London Records of the Poor

An Act of Parliament in the year 1834 took the responsibility of administering to the poor from the local parish church to the doorstep of civil government. The government grouped each civil parish into a union of parishes. There were nearly 600 such unions throughout England, each one comprising close to 20 or more parishes, and were specifically setup to meet the demands of the poor among their local populations, with a workhouse on the premises. The responsbility was transferred from local parishes to a Board of Guardians in each union. These groupings or unions were known as poor-law unions. City of London had the following poorlaw union within its boundary:

The Poorlaw Union

 * The City of London Poor Law Union and Workhouse

The Records
Records from the poorlaw unions, which were created from this time forward include the following:


 * 1) Guardianship
 * 2) Creed Registers
 * 3) Rate books
 * 4) Workhouse Lists of Inmates
 * 5) Register of Apprentices
 * 6) Register of Births
 * 7) Register of Deaths
 * 8) Vestry Rate Books
 * 9) Admission and Discharge Registers
 * 10) Board of Guardians' Records

Records at The Family History Library
To determine records availability for each poorlaw union, search the Family History Library Catalog under the name of the county (London), and then under the name of the poorlaw union, i.e. City of London; then search under the term[s] "poorlaw" or "poorhouses".


 * Webb, Cliff. London, Middlesex and Surrey Workhouse Records: A Guide to Their Nature and Location. West Surrey Family History Society, c1991..
 * Webb, Cliff. A Provisional List of City of London Poor Law Records. West Surrey Family History Society, c1992..

Online Transcriptions Relating to Poorlaw Records
1) The Pauper Biographies Project provides detailed information including maps and working papers.

2) For more information on the history of the workhouse, see Peter Higginbotham's web site: www.workhouses.org.uk

3) Here's a general website providing data on approximately 10 percent of the county's poor

4) Ancestry.co.uk ($) has poorlaw records transcribed from 1834-1940

Foundlings
Foundlings were abandoned babies. Abandoning babies has been a common phenomena in large European cities.

1741-1950s
The London Foundling Hospital opened in 1741. Before 1741, the care of foundlings fell to the parishes where they were discovered. The Hospital created many records on infants turned over to their care. For tips on finding foundling records, see Research Resources (The Foundling Museum website).

Pre-1741
A few guides and databases have been created about pre-1741 London foundlings.

Hospitals

 * Webb, Cliff. An Index to London Hospitals and Their Records. London: Society of Genealogists, c2008..