York Poor Law Union and Workhouse records (including records of the York Public Assistance Committee) [PLU] Collection Guide

• PLU/1 – Governance Comprises minutes of committee meetings of the York Poor Law Union (including the York Out-Relief Union, the Bishopthorpe Out-Relief Union, the Flaxton Out-Relief Union and the Escrick Out-Relief Union); and from 1930 the Public Assistance Committee. Also includes the minutes of the Nuisance Removal Committee and the York Rural Sanitary Authority; and minutes of organisations administered by the York Poor Law Union including the York Charities Register Committee and Hodgson’s Charity Committee.
• PLU/2 – Indoor (workhouse) relief Comprises records relating to the admission, discharge and maintenance of inmates of the York Workhouse, which was later known at the City Institution and then The Grange). Also includes records relating to the staffing and administration of the Workhouse.
• PLU/3 – Outdoor relief Comprises records relating to the administration of relief granted to the poor in their own home (i.e. outside the Workhouse, hence the term ‘outdoor relief’). Includes application and report books, weekly outdoor relief lists, relief order books, relief granted on loan, relieving officers’ receipt and expenditure books, relief in kind books and records relating to medical relief.
• PLU/4 – Collection (repayment) of relief Comprises records relating to the collection of relief from liable individuals. The York Poor Law Union (and later the Public Assistance Committee) attempted to recover money spent on relief that had been granted to the poor. They ordered individuals – usually liable relatives – to contribute towards the cost of maintaining those in receipt of poor relief. The collection of relief was administered by the Collecting Committee. Includes order books, notices to contribute, payment ledgers, receipt and payment books, registers of insurance benefits and adjourned cases, claim made to the Ministry of Health, and Collectors’ accounts and correspondence. See also PLU/13/1 for legal cases relating to recovery of relief.
• PLU/5 – Settlement and removal records Comprises registers of non-settled and non-resident poor; also registers of removal orders and settlement enquiries.
• PLU/6 – Children Comprises records concerning the welfare of children who came into the care of the York Poor Law Union and later the Public Assistance Committee. Includes records relating to apprenticeships; registers of children boarded out and in farm service; register for enforcing school attendance; and correspondence concerning the boarding out of children.
• PLU/7 – Hospitals and asylums Comprises records relating to the maintenance of pauper patients in hospitals and asylums. Includes records relating to the City Fever Hospital at Yearsley Bridge; the York City Mental Hospital at Naburn; and Grove House, a private asylum at Acomb.
• PLU/8 – Public health Comprises records relating to the preventative public health measures administered by the York Poor Law Union. Includes vaccination registers; register of tuberculosis notifications; and correspondence of the York Rural Sanitary Authority.
• PLU/9 – Assessment and rating Comprises records relating to the administration of the poor rate. The poor rate was a local tax on the yearly value of a property, levied by the parish. The money collected from poor rates was used to help finance relief for the poor as well as the infrastructure of administering that relief. From 1837 to 1925 the York Poor Law Union was responsible for administering the poor rate, and, occasionally, other rates such as the lighting rate.
• PLU/10 – Registration Records relating to the civil registration of births, deaths and marriages. Poor law unions were used as registration districts from 1837, when civil registration was introduced. Comprises the outgoing letterbooks of the Superintendent Registrar; and correspondence between the Superintendent Registrar of York and the Registrar General, London.
• PLU/11 – Administration Comprises records relating to the general administration of the York Poor Law Union and Public Assistance Committee. Includes correspondence; statistics and returns; staffing records; government orders; and publications and other printed material.
• PLU/12 – Finance and accounts Comprises financial records relating to the general administration of the York Poor Law Union and Public Assistance Committee. Includes financial statements; general ledgers; parochial ledgers; treasurers’ ledgers; treasurers’ receipt and payment books; invoices; petty cash books; receipts; and other account books. (For financial records relating specifically to outdoor relief see PLU/3/5; for financial records relating specifically to the collection of relief see PLU/5/10)
• PLU/13 – Legal Comprises records relating to legal cases pursued by, or involving the York Poor Law Union. Includes legal case papers, summonses, warrants, orders and inquests.
• PLU/14 – Properties and buildings Comprises records relating to property and buildings owned or tenanted by the York Poor Law Union. Includes records concerning the sale and purchase of properties; the erection, development and maintenance of buildings; and the financing of building projects.

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