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65-606: Poor law unions existed in England and Wales from 1834 to 1930 for the administration of poor relief . Prior to the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 the administration of the English Poor Laws was the responsibility of the vestries of individual parishes, which varied widely in their size, populations, financial resources, rateable values and requirements. From 1834 the parishes were grouped into unions, jointly responsible for

130-477: A General Register Office is often titled Registrar General or Registrar-General . The Australian states and territories have similar registries for birth, death and marriage, although their histories differ. These agencies are usually subordinate to the state Attorney-General Department or Department of Justice. The Australian Bureau of Statistics is responsible for collating the statistics based on these records. ACT : Until 1930, records were registered in

195-601: A Registrar General responsible for collecting and storing records of births, marriages and deaths in their respective regions. The Hong Kong Government established a Registrar General in 1845, four years after the British acquired Hong Kong in 1841. The post was renamed the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs in 1913, and then Home Affairs in 1949. On 1 April 1949, the Land Office merged with various other functions, which included

260-512: A basis for the delivery of registration from 1837, and sanitation outside urban areas from 1875. Poor law unions were abolished by the Local Government Act 1929 , which transferred responsibility for public assistance to county and county borough councils. The English Poor Laws laid out the system of poor relief that existed in England and Wales from the reign of Elizabeth I until

325-476: A complex system of government-funded support and protection, especially following the creation in the 1940s of the welfare state . In the late 15th century, Parliament took action on the growing problem of poverty, focusing on punishing people for being " vagabonds " and for begging . In 1495, during the reign of King Henry VII , Parliament enacted the Vagabonds and Beggars Act 1494 . This provided for officers of

390-450: A county basis, counties being organised into parishes which could set up workhouses between them. However, these workhouses were intended to help only the elderly, sick and orphaned, not the able-bodied poor . The sick, elderly and infirm were cared for in poorhouses whereas the able-bodied poor were provided with poor relief in their own homes. The Speenhamland system was a form of outdoor relief intended to mitigate rural poverty at

455-627: A devastating impact on poor relief. According to the historian Paul Slack , prior to the Dissolution "it has been estimated that monasteries alone provided 6,500 pounds a year in alms before 1537 [equivalent to £4,700,000 in 2023 ]; and that sum was not made good by private benefactions until after 1580." In addition to the closing of the monasteries, most hospitals (which in the 16th century were generally almshouses rather than medical institutions) were also closed, as they "had come to be seen as special types of religious houses". This left many of

520-618: A function of the Colonial Secretary's Office (1828−1924), the administration of BDM registration has gone through a number of changes. Since 1999 The Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages has been the responsible entity. The Registrar General of Canada title belongs to a government minister with entirely different and unrelated functions – such as registration of all letters patent, commissions, instruments, proclamations, and certain other documents. Each province and territory in Canada has

585-563: A means to combat the increasing numbers of "vagabonds". Two years after the Poor Act 1575 was passed into law, yet more dramatic changes were made to the methods to fight vagabondage and to provide relief to the poor. The Act of 1578 transferred power from the justices of the peace to church officials in the area of collecting the new taxes for the relief of poverty established in the Vagabonds Act 1572. In addition, this Act of 1578 also extended

650-523: A meeting with the local bishop , who would 'induce and persuade' the recalcitrant parishioners. However, at times even such a meeting with the bishop would often fail to achieve its object. Sensing that voluntary donation was ineffective, Parliament passed new legislation, the Poor Act 1562 , in 1563, and once this act took effect parishioners could be brought by the bishop before the justices , and continued refusal could lead to imprisonment until contribution

715-460: A point roughly half that of average wages of a century before. "The boom-and-bust nature of European trade in woolen cloth, England's major manufacture and export" caused a larger fraction of the population of England to fall under poverty. With this increase in poverty, all charities operated by the Catholic Church were abolished due to the impact of protestant reformation . A law passed by

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780-448: A second time, execution." However, "there is no evidence that the Act was enforced." In 1550 these punishments were revised in a new act that was passed. The Vagabonds Act 1549 makes a reference to the limited enforcement of the punishments established by the Vagabonds Act 1547 by stating "the extremity of some [of the laws] have been occasion that they have not been put into use." Following

845-411: A very loose definition of a vagabond and did not make any distinction between those who were simply unemployed and looking for employment and those who chose to live the life of a vagabond. In addition, the act failed to recognise the impotent poor; those who could not provide for themselves. These included the sick, the elderly, and the disabled. This lack of a precise definition of a vagabond would hinder

910-641: The Great Famine , the impoverished west was redrawn to create more unions for easier administration and for computation of where suffering was most endemic. When the Irish General Register Office was established in 1864, each union became a superintendent registrar's district, thus electoral divisions together formed a dispensary or registrar's district. The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 divided administrative counties into urban and rural districts , with each rural district corresponding to

975-738: The Parliament of Great Britain and sponsored by Sir Edward Knatchbull in 1723 introduced a "workhouse test", which meant that a person who wanted to receive poor relief had to enter a workhouse and undertake a set amount of work. The test was intended to prevent irresponsible claims on a parish's poor rate . By the mid to late 18th century most of the British Isles was involved in the process of industrialization in terms of production of goods, manner of markets and concepts of economic class. In some cases, factory owners "employed" children without paying them, thus exacerbating poverty levels. Furthermore,

1040-550: The Poor Law (Scotland) Act 1845 . Poorhouses (as workhouses were generally known in Scotland) were organised at parish level. The Act permitted, but did not require, parishes to join to build and operate poorhouses. A union of parishes operating a single poorhouse was known as a Combination. Poor relief In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty . Over

1105-440: The "deserving poor" or "worthy poor", were allowed assistance, while those who were idle were not. People incapable of providing for themselves, such as young orphans , the elderly, and the mentally and physically handicapped , were seen to be deserving, whereas those who were physically able but were too lazy to work were considered as "idle" and were seen as of bad moral character, and thus undeserving of help. Most poor relief in

1170-487: The 16th century, a fear of social unrest was the primary motive for much legislation that was passed by Parliament. This fear of social unrest carried into the reign of Edward VI . A new level of punishment was introduced in the Duke of Somerset's Vagabonds Act 1547 . "Two years' servitude and branding with a 'V' was the penalty for the first offense, and attempts to run away were to be punished by lifelong slavery and, there for

1235-457: The 17th century came from voluntary charity which mostly was in the form of food and clothing. Parishes distributed land and animals. Institutionalized charities offered loans to help craftsmen to alms houses and hospitals. The Poor Relief Act 1597 provided the first complete code of poor relief, established overseers of the poor and was later amended by the Poor Relief Act 1601 , which

1300-639: The 2008 implementation of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 , the General Register Office became a part of the Identity & Passport Service (as of 2020 HM Passport Office – which in 2014 lost its executive agency status and became a division within the Home Office ). Since 2020 the post has been held by Myrtle Lloyd, who is also Chief Operating Officer of HM Passport Office, and sits on

1365-467: The English model although boundaries were unrelated to civil parishes . A union was named after the town on which it was centred, usually where its workhouse stood. Unions were defined as groups of poor law electoral divisions , in turn groups of townlands . Electoral divisions returned members (guardians) to the board of guardians, to which ratepayers who paid higher rates had more votes . During and after

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1430-622: The Governor to appoint a Registrar General and establish an office in Sydney to register all births, deaths and marriages in the colony. District registrars recorded the details. The Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages is now an agency within the NSW Department of Customer Service. About 90% of births in the state are now registered online. Northern Territory : In the Northern Territory,

1495-511: The Land Services Group at Netley , where there are alphabetical indices of records from 1842 to the present, for land that does not fall under the Torrens title. These records include those of early landowners and pioneer settlers. Tasmania : The Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages was established in 1838, which was the first of all Australian colonies to take over this function from

1560-872: The Marriage Registry, to form the Registrar General's Department. In May 1993, the Registrar General's Department was disestablished and the Land Registry formed. The Births and Deaths General Register Office is now responsible for recording births and deaths, as part of the Immigration Department. The Central Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act of 1886 provided for voluntary registration throughout British India . Twenty years after independence , Registration of Births and Death Act (RBD Act) of 1969 made registration mandatory. The Registrar General, India (RGI) coordinates registration activities across

1625-570: The New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. Since December 2014, an agency known as Access Canberra, a "one-stop shop for ACT Government customer and regulatory services", part of the Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate, is responsible for BDM registrations. NSW : In New South Wales , compulsory civil registration began in 1856. The Act for Registering Births, Deaths and Marriages 1856 allowed

1690-554: The Poor Laws of this era encouraged children to work through an apprenticeship , but by the end of the 18th century the situation changed as masters became less willing to apprentice children, and factory owners then set about employing them to keep wages down. This meant that there were not many jobs for adult labourers. For those who could not find work there was the workhouse as a means of sustenance. The 1782 poor relief law proposed by Thomas Gilbert aimed to organise poor relief on

1755-654: The Poor Laws that were implemented under the 1601 Acts. General Register Office General Register Office or General Registry Office ( GRO ) is the name given to the civil registry in the United Kingdom , many other Commonwealth nations and Ireland . The GRO is the government agency responsible for the recording of vital records such as births , deaths , and marriages (or BDM ), which may also include adoptions, stillbirths, civil unions, etc., and historically, sometimes included records relating to deeds and other property transactions. The director of

1820-631: The Registrar-General is responsible for both Births, Deaths and Marriages and the Land Titles Office. Queensland : Queensland started compulsory registration of life events in 1856, under the Registrar General. Today, births, deaths and marriages are administered by a unit within the Department of Justice. South Australia : In South Australia , the local equivalent of the GRO is commonly known as

1885-585: The Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages, within the state Attorney-General's Department . "General Law Title" or the "Old System Title" was the English land law adopted at the time of foundation of South Australia as a colony in December 1836. The General Registry Office (GRO) holds deeds and records of land transactions from 1837 until the implementation of Real Property Act in 1858 (known as Torrens title ). After this, all new land transactions were conducted under

1950-649: The Report of the Royal Commission into the Operation of the Poor Laws 1832 called the Speenhamland System a "universal system of pauperism". The system allowed employers, including farmers and the nascent industrialists of the town, to pay below subsistence wages, because the parish would make up the difference and keep their workers alive. So the workers' low income was unchanged and the poor rate contributors subsidised

2015-442: The administration of poor relief in their areas and each governed by a board of guardians . A parish large enough to operate independently of a union was known as a poor law parish. Collectively, poor law unions and poor law parishes were known as poor law districts. The grouping of the parishes into unions caused larger centralised workhouses to be built to replace smaller facilities in each parish. Poor law unions were later used as

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2080-418: The amount of the donation from each parish's more wealthy property-owners. This act finally turned these donations into what was effectively a local tax. In addition to creating these new imposed taxes, the Vagabonds Act 1572 created a new set of punishments to inflict upon the population of vagabonds. These included being "bored through the ear" for a first offense and hanging for "persistent beggars". Unlike

2145-436: The centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of helping the poor. Alongside ever-changing attitudes towards poverty, many methods have been attempted to answer these questions. Since the early 16th century legislation on poverty enacted by the Parliament of England , poor relief has developed from being little more than a systematic means of punishment into

2210-595: The churches. It went through various administrative and name changes until 1989, when it became the Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, under the Department of Justice. Victoria : The Registrar-General's Department was created on 18 January 1853, with the proclamation of the Registration (Births, Deaths and Marriages) Act. From 1 July that year, all residents of the colony of Victoria had to register births and deaths with their local District Registrar. Norman Campbell

2275-453: The country, although state governments are responsible for the collection of data. The General Register Office ( Oifig An Ard-Chláraitheora ) is the central civil repository for records relating to births, deaths, marriages, civil partnerships and adoptions in Republic of Ireland . It is part of the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. The Registrar General is responsible for

2340-697: The creation of the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys by merging the GRO and the Government Social Survey Department, the GRO became just one division of the new office, headed by a Deputy Registrar General. With the creation of the Office for National Statistics in 1996, the post of Registrar General was merged with that of Head of the Government Statistical Service , who became the National Statistician . Following

2405-438: The effectiveness of the Vagabonds and Beggars Act 1494 for years to come. The problem of poverty in England was exacerbated during the early 16th century by a dramatic increase in the population. This rose "from little more than 2 million in 1485, ... [to] about 2.8 million by the end of Henry VII 's reign (1509)". The population was growing faster than the economy's ability to provide employment opportunities. The problem

2470-536: The elderly and sick without accommodation or care. In 1531, the Vagabonds and Beggars Act 1494 was revised, and a new act, the Vagabonds Act 1530 , was passed by Parliament which did make some provision for the different classes of the poor. The sick, the elderly, and the disabled were to be issued with licences to beg. But those who were out of work and in search of employment were still not spared punishment. Throughout

2535-552: The emergence of the modern welfare state after the Second World War. Historian Mark Blaug has argued that the Poor Law system provided "a welfare state in miniature, relieving the elderly, widows, children, the sick, the disabled, and the unemployed and underemployed". The functions of poor law unions were exercised by boards of guardians , partly elected by ratepayers , but also including magistrates . Some parishes, many in

2600-518: The end of the 18th century and during the early 19th century. The system was named after a 1795 meeting at the Pelican Inn in Speenhamland, Berkshire , where a number of local magistrates devised the system as a means to alleviate the distress caused by high grain prices. The increase in the price of grain most probably occurred as a result of a poor harvest in the years 1795–96, though at the time this

2665-685: The executive management board of the Home Office. The GROS was a non-ministerial directorate of the Scottish Government that administered the registration of births, deaths, marriages, divorces and adoptions in Scotland from 1854 to 2011. It was also responsible for the statutes relating to the formalities of marriage and conduct of civil marriage in Scotland. It administered the census of Scotland's population every ten years. It also kept

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2730-552: The farmers. Following the onset of the Industrial Revolution , in 1834 the Parliament of the United Kingdom revised the Poor Relief Act 1601 after studying the conditions found in 1832. Over the next decade they began phasing out outdoor relief and pushing the paupers towards indoor relief . The differences between the two was that outdoor relief was a monetary contribution to the needy, whereas indoor relief meant

2795-443: The flaws of the 1662 act, the Poor Relief Act 1691 came into effect such that it presented methods by which people could gain settlement in new locations. Such methods included "owning or renting property above a certain value or paying parish rates, but also by completing a legal apprenticeship or a one-year service while unmarried, or by serving a public office" for that identical length of time. The main points of this system were

2860-492: The following: During the 16th and 17th centuries, the population of England nearly doubled. Capitalism in the agricultural and manufacturing arenas started to emerge, and trade abroad significantly increased. Despite this flourishing of expansion, sufficient employment rates had yet to be attained by the late 1600s. The population increased at alarming rates, outpacing the increase in productivity, which resulted inevitably in inflation. Concurrently, wages decreased, declining to

2925-429: The form of establishing more workhouses as indoor relief. Some people argue that as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was in its prime as an empire , it could have given more aid in the form of money, food or rent subsidies. In other parts of the United Kingdom, amendments to and adoptions of poor laws came in and around the same time. In Scotland, for example, the Poor Law (Scotland) Act 1845 revised

2990-483: The individual was sent to one of the workhouses. Following the reformation of the Poor Laws in 1834, Ireland experienced a severe potato blight that lasted from 1845 to 1849 and killed an estimated 1.5 million people. The effects of the famine lasted until 1851. During this period the people of Ireland lost much land and many jobs, and appealed to the Westminster Parliament for aid. This aid generally came in

3055-437: The law to arrest and hold "all such vagabonds, idle and suspect persons living suspiciously and them so taken to set in stocks , there to remain three nights and to have none other sustenance but bread and water; and after the said three days and three nights, to be had out and set at large and to be commanded to avoid the town." As historian Mark Rathbone has discussed in his article "Vagabond!", this act of Parliament relied on

3120-644: The management of the system of registration in Ireland, while the Health Service Executive (HSE) is responsible for the day to day delivery of the Civil Registration Service. Record-keeping started in 1864, and many records are available online. The Registrar General's Department of Sri Lanka is responsible for registration of birth, marriages and deaths as well as and legal documents pertaining to properties (land and title registration). The post

3185-586: The metropolitan area of London, were able to avoid amalgamation into unions because of earlier local acts that regulated their poor law administration. The Metropolitan Poor Act 1867 ( 30 & 31 Vict. c. 6) allowed the Poor Law Board to include these parishes in unions. Until 1894 the guardians consisted of justices of the peace along with other members elected by rate-payers, with higher rate-payers having more votes. JPs were removed and plural voting stopped in 1894, but nobody actually receiving poor relief

3250-517: The new system, using a land title . The role of the GRO included property transactions (mortgages, conveyances, leases, land grants, indentures, wills, probate), as well as deeds for a number of other actions (such as Deed Poll name changes). The documents called "memorials" represent those original deeds registered and held by the GRO, whereas the certified copies held by the GRO were known as "deposits" or "enrolments". The General Registry Office and Old Systems land records are (as of July 2019) held at

3315-522: The non-urban portion of a poor law union within the county. In the Irish Free State , poor law unions and rural districts were abolished in 1925 and the powers of boards of guardians transferred to the county councils' Board of Health. In Northern Ireland , poor law unions survived until the Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Service in 1948. The Poor Law in Scotland was reformed by

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3380-467: The poor law unions were finally abolished and their responsibilities transferred to the county councils and county boroughs . Under the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act 1838 , three Poor Law Commissioners divided Ireland into poor law unions, in which paupers would receive poor relief paid for by a poor rate extracted by local poor law valuations (ratings of rate payers). The name "union" was adopted from

3445-476: The poor to migrate to other parishes that were not their own. In order to counteract this problem, the Poor Relief Act 1662 , also known as the Settlement Act, was implemented. This created many sojourners, people who resided in different settlements that were not their legal one. The Settlement Act allowed such people to be forcefully removed, and garnered a negative reaction from the population. In order to fix

3510-474: The power of the church by stating that " vagrants were to be summarily whipped and returned to their place of settlement by parish constables ." By eliminating the need for the involvement of the Justices, law enforcement was streamlined. Starting as early as 1590, public authorities began to take a more selective approach to supporting the poor. Those who were considered to be legitimately needy, sometimes called

3575-605: The previous brutal punishments established by the Vagabonds Act 1547, these extreme measures were enforced with great frequency. However, despite its introduction of such violent actions to deter vagabonding, the Vagabonds Act 1572 was the first time that Parliament had passed legislation which began to distinguish between different categories of vagabonds. " Peddlers , tinkers , workmen on strike , fortune tellers , and minstrels " were not spared these gruesome acts of deterrence. This law punished all able bodied men "without land or master" who would neither accept employment nor explain

3640-432: The revision of the Vagabonds Act 1547 , Parliament passed the Poor Act 1551 . This focused on using the parishes as a source of funds to combat the increasing poverty epidemic. This statute appointed two "overseers" from each parish to collect money to be distributed to the poor who were considered to belong to the parish. These overseers were to 'gently ask' for donations for poor relief; refusal would ultimately result in

3705-447: The source of their livelihood. In this newly established definition of what constituted a vagabond, men who had been discharged from the military, released servants, and servants whose masters had died were specifically exempted from the act's punishments. This legislation did not establish any means to support these individuals. A system to support individuals who were willing to work, but who were having difficulty in finding employment,

3770-409: Was allowed to vote. Their areas were espoused for other functional districts, such as civil registration of all births, marriages and deaths which became law from 1837 and rural sanitary districts established in 1875. In 1894 rural districts and urban districts were set up based on the sanitary districts (and therefore indirectly on the unions). In 1930, under the Local Government Act 1929 ,

3835-533: Was created in 1864. The post of Registrar General was created by the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1836, and registration began in 1837. The Registrar General was soon given other responsibilities, such as the conduct of every census in England and Wales since 1841, and eventually came to be head of a primarily statistical organisation. In England and Wales, birth registration with the state began on 1 July 1837; however, only became compulsory in 1875. In 1970, with

3900-415: Was established by the Poor Act 1575 . As provided for in this, justices of the peace were authorized to provide any town which needed it with a stock of flax , hemp , or other materials on which paupers could be employed and to erect a " house of correction " in every county for the punishment of those who refused work. This was the first time Parliament had attempted to provide labour to individuals as

3965-720: Was made worse because during the English Reformation , Henry VIII severed the ecclesiastical governance of his kingdoms of England and Ireland and made himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England . This involved the Dissolution of the Monasteries in England and Wales: the assets of hundreds of rich religious institutions, including their great estates, were taken by the Crown. This had

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4030-411: Was made. However, even the Poor Act 1562 still suffered from shortcomings, because individuals could decide for themselves how much money to give in order to gain their freedom. A more structured system of donations was established by the Vagabonds Act 1572 . After determining the amount of funds needed to provide for the poor of each parish, justices of the peace were granted the authority to determine

4095-471: Was one of the longest-lasting achievements of her reign, left unaltered until 1834. This law made each parish responsible for supporting the legitimately needy in their community. It taxed wealthier citizens of the country to provide basic shelter, food and clothing, though they were not obligated to provide for those outside of their community. Parishes responsible for their own community caused problems because some were more generous than others. This caused

4160-423: Was subject to great debate. Many blamed middlemen and hoarders as the ultimate architects of the shortage. The authorities at Speenhamland approved a means-tested sliding scale of wage supplements in order to mitigate the worst effects of rural poverty. Families were paid extra to top up wages to a set level according to a table. This level varied according to the number of children and the price of bread. In 1834,

4225-632: Was the first permanent appointee to the position of Registrar-General. After his death, the position of Registrar-General devolved to statistician William Henry Archer (1825 – 29 April 1909), who had acted in that position before Campbell's appointment and was seen as the driving force behind the department. The current incarnation of the department is Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria (BDM). Western Australia  : Civil registration of births, deaths and marriages has been compulsory in Western Australia since 1841. From its beginnings as

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