Revisiting a basic source - the minute book of the Guardians of the Poor for Seisdon Union

Most people will accept that the minute books of the Guardians of the Poor Law Unions are a significant basic source.  Minute books reveal the main policy and administrative decisions of any organisation, whilst the Unions were one of the most crucial institutions of the Victorian period into the first part of the 20th century, and affected the lives of thousands of people locally.  For the purposes of family history research, it is always worth a look in the minute books where there are no surviving admission and discharge books, because many cases are discussed, particularly if they are out of the ordinary, or relate to children.  However in practice, people can be easily discouraged by all the discussions about finances and staffing matters that significantly out-weigh the odd references to individuals that appear in some Unions' minutes.

This takes us back to looking at the Unions from an administrative point of view, or to the happy occasions when the minutes are very informative about individuals.

The early minute books of the Seisdon Poor Law Union are a good illustration for both purposes.  Seisdon was the area that covered the rural portion of south-west Staffordshire, and bordered the edges of rural Shropshire on one side and the large urban area around Wolverhampton on the other.  Even the handwriting of this example suggests something slightly out of the ordinary, not quite the formal clerk's hand we are used to, not the dry minimal details that appear in so many other similar minutes, but perhaps a keener more amateurish official.  Some of the pages of this minute book covering the 1850s contain great detail about individual cases.

The text illustrated has been chosen because it shows some background to one of the key aspects to the development of the "modern" poor law.  By the mid-1850s, the new system had had a few years to be bedded in, and clearly by this date some problems were showing through.  When the new Unions were formed, the old system of settlement and removal still applied to the legislation, except that it was over a larger area instead of the old parish units.  However, in August 1854, the Seisdon Union made a decision to stop forceable removal between co-operating Unions, not just because of the waste of resources, but also because of the hardship it imposed on the paupers concerned.  In the end, this attitude became the accepted norm, and the Unions started to transfer maintenance payments between themselves, instead of transferring people.

©  Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service

"The Guardians of the Seisdon Union being desirous to save the poor from the hardships consequent on forced removals, on which large sums are yearly unprofitably wasted, and also to test by experience the working of a proposed alteration of the law of settlement, hereby give notice
That they will not sanction the removal of their non-settled poor belonging to any of the neighbouring or other Unions, and liable to be removed, provided that such Unions will in return refuse to sanction the removal of the poor residing in such last mentioned Unions, but belonging to the Seisdon Union, and liable to be removed thereto."

Staffordshire Record Office : D1414/8a/1

Last Modified: 15/04/2008 10:36:10
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