law records
• Recommended sources on the Poor Law - printed sources and web-sites