York Poor Law Union and Workhouse records (including records of the York Public Assistance Committee)

Scope and Content

Includes records relating to governance of the Union; indoor relief (workhouse relief); outdoor relief; the collection of relief; settlement and removal; child welfare; hospitals and asylums; public health; assessment and rating; civil registration; the general administration of the Union (including staffing); financial records; legal case paper and summonses; and records relating to properties and buildings owned or tenanted by the Union.

Many of the records relating to indoor relief and outdoor relief contain information on individuals.

Includes records of the York Public Assistance Committee, which was responsible for the administration of the Poor Law from 1930-1948.

Administrative / Biographical History

The York Poor Law Union

The York Poor Law Union was formed in July 1837 and originally consisted of 80 parishes located in the City of York, as well as some parishes in the North Riding, the East Riding and The Ainsty (West Riding). By the later nineteenth-century the number of parishes in the Union had grown to 83, consisting of 40 parishes in York City, 23 parishes in the North Riding, 14 parishes in the East Riding, and 6 parishes in the West Riding. By the end of Union in 1929, the number of parishes had increased again to 87. The geographical area under the administration of the York Union was approximately 103 square miles and comprised the non-industrialised urban town of York and the surrounding rural/agricultural belt.

The Union was administered by a Board of Guardians made up of elected and ex-officio representatives from the constituent parishes. They met weekly, later fortnightly, in their offices at No. 1 Museum Street, York. During the nineteenth century a committee structure developed to assist the Guardians in the administration of the Union and Workhouse. The Guardians' primary responsibility was to supervise all aspects of poor relief, which included the building and management of a workhouse. However, over the course of the nineteenth century the Guardians also accrued the following non-poor law responsibilities:

-assessment and valuation of properties for the purpose of collecting the poor rate (1862-1925)

-school attendance (1876-1902)

-vaccination (from 1840)

-registration of births, marriages and deaths (from 1837)

-rural sanitary authorities (1875-1894)

In 1894 the York, Bishopthorpe, Escrick and Flaxton Out-Relief Unions were formed for the purpose of administering out-relief. The York Out-Relief Union was responsible for administering out-relief for the York City area. The Bishopthorpe Out-Relief Union was responsible for administering out-relief in the area of the York Union that lay in the West Riding; the Escrick Out-Relief Union was responsible for administering out-relief in the area of the York Union that lay in the East Riding; and the Flaxton Out-Relief Union was responsible for administering relief in the area of the York Union that lay in the West Riding. All four out-relief unions were part of the York Poor Law Union, otherwise known as the Joint York Union. Members of the four out-relief unions also sat on select committees of the Joint York Union for the purposes of administering indoor (workhouse) relief for the whole Union.

Poor Law Unions in England and Wales were abolished in 1929 and replaced by new administrative bodies called Public Assistance Committees. However, the Poor Law itself continued as the principal system of providing welfare until 1948 when it was abolished with the introduction of the National Assistance Act. During the period from 1930 to 1948, York's Public Assistance Committee continued to administer the Poor Law in the York City area and carried out the functions previously performed by York's Board of Guardians, including the running of the City Institution (formerly the York Workhouse). For this reason, the records of the Public Assistance Committee were amalgamated with the records of the York Poor Law Union. Note that areas of the York Union that lay in the North, East or West Ridings became the responsibility of the Public Assistance Committee for the relevant county in 1930.

The York Workhouse

The York Poor Law Union initially took over the old workhouse in Marygate (later the premises of the Post Office Employees Social Club), which had been established by a number of the city parishes. However the Poor Law Commissioners in London considered the Marygate Workhouse not fit for purpose, as it was already overcrowded and unsanitary. In addition the building did not allow for the segregation of inmates. A new workhouse, located on Huntingdon Rd, was completed in 1848. The building, designed by local architects JB and W Atkinson, could accommodate 354 inmates and included separate wards for women, men, children, 'idiots', the sick, and the aged. Over the course of the nineteenth century the workhouse evolved into a home for the elderly and infirm, and included sick wards and trained medical staff. In the 1920s, in an effort to reduce the stigma surrounding the word 'workhouse', it became known as the City Institution (or simply The Institution). In 1930, when the York Poor Law Union ceased to exist, it became a Public Assistance Institution (but was still known as the City Institution, or the Institution and Infirmary). Between 1939 and 1941 some of the infirmary wards of the Institution acted as an Emergency Medical Services Hospital to accommodate the wounded military.

In 1947 the workhouse buildings were renamed again as The Grange, and what had previously been known as the Infirmary was called the Grange Hospital. In 1955 The Grange Hospital became St Mary's Hospital, while buildings known as The Grange continued to offer welfare accommodation. By the 1970s both The Grange and St Mary's had closed, and in the 1990s the former workhouse buildings were converted into student accommodation for St John's University.

Arrangement

Owing to the disrupted nature of the accessions and the changing administration of the Poor Law we have catalogued this collection using a functional classification system. Records were catalogued into the following 14 subfonds, with each subfonds representing a primary function of the Poor Law Union and Public Assistance Committee:

PLU/1 Governance

PLU/2 Indoor relief

PLU/3 Outdoor relief

PLU/4 Collection of relief

PLU/5 Settlement and removal

PLU/6 Children

PLU/7 Hospitals and asylums

PLU/8 Public Health

PLU/9 Assessment and rating

PLU/10 Registration

PLU/11 General administration

PLU/12 Finance and accounts

PLU/13 Legal

PLU/14 Property and buildings

Access Information

Open

Material is available subject to the usual terms and conditions of access to Archives and Local History collections.

Appraisal Information

Material in this collection is likely to have been weeded prior to deposit

Custodial History

The majority of records of the York Poor Law Union were transferred to the archives in two transfers, the first from a disused corporation building in 1955 (Acc 2) and the second in 1969 (Acc 122). Acc 122 came from The Grange in York and comprised the records of the York Workhouse and its successor body the York Public Assistance Institution. Both Acc 2 and Acc 122 included records of the York Public Assistance Committee, which took over the functions of welfare and poor relief when the Board of Guardians were abolished in 1930. The two accessions were amalgamated physically and catalagued as one collection.

Accruals

No further accruals likely

Related Material

See also: EPH/2/1108;