This is a brief guide to help you with your research into workhouse policy and administration. To find records of individuals in workhouses see Looking for records of a workhouse inmate or member of staff.
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What do I need to know before I start?
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Try to find out:
- the name of the relevant Poor Law Uniona union of parishes responsible for enacting the Poor Law in their local area
- the location of the workhouse
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What records can I see online?
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Poor Law Union records (1834-1871)
Search and download (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.) records of over 20 Poor Law Unions from Discovery, our catalogue.
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What records can I find at The National Archives at Kew?
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Plans of workhouse buildings (1862-1914)
Search our catalogue by name of union for plans of workhouse buildings in MH 14 and HLG 6. Only a selection survive.
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Poor Law Union correspondence (1834-1900)
Search by name of Poor Law Uniona union of parishes responsible for enacting the Poor Law in their local area for correspondence between the Union and the government department responsible for the Poor Law in MH 12.
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To access these records you will either need to visit us, pay for research (£there will be a charge) or, where you can identify a specific record referencea unique set of letters and numbers identifying a document in The National Archives, order a copy (£there will be a charge).
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What records can I find in other archives and organisations?
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Records held locally
Search the Access to Archives (A2A) and National Register of Archives (NRA) databases to find records about workhouses held in local archives.
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What other resources will help me find information?
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Websites
Visit the website workhouses.org.uk
Use the familysearch map site to help identify poor law unions.
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Books
Read Poor Law Union Records by Jeremy Gibson and others (Family History Partnership, 4 volumes).
Read Workhouse by Simon Fowler (The National Archives, 2009).
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Workhouse inmates and staff
Health
Census