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Poor Houses, Poor Law information for Belper and places above it in the hierarchy

Belper

  • Bastardy cases would be heard in the Belper petty session hearings in the Public Hall every other Thursday at 11am.
     
  • There is an index of a pair of Belper Bastardy Papers held at the DRO on the Yesterdays Journey website. Select "Bastardy Papers" on the left side, then "Belper" from the list of parishes displayed.
     
  • In 1713, Matthew SMITH left a charity to support two almshouses on The Butts for four aged poor.
     
  • Jane TAYLOR in Redcar has this announcement from the Derby Mercury of 3 October, 1804: "MISC: At the General Quarter Session of the Peace for this county, which ended here this day,- Thomas SANDERS, for leaving his wife and child chargeable to the township of Belper, to be imprisoned one month."
     
  • David BEVIS has a photograph of the Matthew Smith Almshouses on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2009.
     
  • Alan MURRAY-RUST also has a photograph of the Matthew Smith Almshouses on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2017.
     
  • In 1818, the Rev. Francis GISBORNE left a charity of £7 and 5s yearly, to be distributed to the poor in cloth and flannel.
     
  • In 1824 the Belper Humane Society was established to provide clean bed linen for the poor. A nursing association was aligned with this society.
     
  • As a result of the 1834 Poorlaw Amendment Act reforms, Belper became the centre of the Poorlaw Union.
     
  • David BEVIS has a photograph of the Babbington Hospital (the Workhouse) on Geo-graph, which was taken in April, 2013.
     

Derbyshire

  • The local "Workhouse" was often the only hospital close to a parish, so the fact that someone was born or died there doesn't mean that the family was in the workhouse. Use the census to verify that fact.
     
  • Bastardy was not uncommon. Read more about this at our Bastardy Cases page.
     
  • Derbyshire Record Office staff created an index to removal orders 1707-1865. It is available on LDS FHL microfilm: 1702708.
     
  • Board of Guardians 1837-51. Lists of names of those who were examined as being in need of poor relief, transcribed by Michael SPENCER. Covers Poor Law Unions of Bakewell, Belper, Shardlow, Hayfield, Ashbourne and Chesterfield. The records for Derby Union have been lost.
     
  • A site "dedicated to the Workhouse - its buildings, its inmates, its staff and administrators, and even its poets..." - The Workhouse - created by Peter HIGGENBOTHAM.
     
  • The National Archives has several books: "National Archives". Enter "Workhouse" in the search box.
     

England

UK and Ireland

  • Peter Higginbotham's comprehensive The Workhouse website provides a wealth of information about Workhouses, the Poor Law and related issues.catalogue
  • If you are looking for someone who was in a workhouse, it is worth checking if they also appear in the Quarter Sessions records, held in County Record Offices - see the British Library's Discovery catalogue (use Advanced Search and select "Search Other Archives"). 
  • You can search and freely download documents of a number of Poor Law Unions across England and Wales from TNA.
  • Settlement Examinations in England and Wales - a detailed explanation, from LDS Familysearch, based on an article by Anthony Camp.