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Thanks everyone for the help. I'll definitely have to have a look at this - just helps to pad out the history.

Yvonne

I have only ever looked at Scottish Poor Relief and don't know if the same rules apply.
Unless they were born outside of Scotland, PR applications were often passed onto the person's Birth Parish, irrespective of where they were living at the time.


I stumbled upon one of my rellies, in the Lanarkshire records, but they lived elsewhere?

Neither the applicant ( mother) nor any of her children were born or lived in Lanarkshire.
It was the "missing" husband who was from Lanarkshire, and he was already in the US at time of this application.

The mother and all kids were born and raised in either Stirlingshire or Fife,
At the time, the family were living in Stirling

The PR payment that they received was funded by a parish in Lanarkshire.... the missing husband/father's birth parish,.

Any records that survive should be at the local Records Office.

If you go to

www.workhouses.org.uk

and look at the workhouse record covering the area you are interested in, it should tell you what records survive. Parish/Out relief was usually run by the workhouse.

Andy

They are probably held at the Records Office for the area concerned. Try Googling

I've noticed 'pauper' quite a few times in the census records and it makes you realise just how much poverty there was back then. Thank goodness we don't have workhouses now.

How can I access Poor Relief Records for the person I'm interested in?

Yvonne

I have looked at various Poor Relief Records for my family in Scotland .
Some of them are quite painful to read but give a good insight into the lives of those involved, and more often than not, the story is not what I had expected!

Many of the records involve poor families who are applying for help to pay for medical treatment, or hospital admissions... usually children!

I have several Paupers in my tree and often wondered exactly what it means. Obviously they were very poor, but was it a legal definition signifying that they were receiving some sort of benefit? Just seems an odd occupation to put in the censuses and not something you would admit to voluntarily.

Sue

Thanks so much for your replies. That makes sense now as in another entry an elderly mother is shown as 'pauper' but is living with her son and family.

Thanks
Yvonne

http://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en
/England_and_Wales_Poor_Law_Records_1834-1948
(both lines)

It's a bit complicated, but basically they were broke and need the Victorian 'Benefit' system to help them survive.

Parish or Out relief was an alternative to going into the Workhouse. As far as I can tell it was used as a very temporary measure only, to cover a time when a family needed help. Normally they would have gone to the workhouse, but out relief may have been a cheaper option.

Andy

It would mean that they were being supported by the parish aka on Parish Relief as their only form of income.

In the 1871 census, listed under occupation are the words 'has parochial relief'. Does anyone know what this means.

Thanks
Yvonne