Poor Relief – Applications for Poor Relief

The applications for poor relief often survive as a separate series. Between 1845 and 1865 the information they contain is similar to that in the registers of poor:  they usually contain the date of application, name and residence of applicant, country of birth, marital status, age, occupation, whether disabled, other information to enable a decision to be made, such as any children and their financial circumstances, any previous applications and decisions on the application.  However, they are considerably less detailed than the general registers of poor which were introduced in 1865. For example, the application forms will not include the religious denomination, and probably there will be no details about dependants or other relatives. Where the survive, they contain far more entries per year than the registers.  This is partly because of multiple applications from individual paupers, but also because they include the ‘casual poor’, that is, those relieved by the inspector without a decision by the board and therefore not on the poor roll.