Southampton Board of Guardians

Records of the Southampton Board of Guardians

As early as 1632 the corporation was able to establish a workhouse for the town with John Major's gift. This fell into decay, but was revived in 1673 with the establishment of St John's Hospital in French Street. In 1771 a poor law union was proposed and an Act obtained in 1773 (13 Geo. III, c. 50). The union consisted of all the borough parishes and that part of St Mary within the borough, but not Portswood, which was in Stoneham parish. A new workhouse, north of Mary's church, was erected by the guardians soon afterwards. In 1835 the borough became one of the new poor law unions under the Poor Law Amendment Act (4 & 5 Will. IV, c. 76) and there is no break in the continuity of the records. Despite the two boundary extensions the added parts of the borough remained in South Stoneham Union. In 1930, the guardians were abolished and their powers transferred to the borough by the Poor Law Act (20 & 21 Geo. V, c. 17).