Poor Law / Parish Relief

[BM161Valerian]

Is there any one who has a fair or any amount of knowledge of this subject that could help me please.

Is it correct that in order to receive Poor Law / Parish Relief a child had to be Christened in that Parish?

Also, would Poor Law / Parish Relief be available to children of the Parish even if their father was born outside of the county of that Parish?

Lastly, if anyone who has knowledge of this subject from a Devon perspective, why would a family "chose" Totnes for Poor Law / Parish Relief over Newton Abbot?

Any information / help on this subject would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You.

[behindthefrogs]

Unfortunately you don't give any dates and it depends on when.  Up to 1834 every thing was done within the parish.  Everyone had a settlement in a particular parish.  A child's parish of settlement was that of his father until he was apprenticed or qualified in his own right.  On marriage a woman took on the parish of her husband. 

Settlement could change as a result of owning property or by being employed by the same employer for more than one year continuously.  A lot of labourers were rehired every 364 days to avoid settlement.

If a person or family became unable to support themselves and so dependent on the parish they were sent back to their parish of settlement.

With the 1834 poor law parishes grouped together to form poor law Unions but settlement continued substantially until 1876.

To find out details you need to look at the parish records and after 1834 the records of the guardians and overseers of the poor.  These should be  in the local record office. 

David

[Burrow Digger]

Also, would Poor Law / Parish Relief be available to children of the Parish even if their father was born outside of the county of that Parish?

As an example I have a family living in the wife's home town in Somerset. I have no idea where the father was born, but in 1824 he was officially denied settlement in that parish, and thus sent back to Ottery St Mary in Devon, His entire family was forced to go with him - wife and 5 kids all of who were born & raised in the Somerset parish forced to move to a place they had never been to before. 

I still dont know why they were sent back to OSM. He might have been born there, but so far I cannot find any birth record. He might have been apprenticed there - in which case it would be his last place of settlement.  I just dont know.

But anyway, children were frequently uprooted from their homes and moved elswhere just because the father was too poor. 

BD

[dee-jay]

If you have not already done so, it could be worth your while to use the A2A website: http://www.a2a.org.uk/search/index.asp to search for the named individual, selecting Devon Record Office in the Location of Archives slot.  I have done this successfully twice, purchasing the relevant Settlement Examinations from the Devon Record Office, and discovering where the individuals were born and further aspects of their working and family history.  Not all records have survived but Devon give a very informative description of what is available in their archives.

[mikethomas]

Your headline caught my eye as I have found that my paternal great-grandmother's birth was registered at St Luke's, London which turns out to be a workhouse. 

This led me to an amazing web site called www.workhouses.org.uk which includes the text of the laws, the reasons for support, the huge range of accommodation, loads of drawings, photos, administrative procedures, responsibilities, records and in short an astonishing work of social history.  My preconceptions were largely blown away.  It was a real eye-opener for me and I commend it to you.

Good luck

Mike

[behindthefrogs]

After 1834 the Totnes Union Workhouse built in 1837 served 28 surrounding parishes.  I wonder if Newton Abbot was one of these.

[terryleaman]

No, Newton Abbot was in fact the location of the workhouse for the Newton Abbot Union and covered 39 parishes which included Torquay, St Marychurch, Cockington