| |
The Poor
Law in Scotland after 1845
1845-1930
The Poor Law (Scotland) Act 1845 established
parochial boards in rural parishes and in the towns, and a central
Board of Supervision in Edinburgh. The system of poor rates spread
more widely, although it was still not universal even in the 1860s.
The parochial boards built poorhouses for those categories of paupers
who did not receive 'outdoor relief', normally in the form of small
weekly sums of money. More often parishes combined to build 'combination
poorhouses'. During the second half of the century government increasingly
found it convenient to give added powers to parochial boards, such
as the registration of births, deaths and marriages, and in particular
public health. In 1894 they were abolished and replaced by wholly
elected parish councils, but with their functions practically unchanged.
The trade depression of the 1920s led to the abandonment of the
rule that the unemployed were not entitled to poor relief (Poor
Law Emergency Powers (Scotland) Act 1921). Thereafter the parishes
usually kept separate series of records of poor law applications,
distinguishing 'Ordinary' applications for relief from those from
the 'Able-Bodied'. The parish system had several inherent defects.
One was a tendency for levels of relief to vary between different
councils. Another was the level of disputes, often litigation, between
parishes as to which was responsible for the maintenance of an individual
pauper or pauper family. Larger authorities were needed, partly
to bring a measure of standardisation and partly to ensure that
the burden of poor relief was spread more equitably.
Since 1930
In 1930 parish councils were abolished (Local
Government (Scotland) Act 1929). Thereafter the poor law authorities
were to be the county councils, large burghs and the four cities,
acting through Departments of Public Assistance (or Public Welfare).
These maintained a system broadly similar to that of their predecessors
until 1948, when the existing poor law was entirely abolished and
almost all of it replaced by a national system, the forerunner of
the modern 'social security' (National Insurance Act 1948). Various
welfare functions remained with local authorities, however, including
provision for the homeless, homes for the elderly, care of the mentally
and physically handicapped and various functions relating to children,
including adoption and fostering. These and others were reorganised
in 1968 and regrouped to form Social Work Departments (Social Work
(Scotland) Act 1968).
Poor Relief Records
The classes of record which are mainly used
by researchers in the period 1845 to 1930 are:
Parochial
Board/Parish Council Minute Books
Poor
Relief Registers
Board
of Supervision/Local Government Board Records
Parliamentary
Papers
Those with a special interest in the form
of the post 1845 records are referred to the records themselves,
normally in local authority record offices, and also to the Annual
Reports of the Board of Supervision. The Appendix to the Fifth Report
(1851) lists the record series to be kept by poorhouses, and the
Appendices to the Tenth and Twentieth Reports (1855 and 1865) list
the records to be kept by inspectors, with illustrations of the
formats of the most important series. Not all the records referred
to are available for public access, or at least not as far forward
as 1948. Local authority adoption records will normally be closed,
other than to those having a personal interest in them. Access may
be through a counselling service provided by the Social Work Department.
For registers of poor and records of applications for relief, the
practice of authorities has not yet been standardised and closure
periods may vary.
Bibliography and Links
R Cage, The Scottish Poor Law 1745-1845 (Scottish
Academic Press, 1981); Anne Gordon, Candie for the Foundling (Edinburgh,
1992); Cecil Sinclair, Tracing your Scottish Ancestors (Edinburgh,
1997); J A Haythornthwaite (ed.) Scotland in the Nineteenth Century:
An Analytical bibliography of material relating to Scotland in Parliamentary
Papers 1800-1900 (Aldershot, 1993). The National
Archives of Scotland website has a fact
sheet on the subject of the Poor.
Other Knowledge Base entries on Poor Relief
Poor Law before 1845
Poorhouses
Registers of the
Poor
In the SCAN
Virtual Vault you can see examples of
poor relief records from Scottish archives.
|
|
|
|
1.
What is the difference between a poorhouse and a workhouse?
2.
What do the terms 'indoor relief' and 'outdoor relief' mean?
3.
What is meant by the terms 'test case' and 'test ward'?
4.
Where can I find parochial board, parish council and poor relief
records for a parish?
5.
Why might the information in a register of the poor contradict information
in other records?
6.
Where should I look for information on poorhouses for a school project?
7.
I have seen the term 'General Register of the Poor' used. Does this
refer to a central register of the poor, kept nationally for the
whole of Scotland?
8.
If poor relief registers do not survive for a parish, is it worthwhile
looking in parochial board/parish council minutes for information
on a pauper?
In the SCAN
Virtual Vault you can see examples of
poor relief records from Scottish archives.
|
