| Notes |
- This index contains details of named individuals derived from records created in the administration of the Poor Law in Oxfordshire. The Poor Law was the system for providing a form of social security in operation in England from the 16th century until 1834. Individual parishes were responsible for administering the Poor Law and maintaining paupers and their families. The main types of records created were settlement examinations and certificates, removal orders, bastardy bonds, and apprenticeship indentures. Surviving examples of these records for Oxfordshire parishes are held at Oxfordshire Record Office. For further information on the Poor Law and the types of documents, please see our ?u?Poor Law pages. <http://apps.oxfordshire.gov.uk/poorlawrecords>?/u?
Items can be inspected at the Oxfordshire Record Office, St. Luke's Church, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2HT. If you wish to enquire about an item please contact the Record Office quoting the item's reference number.
Tel. 01865 398200
email ?u?archives@oxfordshire.gov.uk ?/u?.
?b?Poor law records
?/b?
The administrative history of the Poor Law can be divided into two periods.
?b?Pre-1834:
?/b?
The poor were the responsibility of individual parishes. From 1572 overseers of the poor could be appointed by each parish vestry on an annual basis. Overseers' accounts list recipients of relief (regular and special cases) and income from rates, with names of the contributors. Churchwardens' accounts and Vestry minutes may also give details of payments to paupers.
Under an Act of 1662 the place of legal settlement of every pauper had to be determined. This led to the creation of Settlement Certificates, showing where a person in need of poor relief had to seek it. Settlement Examinations were often carried out by Justices of the Peace; the resulting documents provide potted biographies of paupers.
Removal Orders could be issued by Justices, forcing people to return from one place to their parish of settlement.
Children of paupers could be dealt with by a system of parish apprenticeship; overseers were empowered to compel parishioners to accept boys and girls to learn a trade or skill. Apprenticeship Indentures were drawn up, stating the exact terms of the agreement.
Where illegitimate children might become a burden on the parish, Bastardy or Harmless Bonds were compiled, requiring the putative father to maintain his offspring at his own expense. Warrants could be issued to arrest anyone refusing to apply. Bastardy cases sometimes reached the county court of Quarter Sessions and generated examination papers, including detailed statements of witnesses.
Many documents about the treatment of the poor will be found among parish collections. Others can be tracked down in the personal name and subject indexes to the Quarter Sessions' papers or the privately deposited records.
?b?Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834:
?/b?
This was passed in an attempt to counteract the overstretched parish system. The union replaced the parish as the poor law district, and consisted of groups of 30 or 40 parishes (not necessarily all in the same county), usually centring on a town, where the workhouse was located. Boards of Guardians were now responsible for the day-to-day management of poor relief at a local level Salaried officials, such as medical and relieving officers decided the fate of applicants for relief.
The main records are the series of Guardians' Minute Books; these give information on payments to and treatment of paupers and the care of children, medical officers' reports, as well as accounts and details of alterations to institution buildings. They are very detailed, so it can be difficult tracking down details of particular cases.
Workhouse records do not survive in any great quantity, though we do hold admission and discharge books, a Master's journal, accounts, dietaries and medical officers' reports to provide some insight on internal management. Other material you may encounter for this period includes rates books, letters from and about individual paupers, and accounts of numbers of births, marriages and deaths. The Local Government Act of 1929 officially abolished the term pauper and Boards of Guardians were discontinued.
A catalogue of Poor Law Union records for Oxfordshire is in a brown file with the basic reference code "PLU". The exception to this is material for Headington Union, details of which are in the index to Oxford City Archives
?b?Contact details
?/b?Oxfordshire Record Office
St Luke's Church
Temple Road
Cowley
Oxford
OX4 2HT
Tel: 01865 398200
Fax: 01865 398201
?u?Email the Oxfordshire Record Office ?/u?
This page was last updated on: 28 July 2005
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