AdminHistory Tudor legislation made the ecclesiastical parish the normal unit for poor relief, administered by overseers of the poor. An Act of 1722/3 (9 George I c.7) and Gilbert's Act, 1781/2 (22 George III c.83) allowed groups of parishes to unite or individual parishes to become corporate for relief purposes. Though no unions under Gilbert's Act were formed in Gloucestershire, a number of parishes, chiefly towns, adopted its provisions. Such incorporations took place, for example, at Cheltenham (1811), Cirencester (1810) and Winterbourne (1810), while at Tewkesbury Directors of the Poor were set up under a local Act of 1792.

The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 (4 and 5 William IV c.76) empowered the Poor Law Commissioners to group parishes in unions. These were usually centred on a market town and were formed in Gloucestershire in 1835-1836. No account was taken of existing administrative areas, so that a number of Gloucestershire parishes lay in unions whose centres lay outside the county. Moreton-in-Marsh was in Shipston-on-Stour, Coleford in Monmouth and Lydney in Chepstow. Relief was administered by Boards of Guardians, accountable to and strictly controlled by the Poor Law Commissioners. The latter were superseded successively by the Poor Law Board, 1847-1871, the Local Government Board, 1871-1919, and the Ministry of Health, 1919-1930. The Local Government Act 1929 (19 and 20 George V c.17) abolished Poor Law Unions and transferred the powers and duties of Boards of Guardians to the Public Assistance department of the County Council.

The diverse records kept by the Boards and their officers are described and classified in A Handlist of the Records of the Boards of Guardians in the County of Somerset (Somerset County Council, 1949). The classification scheme for the records of the Gloucestershire Boards of Guardians is based on the classification used in the book. It was the intention of the framers of the 1834 Act to provide relief only inside the union workhouse and to curtail, if not to abolish, out-door relief. Local conditions forced modifications in the original policy, but the bulk of the records relate directly or indirectly to workhouse affairs.

In the course of the 19th century, sundry administrative functions not connected with poor relief were entrusted to Boards of Guardians. The Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1836 (6 and 7 William IV c.86, amended by 1 Victoria c.22, 1837) directed the Guardians to divide Unions into registration districts, appoint and pay registrars of births and deaths and provide register offices. The Clerk to the Guardians might, if he wished, become the Superintendent Registrar. The registrars also became responsible for making census arrangements (see Dursley). These functions were transferred to the County Council by the Local Government Act 1929.

In 1840 the earliest of a series of Acts to encourage vaccination (3 and 4 Victoria c.29) directed the Guardians to contract with the medical officers of unions for the vaccination of all residents, conformable to instructions to be issued by the Poor Law Commissioners. An amending Act of 1841 (4 and 5 Victoria c.32) provided for the payment of expenses out of the poor rates. The functions were transferred to the County Council by the Local Government Act 1929.

The Nuisance Removal Act 1855 (18 and 19 Victoria c.121), amending and consolidating similar Acts of 1846, 1848 and 1849, empowered the Guardians to carry out its provisions in any place where no other competent authority existed (see Cheltenham and Newent). The 1855 Act was repealed by the Public Health Act 1875, but these functions had already passed to the urban and rural sanitary authorities set up in 1872. For records of the Guardians acting as rural sanitary authorities, see the DA series.

The Act to regulate parochial assessments 1836 (6 and 7 William IV c.96) empowered the Guardians to order and pay the costs of net rating valuations. In 1862 (25 and 26 Victoria c.103) they were directed to appoint an assessment committee to supervise valuations. Copies of valuation lists were to be deposited with the Board, but no such provision was made for rate books, though many of these were in fact deposited. These functions were transferred to the County Council by the Rating and Valuation Act 1925 (16 George V c.90).

The Elementary Education Act 1876 (39 and 40 Victoria c.79) directed Guardians to appoint a school attendance committee for every parish in their union not under the jurisdiction of a school board or other authority. These functions were transferred to the education committee of the County Council under the Education Act 1902 (2 Edward VII c.42).

The Infant Life Protection Act 1897 (60 and 61 Victoria c.57) provided that any person paid to maintain or nurse more than one child under the age of five apart from its parents for longer than 48 hours should notify the Board of Guardians. This function was transferred to the County Council by the Local Government Act 1929.
CustodialHistory Deposited by West Dean Rural District Council, 14 September 1973, and by Lydney Rural District Council, 31 October 1973

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Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>

Do you know where/ if the poor records exist prior to 1834?

I'm specifically interested in Settlement records around 1805 . I understand that a newcomer to the area would need to show these to the parish to prove his origins and that his 'home parish' would have responsibility for him if he was unable to support himself.

My RHODES ancestor came from Nottinghamshire around this time and settlement records could provide invaluable evidence of his birth/home parish.

Any hints on how/ where to search for this appreciated.