Smallburgh (Tunstead and Happing) Poor Law Union, Norfolk Genealogy

Records
Records of the Smallburgh (formerly Tunstead and Happing) Poor Law Union Date 1836-1948 Norfolk Record Office reference C/GP 18 Extent 119 pieces

The 24 parishes of Tunstead and Happing Hundreds (except North Walsham) were incorporated in 1785 under the terms of An act for the better relief and employment of the poor within the hundreds of Tunstead and Happing 25 Geo. III, cap. 27. In 1869 an order of the Poor Law Board reformed the Incorporation and altered the name to the Smallburgh Union (see C/GP 18/18). A House of Industry was erected at Smallburgh: this later the union workhouse. Smallburgh Union Board of Guardians was replaced by Guardians Committee No. 4 in 1930. In the minute books covering the period 1836-1869, the guardians of Tunstead and Happing are referred to as "the (Board of) Directors and Acting Guardians". On 28 September 1869 the Clerk reported to the Directors and Acting Guardians "that he had received the order of the Poor Law Board re-forming the several parishes now comprised in the Incorporation; into a Union to be called the 'Smallburgh Union'. This order will take effect from the 29th of September Instant, on which day the Local Acts of this Incorporation will be wholly repealed..." The first meeting of the ex-officio guardians and others of the Smallburgh Union took place on 5 October 1869. Acquisition Received by the Norfolk Record Office on unknown date(s). Copies C/GP 18/1-10 are available on microform. RelatedMaterial For House of Industry, Journal of the master, 1793-1794, including record of admissions, births, marriages and deaths in the house, see MS 4497. For records of Guardians Committee No, 4 (including administration of Nora Watsham children's home) see C/GC 4. Baptisms and Burials in the House of Industry are recorded in the Bishop's Transcripts for the Archdeaconry of Norfolk: see 'ANF B/Ts Smallburgh'.

Web Sites
For more information on the history of the workhouse, see Peter Higginbotham's web site: www.workhouses.org.uk and http://www.institutions.org.uk/workhouses/england/norf/smallburgh_workhouse.htm