Explore workhouse admission records
If your ancestors were unable to support themselves financially, they may have sought poor relief. In England and Wales from 1834, this meant going to live in a workhouse, which were run by Poor Law Unions, answerable to a board of guardians. An equivalent system was set up in Ireland from 1838, while Scotland had poorhouses from 1845, led by ‘parochial boards’ in parishes.
Search for individuals in workhouse records
Records of indoor relief at workhouses, and ‘outdoor relief’, where applicants were paid money but stayed at home, are held at county archives across the UK. Many have been digitised and made available online. Records on Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) include those for Bedfordshire, Cornwall, Warwickshire, London, Glamorgan, Kirkcaldy, North Lanarkshire, Dundee, Ireland (mainly Dublin) and Jersey. Findmypast…