Scottish Poor Law Records

Poor Law records are often extremely rich in detail, but the problem for researchers is getting access to them. Unlike other genealogical records which are one page, or a standard form, Poor Law records were recorded in large ledgers in freeform style, making digitising awkward. However, are there signs this is starting to change?

 

What is Poor Law

In Scotland, Poor Law refers to the system for supporting people unable to support themselves, in a period before the Welfare State. Poor relief was managed on a parish level. People who found themselves in need would go to their local Poor Law board, where they would explain why they needed relief and their family circumstances. The Poor Law committee would then decide whether to offer them “outdoor relief”, or a sum of money to allow them to remain living in their home, or “indoor relief”, involves them being admitted to the Poorhouse, the Scottish term for the workhouse.

The numbers of people claiming poor relief could be substantial, especially in urban parishes. The Poor Law board had therefore a vested interest in finding another parish to take responsibility for the claimant – perhaps the parish where they had been born or where they most recently lived. They would also ask lots of questions about family members who could support the individual such as parents, siblings or adult children. These are the details which can be genealogical gold-dust, confirming relationships and often giving a very rich account of a family’s background and situation.

These records are particularly useful for people from Ireland who came to Scotland at the time of the Famine, or on the decades after. Irish census returns prior to 1901 do not exist, and Irish people are just recorded as being born in “Ireland” on the census in Scotland. This makes searching for a Mary Kelly, Thomas Murphy or James Lynch almost impossible as you have dozens of possibilities for people of the right name and right age. Poor Law applications may tell you which parish in Ireland the family came from, and confirm names of parents, spouse and children.

Accessing Poor Law Records

As mentioned, very few Poor Law records are online and if you suspect that these records hold the key to breaking down a brick wall in your family history, you will either have to visit the archives in person, or ask someone to go for you. This is the sort of work I regularly undertake at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow and at other local archives. One area though, West Dunbartonshire, has put their poor law records online through Ancestry. The collection covers the years 1846 to 1914 for two parochial boards – Bonhill and Cardross. You can search for keywords within the dataset, or browse by parish.

It remains to be seen whether this is a start towards a general move to digitising Scottish Poor Law applications, or whether West Dunbartonshire will be an outlier. Something to keep an eye on?