NORFOLK-L Archives

From: "Gill Blanchard" <>
Subject: PAUPERS & VAGRANTS
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 18:41:54 +0100

Re vagrants, non workhouse poor etc. I have cut and pasted below a
leaflet/handout I use on this subject in my family history classes. Source:
Norfolk Record Office's leaflet on poor law records.
Hope it helps.
N.B. Workhouses have existed a long time but before 1834 it was in tandem
with the parish system. However, in Norfolk 'we do diffrunt'. Although
workhouses only gradually took over from parish relief and in most areas
didn't take over at all until after 1834, Norfolk was one of the first to
set up unions of parishes to build them and many go back to the 1790s.
Unfortunately, most of the records don't. Hope that makes sense.


POOR LAW RECORDS: REMOVAL ORDERS, SETTLEMENT CERTIFICATES AND SETTLEMENT
EXAMINATIONS

The 1662 Settlement Act aimed to make each parish responsible only for its
own poor and to restrict paupers to their parish of settlement. When paupers
were discovered in a parish not thought to be theirs they were examined by
J.Ps to find out which parish was legally responsible for them and an order
was issued for their removal to that place.

>From 1795 onwards the removal of paupers to their parish of origin was to
take place only after they had become a charge on the rates.

Settlement certificates permitted people to move about by guaranteeing their
own parish would receive them back if they fell into need.

1. SETTLEMENT EXAMINATIONS
Individuals or families examined by means of a sworn statement to discover
their parish of settlement.

A settlement could be gained by birth, payment of rates on property assessed
at £10 p.a. or more, completing a full year as a hired servant or serving a
full term as an apprentice. Children took settlement from their fathers
unless illegitimate and wives from their husbands.

Information given:
Date of examination, names and parishes lived in. May include ages, places
of birth, details of employment or apprenticeships served. In the case of
widows, deserted wives and destitute children, there may be information
about their husbands or fathers.

2. REMOVAL ORDERS
Individuals or families are ordered to be removed back to their parish of
settlement.

Information given:
Date of removal order, names. Sometimes occupations and ages, parish where
they were found and to which they were removed.

3. SETTLEMENT CERTIFICATES
A guarantee by the officers of the parish of settlement to receive back
individuals or families who are moving to another parish, should they need
poor relief.

Information given:
Date of certificate, names. Sometimes occupations and ages, parish of
settlement and residence.

1834 POOR LAW AMENDMENT ACT
Following this act the parish basis of poor relief ceased and poor law
unions and elected Boards of Guardians replaced the parish officers and the
J.Ps as the directors of local poor relief.

The Guardian Minute Books contain details on the administrations of the
Union Workhouse and may mention individual paupers, particularly before the
mid 19th century. Workhouse admission and discharge registers, birth and
death registers and punishment books survive for some unions.

This thread:

• PAUPERS & VAGRANTS by "Gill Blanchard" <>