Genealogy Chat

Can anyone please tell me what is ment by removal orders. I found a site which had this written on it.
Removal Orders Parishes
Fox single pregnant removed from Markeaton to Mackworth 1801
George Jackson Hilton to Nicholas Warwick 1813. These are 2 examples there are lots more names.
Thanks Linda

Have you tried Google?

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ennever/stories/richard.htm

Rose

Hi Linda I seem to remember something about people in the workhouse's being removed back to a workhouse were they come from or were they were born but I'm not sure.

Paul

I can now! My grx4 grandparents were ordered removed from Poole St James, Dorset, back to Mere, Wiltshire, in 1792. Damned lucky they were -- for me, not likely for them -- or I might have never found any trace of them. I found the removal order at familyhistoryonline dot net.

Here's what it has to say about the Wiltshire Removal Orders database:

http://www.familyhistoryonline DOT net/index/database/WiltsFHSremovals.shtml

In my case, it was a removal *to* Wiltshire, and I obtained a copy from the Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office. It specified the couple and their two young children.

Ordinarily the individual would be removed to the place of his/her residence, generally birth; in the case of a family, the residence of the male head of household.

It's sad enough to see one's ancestors living in the workhouse (which is where that couple's son, my grx3 grfather, ended up for the last two decades at least of his life). Sadder still to see them being expelled from wherever they were living because they were public burdens.

I had a huge stroke of luck, it seems. Wiltshire removal orders are apparently the only ones indexed at FHonline.

If you find a removal order, you might be lucky to also find a settlement certificate and even better, a settlement examination too. When a person or family came into a parish to work they were generally required to bring a settlement certificate with them which was proof of their last legal settlement. This might have been their place of birth, or they might have gained legal settlement elsewhere through an apprenticeship or work. If the parish overseers thought the person or family were likely to need parish relief, they would 'examine' them to decide whether they should be removed and to where. I've seen some really detailed settlement examinations which read like a biography of the person's life. Some can be really sad too, especially for a widow and her children. A woman took her husband's place of settlement, and that might be miles away from family and friends. Even worse if she'd been previously married and had children by both husbands. As children took their father's place of settlement, she could find her family split, with herself and children from the 2nd marriage sent one way, while the children from her 1st marriage sent somewhere else.

You might also try searching the quarter sessions because it wasn't unusual for a dispute to arise between parishes, or between a parish and an individual. It cost money to keep a poor family, or one that had temporarily fallen on hard times, and that money came from the parish rate payers. The overseers had to duty to the rate payers to make sure that their money was well spent.

Thanks everyone for the information. I found it very interesting. I will take a look at the sites and see what I can find.

Linda