Autumn Talk – The Welfare Parish

Ever wondered how welfare, roads, and local law was governed before the advent of the NHS, the police and local government? Join us to learn about The Welfare Parish.

By the beginning of the 19th Century, the parish had reached its administrative peak. Over centuries, Acts of Parliament had given parish vestries authority over their highways through the Surveyor of the Highways, law and order through the Parish Constable, and the poor through Overseers of the Poor, all funded from parish rates. By the end of the 18th Century, all of these costs were rising, particularly the cost of caring for the poor.

Drawing on records from Lincolnshire parishes, the talk will examine how parish Vestries sought to manage this expenditure until the passage of the 1834 Poor Law Reform Act, which significantly transferred the responsibility for the poor from the parish to Union Workhouses.

With Dr Stewart Bennett