Bridgwater Union

Records of the Board of guardians and its Officers

ARRANGEMENT OF WORKHOUSE RECORDS

The workhouse records have been classified under the heading of the officer responsible either for the compilation or the custody of the records. Below is a summary of the classes showing how the records are arranged.

1-7 The board and its officers

Includes declaration of office, standing orders, regulations for the administration of relief and of the workhouse, lists of guardians and paid officers, officers' bonds, officers' service registers, returns under the superannuation act and returns of particulars of appointments of officers.

8 Minute Books

Covers minutes of the Board, finance committee, House committee, Boarding out committee, Children's or Cottage committee, Relief committee and miscellaneous committee.

9-18 Accounts

Includes general ledgers, Treasurer's accounts, parochial ledgers and non-ledgers, petty cash, expenditure, returns of paupers, financial statements, poor rate returns, claims for grants and maintenance of paupers in institutions of other authorities.

19-22 Lunacy

Includes maintenance of lunatics, registers of lunatics and annual returns of pauper lunatics.

23-25 Statistics

Includes returns of numbers chargeable and other information.

26 Case papers

27-31 Out-relief

Includes relief order books, registers of non-resident poor, registers of relief granted on loan, reports of relief to aliens, and receipts for rent of pay stations.

32-33 Provision of Workhouse and Children's Homes

Includes documents relating to the erection of and alteration of workhouses, and children's homes.

32-34 Supplies

Consists of tenders for the supply of materials and services.

35 Mortgages

36-43 Children

Includes registers of children under the control of the guardians, apprenticeship indentures, records of apprentices, registers of children boarded out, reports by boarding out visitors, and accounts and records relating to boarding out.

44-49 Irremovability, Settlement and Removal

Includes reports of movable and irremovable poor, settlement journey books, records of examinations, orders of adjudication and removal and consents to receive paupers without justice's orders.

50-51 Recovery of relief

Guardians could obtain a justices order for contributions by certain relatives of chargeable poor, but contributions were usually obtained by agreement. This class includes both orders and agreements for contributions by relatives.

52 Appointments of Overseers

53-55 Statements received for preservation

Includes overseers' balance sheets, rate collector's monthly payments, and maintenance orders for bastards.

56-57 Miscellaneous

Includes list of paupers' and correspondence.

58 Treasurer

59-125 Workhouse Master

Consists of records relating to the workhouse, its staff, and its inmates, including reports, registers, accounts, relief to casual poor and miscellaneous correspondence etc.

126-132 Officer in charge of the children's home

133-144 Relieving officer

145 District Medical Officer

146-148 Collector of the Guardians

149-152 Non poor-law duties devolving upon Boards of Guardians

Includes returns of births and deaths, lists of buildings registered for marriages, census plans, and correspondence.

154-157 Vaccination

Consists of records of vaccination including registers, reports and returns.

158-162 Assessment

Includes rate books, valuation lists, returns and correspondence.

163-173 Sanitation

174-181 School attendance

182-184 Infant life protection

Includes registers of persons receiving infants, and inspectors' reports.

185 General Miscellaneous

186 Wartime committees, 1914-18