Site build: Red Box Consultants Ltd

The Poor Law

Early Administration of the Poor Law from 1525

The first dispensers of relief to the poor of this neighbourhood were no doubt the monks at Sandwell Priory. After the suppression of the monasteries the management of vagrancy and the relief of the deserving poor posed many problems.

The Poor Laws date from 1535. In 1601 every parish was a self governing body which was responsible for its own poor their relief was entrusted to the Overseers, superintended by the Magistrates. All the monies for their upkeep had to be raised from the local parishioners and collected by a parish officer by means of a poor rate.

This system lasted until 1834 when the Poor Law Unions were created and the responsibility passed to the Board of Guardians of the Poor.

A History of West Bromwich by F.W.Hackwood..ch LXVI page 249
Poor Law Documents Before 1834, Anne Cole page 8