Bedfordshire Poor Law Unions

By Act of Parliament in the year 1834, England was grouped into about 600 Unions, each with a workhouse. The responsbility was transferred from local parishes to a Boards of Guardians in each union. These unions were known as poor-law unions, each union comprising 20 or more parishes, and were specifically setup to meet the demands of the poor among their own populations.

The demands of the needy and poor within England's populations are clearly and starkly evident from the records created by this new system. Records which were created from this time forward include the following:

Guardianship Creed Registers Rate books Workhouse Lists of Inmate