Poor Relief – Children’s Separate Registers

Children’s separate registers, introduced in 1865, were for children who had been separated from their parents, for example by being orphaned or deserted or, as increasingly often in the large towns, by being boarded out to rural areas. The information they contain is similar to the general registers: they give the name of the child, religious denomination and names of the parents if known, they may include details of medical treatment, or more exceptionally family correspondence, newscuttings or even photographs. These registers lasted longer than the parochial boards themselves, and indeed were not much altered until the end of the poor law in 1948.

Records which contain personal information about living individuals will be closed to the general public under data protection laws. Individuals have a right to access information about themselves.