Bill Wood wrote: > This link might be useful to some of you. > > Bill > > Victorian Legislation: a Timeline Marjie Bloy, > Ph.D. Senior Research Fellow, National University of Singapore. > http://www.victorianweb.org/misc/bloy.html > http://www.victorianweb.org/history/legistl.html Fine as far as it goes - but as it appears to have grown out of a site whose overall title is "A Web of *English* History" (http://www.historyhome.co.uk/) it is of limited value to students of family history in Scotland. For example: "Victorian Legislation: a Timeline" (the second link above) mentions the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act which "... was responsible for the establishment of workhouses throughout the country". Which is true - in England. But this law did not apply in Scotland. The equivalent piece of legislation north of the border (which is not even mentioned in the "Timeline") was the 1845 Poor Law Amendment (Scotland)Act. This set up a system almost diametrically opposed to the English Workhouse system, by putting responsibility for poor relief in the hand of independent Parochial Boards. The result was that, even in those larger towns which had a Poorhouse, the majority of assistance was in the form of "outdoor relief", ie the pauper received assistance "in the community", rather than in institutions. And the spin-off for family historians is that much (although sadly not all) of the Parochial Board records have supplied, and can give valuable information on the lives of paupers and their families. Another omission from the "Timeline" is the legislation (in 1854, 1855 and 1860) which set up the system of civil registration in Scotland on a rather different (and, to the family historian, more useful) basis than the equivalent in England. Gavin Bell

My apologies, I didnt realise it was not appropriate. Bill On Mon, Dec 28, 2009 at 11:47 PM, Gavin Bell <g.bell@which.net> wrote: > Bill Wood wrote: > > > This link might be useful to some of you. > > > > Bill > > > > Victorian Legislation: a Timeline Marjie Bloy, > > Ph.D. Senior Research Fellow, National University of Singapore. > > > http://www.victorianweb.org/misc/bloy.html > > http://www.victorianweb.org/history/legistl.html > > > Fine as far as it goes - but as it appears to have grown out of a site > whose overall title is "A Web of *English* History" > (http://www.historyhome.co.uk/) it is of limited value to students of > family history in Scotland. > > For example: "Victorian Legislation: a Timeline" (the second link > above) mentions the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act which "... was > responsible for the establishment of workhouses throughout the country". > Which is true - in England. But this law did not apply in Scotland. > > The equivalent piece of legislation north of the border (which is not > even mentioned in the "Timeline") was the 1845 Poor Law Amendment > (Scotland)Act. This set up a system almost diametrically opposed to the > English Workhouse system, by putting responsibility for poor relief in > the hand of independent Parochial Boards. The result was that, even in > those larger towns which had a Poorhouse, the majority of assistance was > in the form of "outdoor relief", ie the pauper received assistance "in > the community", rather than in institutions. And the spin-off for > family historians is that much (although sadly not all) of the Parochial > Board records have supplied, and can give valuable information on the > lives of paupers and their families. > > Another omission from the "Timeline" is the legislation (in 1854, 1855 > and 1860) which set up the system of civil registration in Scotland on a > rather different (and, to the family historian, more useful) basis than > the equivalent in England. > > > Gavin Bell > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ABERDEEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >