Shropshire Routes to Roots

5. Welfare records (Examples)

Welfare records give an idea of how people contacted local government, and how welfare met the needs of the people. Read through the various letters and documents here. They use the Wrockwardine Wood records before 1834, when the Poor Law Amendment Act was passed.

Do you think it was easier or harder for people to communicate with government officials in the Nineteenth Century, compared with today?

Settlement Disputes

Because of the rules of Settlement (Opens in a new window), which determined which Parish should pay a pauper's Poor Relief, disputes were common. One such was that of Elizabeth Jones:

• Read the letters of Elizabeth Jones (Opens in a new window)

Removal Orders

Elizabeth Jones was lucky, in that she was able to prove that she deserved Poor Relief from Wrockwardine Wood. Other people were not able to do this. If someone applied to the Parish for Poor Law Relief and they were not known to the Overseers as Parishioners, they would be "examined" before a Magistrate. As a result of this, many Removal Orders were served. These forced people to return to their home Parish.

• Examples of Removal Orders (Opens in a new window)

Industrial Hardship

Working conditions gave rise to many more problems in industrial areas than occurred in rural areas. Accidents in pits and at furnaces were common, and men could be unemployed if the pit became flooded or subject to explosive or poisonous gases. Strikes and protests could cause hardship through closing pits or works.

• Read two letters about industrial accidents (Opens in a new window)

Clothing Bills

The Overseers of the Poor were required to clothe pauper apprentices when they started work and people in the Workhouse. They would also supply paupers with shoes or some clothing from time to time. The clothing bills give an idea of the type of clothing supplied. Note that coats or cloaks seem never to have been provided. Paupers perhaps used old sacks as outer wear instead.

• Examples of clothing bills (Opens in a new window).

Health and Asylums

In the Nineteenth Century there was no National Health Service. Treating and dealing with cases of mental illness was a problem. There were a number of private asylums which would take paupers at a special low rate, but it was still a major expense for Parishes. Public asylums were also being built. Alternatively the Parish might arrange for men to sit with mental patients to ensure that they did not commit suicide. Only crude treatment was available in the 1800's. Violent patients would be restrained with strait-jackets and drugs such as opiates would be used to quieten patients. There were no cures, so patients would simply have to let nature take its course.

The case of the 'rudest most noisy and troublesome' Jane Johnson highlights the tensions which existed between the Doctors, Overseers, Asylums and the relatives of those with mental illness:

• Read the letters about Jane Johnson (Opens in a new window)

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