Guide to Sources
Lincolnshire
Archives
Poor Relief 1601-1834
St Rumbold Street, Lincoln, LN2 5AB
Tel:
01522 782040
Fax:
01522 530047
E-mail: lincolnshire.archives@lincolnshire.gov.uk
Website: www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/archives
Tudor Changes to the Poor Laws
Before the Reformation the poor were generally maintained through almsgiving by religious
houses, the parish clergy, guilds and through donations or legacies from individuals. This
system of religious charity was swept away in the changes of the 1530s as monasteries were
abolished and private alms giving was banned.
After the Reformation the parish became the main unit of local administration, with the vestry
acting as its governing council. In 1536 individual parishes were required to care for the poor for
the first time, funded by voluntary church collections every Sunday and holidays. The office of
Overseer of the Poor was officially created in 1572 to collect and distribute parish poor relief.
Subsequent Acts of Parliament changed the system from being a purely voluntary measure and
introduced new rules and regulations to help maintain and control the poor.
In 1597-8 the ‘Act for the relief of the poor’ made the appointment of parish overseers of the
poor compulsory for the first time. The overseers were initially to be responsible for finding work
for the unemployed and setting up parish-houses for those who could not support themselves.
The 1601 Act for the Relief of the Poor
The 1601 ‘Act for the Relief of the Poor’ reinforced the earlier Tudor legislation and is often seen
as the main foundation for the pre-1834 poor law. The Act required each parish to relieve the
aged and the helpless, to bring up unprotected children in habits of industry, and to provide
work for those capable of it but who were lacking their usual trade.
Unpaid Overseers of the Poor were to be appointed annually by the parish vestry. Their main
duties involved maintaining the poor and setting them to work. Materials such as flax, hemp and
wool were to be purchased to provide work for the able-bodied poor. Any able-bodied pauper
who refused to work could be imprisoned. Poor children were to be apprenticed or set to work
and ‘poor houses’ for those unable to work could be provided.
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The maintenance of the poor was to be funded by parish rates collected by the overseers. To
ensure that the money was spent properly, the Act required overseers of the poor to keep
annual accounts of receipts and expenditure.
Settlement and Removal
The concept of settlement and removal was introduced in an Act of Parliament dated 1662.
Newcomers whom local justices thought "likely to be chargeable" to the parish poor rates (e.g.
become paupers) could be removed from a parish to their place of settlement unless they
rented a property of £10 or more, or took out a bond indemnifying the parish from any charge on
the rates. As 40 days residence in a parish was the basic method of gaining settlement, a
complaint against a newcomer would have to be made within 40 days of their arrival.
Up until this point the poor could travel to find employment wherever they chose. As this Act
could substantially restrict movement of labour, temporary settlement certificates were
introduced – a temporary worker would bring with him a certificate from his parish stating that it
will take him back if he becomes a pauper – in theory this would safeguard him from being
immediately removed.
In 1691 this Act was put on the Statute Books permanently and additional ways of gaining
settlement were introduced: in addition to qualification through birth, settlement could be gained
by serving a parish office, paying the parish rate, being bound apprentice to a parishioner or
spending a year in service. To prevent the division of families, a wife and children under 16
would usually take on the place of settlement of the husband or father.
Later Acts of Parliament restricted the parishes’ power of removal. In 1697 it was ruled that
people who held settlement certificates could only be removed if they actually became
chargeable on the poor rate. In 1795 an Act ordered that no one (with the exception of pregnant
unmarried women) could be removed unless they had become chargeable on the poor rate.
Justices were allowed at their discretion to suspend orders of removal on the sick and infirm.
Settlement certificates: Certificate issued by parish officers – the parish state that they are
responsible for maintaining someone if they should become chargeable to the poor rates.
Documents can cover families as well as individuals and generally date from late 17th century to
early / mid 19th century.
Information given: name(s), parish where they have settlement status; usually also the name
of the parish that the certificate holder is moving to. Occupation and ages of children can also
be included.
Settlement examinations: Examination about where someone has settlement status, sworn on
oath before Justices of the Peace. The examinant is usually but not always the pauper or
potential pauper. A pauper is often examined about their place of settlement before a removal
order is issued. Generally date from the early 18th century to mid 19th century.
Information given: whatever is deemed relevant to establish where the pauper has settlement
status; varies but can include place of birth, age, information about immediate family,
apprenticeships or employment.
Removal orders: Court order issued by Justices of the Peace. It requires the pauper or
paupers to be removed to their place of settlement in order to be maintained. An order can
remove whole families as well as an individual. Generally date from the mid 17th century to mid
19th century.
Information given: name(s), parishes where they are to be removed from and to; sometimes
also occupation or, for women, marital status and name of husband. When children are included
on the removal order, ages can be given.
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Vagrant passes: Court order issued by Justices of the Peace to convey a vagrant to their place
of settlement. Similar to a removal order, can also include settlement examinations. Generally
date from mid 18th century to mid 19th century.
Information given: name(s), parish arrested, parish of settlement and next parish vagrant is to
be sent to, any punishment inflicted.
Bastardy
Between 1732 and 1744 a number of changes took place in how the law regarded the
responsibility for illegitimate children:
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In 1732-3, a woman pregnant with an illegitimate child was required to declare the fact and
to name the father. Whereas legitimate children usually took their fathers’ place of
settlement, until 1743-4 illegitimate children were settled in the parish of their birth. Many
removal orders therefore relate to pregnant single women.
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In 1733, the father became responsible for maintaining his illegitimate child; failure to do so
could result in gaol. The parish would support the mother and child until the father agreed to
do so. He would then, in theory, reimburse the parish.
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In 1743-4, an illegitimate child was to have the settlement of its mother, regardless of where
the child was actually born. The mother was to be publicly whipped.
Bastardy examinations: Examination of the mother as to the identity of the father, sworn on
oath before Justices of the Peace. Generally date from the mid 18th century to mid 19th century.
Information given: name and parish of mother and father; sometimes also sex and date of
birth of child, and occupation of father.
Bastardy warrants: Warrant addressed to the parish constable, requiring him to bring the
father to court to indemnify the parish from charges resulting from his bastard child. Generally
date from the mid 18th century to mid 19th century.
Information given: name and parish of father and mother, occupation of father; sometimes
also sex and date of birth of child.
Maintenance / filiation orders: Court order issued by Justices of the Peace after the
examination of the mother and summoning of the father. Requires the father to pay money
towards the maintenance of his child. Generally date from the mid 18th century to mid 19th
century.
Information given: name of father and mother, sex, date and place of birth of child, parish of
the father, amount to be paid by father. Can also include occupation of father.
Bastardy bond: Bond usually between the parish officers and the father of the child (and often
another guarantor). The father is bound to indemnify the parish from maintaining his child.
Generally date from the mid 17th century to mid 19th century.
Information given: name and parish of father and mother, occupation of father. If made after
the birth can include sex of child.
Parish Workhouses
The idea of providing accommodation for paupers had been included in early poor law
legislation. However the 1722-3 ‘Act for amending the laws relating to the settlement,
employment and relief of the poor’ was the first Act to recommend that the idea of the
workhouse should act as a deterrent and that relief should only be available to those who were
desperate enough to accept its regime.
The 1722-3 Act allowed workhouses to be set up by either an individual parish or groups of
parishes. Running of workhouses could be contracted out to a third party who would feed and
house the poor, charging the parish a weekly rate for each inmate. The contractor would also
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provide the inmates with work and could keep any income generated. This system was referred
to as 'farming' the poor.
‘Gilbert’s Act’ in 1782 made it both easier and cheaper for parishes to join together to provide
poor relief. The Act encouraged the setting up of district or union workhouses for the benefit of
those who were unable to work, Lincolnshire ‘Gilbert Union’ workhouses were at Caistor (1801),
Lincoln (1802-3), Winterton (1813-15), Claypole (1818) and Wainfleet All Saints (1828). The
Act’s introduction of model guidelines also helped to improve the management of the
workhouses. Parish and ‘Gilbert Union’ workhouses were rendered obsolete with the
introduction of the better-known Poor Law Union workhouses in 1834.
Documents available include: references in vestry books and accounts, workhouse
inventories, contracts with workhouse masters.
Records of admissions and discharges of inmates are rare.
Examples of Other Common Poor Law Documents
Accounts of the overseers of the poor: Annual accounts may vary in detail from a brief
summary of the sums received and spent to a detailed list of all purchases and payments to
named paupers. Rates assessments and memoranda can also be included.
The earliest overseers’ accounts at Lincolnshire Archives date from 1563 (Leverton Par 13/1),
although earlier churchwardens’ and guild accounts can include spending on the poor. Many
account books survive from the mid 18th century onwards.
Vestry books: May include appointments and accounts of parish officers, including the
overseers of the poor. Some volumes also include memoranda of agreements. Select vestry
minutes (usually 19th century) can contain detailed information about applications for poor relief.
Vestry books survive from the late 16th century to the 19th century.
Pauper apprenticeship indentures: Contract in which parish officers apprentice pauper
children to learn a trade. Generally date from the early 17th century to mid 19th century.
Information given: name and parish of master and apprentice, term of apprenticeship and
trade (with the exception of some of the earlier indentures). Often includes age of child.
Indemnity bonds: Bond between the parish officers and one or more guarantors. The
guarantor agrees to indemnify the parish from any costs if a certain individual should become
chargeable to the parish rates. Generally date from the mid 17th century to early 19th century.
Maintenance bonds: Bond between the parish officers and one or more guarantors. Usually
used as an agreement to look after and maintain a child or an elderly or infirm relation without
receiving money from the parish. Generally date from the early 17th century to early 19th
century.
Records relating to the pre-1834 poor law are usually found in the parish/parish council and
Quarter Sessions collections. Information about bastardy cases after the 1830s may be found in
Petty Sessions records.
Surname indexes to settlement, bastardy and apprenticeship papers have been produced
by the Lincolnshire Family History Society and are available in the search room.
For further reading please see Lincolnshire Archives’ online catalogue included on the Lincs to the
Past website at:
http://www.lincstothepast.com
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