Workhouse Records

A major focus of my genealogical research has been on Workhouses, the 19^th century institutions that took in thousands of people in various stages of despair and destitution.

Copyright: National Archives

Often, the Workhouse rears its head when you are trying to obtain information on where an ancestor was born or died. If either event occurred in the Workhouse, then the Workhouse will be recorded on the certificate, but not much other information will be given. You might want to know:

• How long were they in the Workhouse?
• On what date did they enter?
• Did they go in alone?
• What was the reason for entering?

Depending on the period of time you are looking at, there can be different answers for each of the above questions, so what I want to focus on is how you can best navigate the multitude of records that survive for the Workhouse, and making sure that you use all that is available to you.

In the case of the Belfast Workhouse, I started my quest at PRONI on the eCatalogue Search. A simple search for ‘Workhouse’ brings up over 1100 results, so you can save yourself some time that I didn’t by browsing instead for the Belfast Board of Guardians index (if you are searching for another Workhouse in Northern Ireland, then refer to this index page instead.)

From here, you will get an overview of every type of record that is held on that Workhouse, including:

• Indoor Registers.
• Minute Books.
• Record of Operations.
• Return of Births.
• Return of Deaths.

This is where it falls to you to connect the dots.

To use myself as an example again, I tend to start with the Returns of Births/Deaths if I have a specific event in mind to research. These are ordered by the months that they cover and are easy to order up (assuming the event occurred more than 100 years ago – otherwise you are looking at a Freedom of Information request.)

Once you have located the event in the register book, you should see a reference number in the far-left column and/or in an ‘Observation’ column further along. The number on the left is typically to reflect a person’s chronological entry in the current book, while the other number is typically to reflect a person’s entry in another book – likely the Indoor Register.

In this case, order up the Indoor Registers (same procedure) and browse chronologically until you come to the person’s number and it could tell you:

• Age and date when he/she first entered the Workhouse.
• If he/she came with family.
• Where he/she had been living.
• His/her occupation.
• When he/she left the Workhouse (or died there.)

My 2x-great-grandmther's Indoor Register entry.

Even if this gives you all of the information that you sought, it is still worth your time looking through the Minute Books in case any reference is made to your ancestor. Honestly, this can be a long shot, but if you do find a reference then it can give some depth to his/her situation.

As I mentioned earlier, reasons for entering the Workhouse varied as time went on. Where illegitimate pregnancy might have been the cause of a 6-month stay in the 1890's, a short-term medical emergency could have been the reason in the 1930's (as was the case with two separate ancestors of mine.)

So, if you hear/see 'Workhouse' and feel alarm bells going off, just seek out your local public record office and start putting together the pieces of the puzzle.

If you have any problems in that regard or have questions about anything I have discussed here, then please get in touch. Always happy to help.