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- Lincolnshire, Workhouse Guardians' Minutes - Bourne
Records in this collection
- Britain, Executions 1606-1955
- Bury Union Workhouse (Jericho Institution) Admission Registers
- Bury Workhouse Creed Registers
- Bury Workhouse Discharge Registers
- Chertsey Poor Law Union Admission and Discharge Books post-1900
- Chertsey Poor Law Union Admission and Discharge Books pre-1900
- Cheshire Workhouse Records (Baptisms)
- Cheshire Workhouse Records (Births)
- Cheshire Workhouse Records (Burials)
- Cheshire Workhouse Records (Deaths)
- Cheshire Workhouse Records, Admissions and Discharges
- Cheshire Workhouse Records, Religious Creeds
- City of York calendars of prisoners 1739-1851
- City of York hearth & window tax 1665-1778
- Cobham, Reed’s School Annual Reports 1818-1901
- Derbyshire hospital admissions and deaths 1892-1913
- Derbyshire hospital admissions and deaths 1892-1913
- Derbyshire Workhouse Reports
- Devon, Plymouth Prison Records 1832-1919
- Devon, Tavistock Borough Court Luxton Manuscripts, 1839-1896
- Dorking Poor Law Union Application and Report Books 1837-1847
- England & Wales, paupers in workhouses 1860
- England and Wales, Crime, Prisons and Punishment 1770-1935
- Farnham Board of Guardians Minute Books 1872-1910
- Godstone Poor Law Union Application and Report Books 1869-1915
- Guildford Infirmary Deaths 1933-1939
- Guildford Workhouse Births 1866-1910
- Guildford Workhouse Deaths 1887-1914
- Hambledon Board of Guardians Minute Books 1836-1910
- Hampshire, Portsmouth Hospital Records
- Hampshire, Portsmouth Workhouse Registers
- Hampshire, Portsmouth, Portsea Island Rate Books
- Ireland, Licences to Keep Arms 1832-1836
- Ireland, Ulster Covenant 1912
- Irish Tontines Annuitants 1766-1789 - Annuities
- Irish Tontines Annuitants 1766-1789 - Deaths
- Irish Tontines Annuitants 1766-1789 - Marriages
- Kent, Bexley Asylum Minute Books, 1901-1939
- Lancashire, Manchester cholera victims 1832
- Lincolnshire Poor Law Removals 1665 - 1865
- Lincolnshire Settlement Certificates 1675 - 1860
- Lincolnshire Settlement Examinations 1721 - 1861
- Lincolnshire, Workhouse Guardians' Minutes
- Lincolnshire, Workhouse Guardians' Minutes - Bourne
- Lincolnshire, Workhouse Guardians' Minutes - Caistor
- Liverpool Workhouse Registers
- London, Bethlem Hospital Patient Admission Registers and Casebooks 1683-1932
- Mayford Industrial School Admissions 1895-1907
- Middlesex, Harrow School photographs of pupils & masters 1869-1925
- Middlesex, London, Old Bailey Court records 1674-1913
- National School Admission Registers & Log-Books 1870-1914
- Princess Mary Village Homes Pupils 1870-1890s
- Prison ship (Hulk) Registers 1811-1843
- Redhill, Royal Philanthropic School Admission Registers 1788-1906
- Richmond Poor Law Union Application and Report Books 1870-1911
- Roxburghshire, Kelso Dispensary Patient Registers 1777-1781
- Royal Society of Arts Membership Lists and Minute Books
- Scotland prison registers index 1828-1884
- Scotland, Buchanan Society Members 1725-1948
- Scotland, Edinburgh Temperance Pledges 1886-1908
- Scotland, Inverness-Shire, Dores Free Church Adherents 1893
- Scotland, Linlithgowshire (West Lothian), poorhouse records 1859-1912
- South Yorkshire Asylum, Admission Records
- Surrey County Gaol Deaths 1798-1878
- Surrey feet of fines 1558-1760
- Surrey feet of fines place list
- Surrey Quarter Sessions 1780 -1820
- Surrey, Southwark, St Saviour Poor Relief 1818-1821
- Warlingham Military Hospital Chaplain's Department baptisms, confirmations and deaths 1917-1919
- Warwickshire bastardy index
- Warwickshire, Coventry workhouse admission and discharge registers 1853-1946
- Warwickshire, Coventry, Vehicle Registration Plates (1921-1944)
- Warwickshire, Coventry, Vehicle Registrations 1921-1944
- Westminster, poor law and parish administration - Admissions
- Westminster, poor law and parish administration - Apprentices
- Westminster, poor law and parish administration - Bastardy
- Westminster, poor law and parish administration - Examinations
- Westminster, poor law and parish administration - Land tax
- Westminster, poor law and parish administration - Paupers
- Westminster, poor law and parish administration - Poor law and workhouse records
- Westminster, poor law and parish administration - Valuations
- Wiltshire Asylum Registers, 1789-1921
- Woking, St Peter’s Memorial Home Patients 1885-1908
- Women’s Suffrage Petition 1866
- Yorkshire, Sheffield Crime Courts and Convicts 1737-1938
- Yorkshire, Sheffield Crime Courts And Convicts 1769-1931
- Yorkshire, Sheffield social and institutional records 1558-1939
- Yorkshire, Sheffield, asylum & hospital admissions & subscriptions 1748-1937
- Yorkshire, Sheffield, Workhouse Admissions 1700-1915
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The Workhouse System
In 1834 the Poor Law Amendment Act was passed. By this act a number of parishes were grouped together into a Poor Law Union. It may have been necessary for the Union to use several small existing workhouses until a larger workhouse was built.
The Poor Law Commissioners administered the new workhouse system and it will be seen in these minutes that they were often applied to for advice in the early years. Individual workhouses were administered by a Board of Guardians. One or more Guardians were appointed to represent each parish within the Union, and the Board of Guardians, with an elected Chairman, met each week or fortnightly, to discuss any issues to do with the running of the workhouse including specific pauper cases. The Relieving Officer was the person to whom any pauper living within the Union should apply for relief. The pauper could be given "out relief" in cases of illness, or an "order for the House" in any other case. The Overseers of the Poor continued the work they had done in their own parishes before the act was passed. Medical Officers were appointed and were given a specific group of parishes, the pauper inhabitants of which they were required to visit if circumstances required. Medical certificates were given to paupers needing out relief. Other officers appointed by the Board of Guardians were the Master and Mistress or Matron of the Workhouse. These were often a husband and wife. The Master took his directions from the Board of Guardians, and was in day to day control of the Workhouse. Under the Master were the Schoolmaster and Schoolmistress, and the Porter. Finally, and perhaps the most important officer was the Clerk to the Guardians, who wrote the wonderful material that has survived to this day and which gives us a valuable insight into the plight of the paupers and the day to day running of the workhouse.
When a pauper applied for relief, several questions would be asked. Most importantly, where was his place of settlement? Had he any relatives who could pay his maintenance? Had he any income from other sources that would maintain him and his family through difficult times? Was the father of a bastard child able to support him? All these questions are posed in the minute books, and often satisfactorily answered. It is important to remember that any pauper had to apply to the Relieving Officer of the Union in which he resided. If his settlement turned out to be within a different Poor Law Union he could be removed to the Union in which his place of settlement was supposed to be. If no appeal was made against the removal order within 21 days, his place of settlement was proven, and once proved, where the pauper was relieved was irrelevant as his maintenance, either in or out of the workhouse, was paid by the Union to which he belonged. There would, therefore, be many paupers living within a particular Union whose places of settlement were in a different Union.
Bourne Poor Law Union
Bourne Poor Law Union is made up of 30 parishes all in Lincolnshire. All entries containing references to named paupers in the first two minute books (Lincolnshire Archives Reference PL2/102/1 and 2) are included in this book. The transcription has been arranged to resemble the original minute books as closely as possible.
This particular set of minutes gives an excellent idea of some of the problems that the early administrators of the new Poor Law Amendment Act had when dealing with local magistrates, and with other Poor Law Unions. Many of the cases are recorded in detail, and all kinds of problems are dealt with, from runaway boys to the grandfather who, whilst in prison for drunkenness, applied for his granddaughter only to leave her in the workhouse when he discovered that he would have to support her!
Boston Poor Law Union
Boston Union, formed in 1836, comprised the 27 parishes in the Boston Registration District. At first a number of small existing workhouses were used until the large workhouse at Boston had been built.
Caistor Poor Law Union
Caistor Union, formed in 1836, contained 76 parishes and townships (see the map at the beginning of this book). In 1890 the Grimsby Poor Law Union was formed from 26 townships in this Union.
With thanks to the Lincolnshire Family History Society.