Middlesex Poor Law Records
Search for your ancestors in the Poor Law records for 10 parishes in the west of the ancient county of Middlesex. This collection is published in partnership with West Middlesex Family History Society and the Family History Federation.
See description
Search for your ancestors in the Poor Law records for 10 parishes in the west of the ancient county of Middlesex. This collection is published in partnership with West Middlesex Family History Society and the Family History Federation.
Learn about these records
The records vary by event type (examination, settlement, removal and so on) but generally give the following information:
• Name
• Age
• Date
• Event type
• Parish
• A summary of the full record
• Archive reference
This record set covers part of West Middlesex. The following 10 parishes are included:
• Chelsea, St Luke
• Ealing, St Mary
• Feltham, St Dunstan
• Fulham, All Saints
• Hammersmith, St Paul
• New Brentford, St Laurence
• Shepperton, St Nicholas
• Staines, St Mary
• Stanwell, St Mary
• Uxbridge, St Margaret
The majority of records relate to the Poor Law process of determining where a person rightfully belonged and, by extension, which parish was responsible for providing for them. From the family historian’s point of view, this process produced a series of inter-related documents – settlement examinations (here called examinations); removals; and settlement certificates (here called settlements) – which can provide all sorts of personal and family details upon which history might otherwise be silent.
Removals were two-way – from one parish and to another. Some of the parishes involved were, of course, beyond West Middlesex.
In addition to examinations, removals and settlements, the researcher will also find records relating to illegitimacy, where the parish was looking for identify the reputed father of an illegitimate child, so that he, and/or his parish, could be charged with maintenance. These documents are called bastardy orders and bastardy bonds.
Search tips
If you see in your transcription a Linked Record, copy the archive reference shown and use it to search in the Archive reference search field on the search screen (without inputting a name or any other search terms). Then click through to see the related record, which should include details of another event featuring the same individual(s).
You can use Optional Keywords to search under any search term you like. This could include occupation, or place (town or county) outside West Middlesex.