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Update to London Workhouse Records, 1659-1930. Over 3.7 million new records!

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Great news, we’re always trying to improve our collections and we’ve updated the London Workhouse Admission and Discharge Records, 1659-1930! We’ve added 303,179 new images [56%] and 3,771,083 [54%] new records, so this collection now has 542,642 images and 7,035,609 records! So, what’s in the update?

We’ve added newly indexed workhouse admission and discharge records for poor law unions in the South of London as well as additional records from Central and West. Future updates are planned to include indexed records from the North and East areas of London, so stay tuned! Boroughs Added or Updated:

  • Greenwich
  • Lambeth
  • Lewisham
  • Southwark
  • Tower Hamlets
  • Wandsworth

For many centuries, the task of caring for the poor was left to the Church. Each parish was given an Overseer of the Poor to help with this cause in 1572. Then, in 1601, the Poor Law Act empowered these Overseers to collect a poor rate from wealthier members of the parish, and distribute the funds among the poor. The 1601 law remained in effect until 1834 when a new law, the Poor Law Amendment Act took over. This collected parishes into groups called Unions. Each Union elected a Board of Guardians, which was then responsible for the care of the poor across all the individual parishes. Many of our ancestors received help through these Poor Laws. These included the elderly, orphaned, unemployed, sick and afflicted. It wasn’t just money they were given – they also received other daily necessities such as food, clothing and work. Children from poor families were placed in apprenticeships, or sent to particular schools and other institutions.

Click on the image to start searching today!

What’s Included in This Database:
This collection includes selected admission and discharge records for workhouses created and administered under the Poor Law Acts in Central, West, and South London. Records from additional areas of London are planned to be added in the future. The exact information you can find about your ancestors varies according to the record. You may find:

  • The person’s name
  • Date of admission
  • Age
  • Date of discharge
  • Other details regarding the person’s condition and care
Dinnertime at St Pancras Workhouse, London, 1911
Dinnertime at St Pancras Workhouse, London, 1911